Northwestern
Big Ten Championships
Northwestern Sits 10th at Big Ten Championships
2/26/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 26, 2010
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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Northwestern is in 10th place following Friday's action at the 2010 Big Ten Championships hosted by Ohio State at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.
The Wildcats have accumulated 120 points, 29 behind ninth-place Iowa. Ohio State leads the meet with 592.5 points.
For more information on the 2010 Big Ten Championships including live results, link to the Championships page at OhioSateBuckeyes.com.
FRIDAY PRELIMINARY SESSION RECAP:
Northwestern placed three individuals in scoring finals during Friday afternoon preliminary action at the 2010 Big Ten Championships. Tonight's races get underway at 6 p.m. CT from the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.
Junior Alex Tyler (Birmingham, Mich./Birmingham Groves) earned his second championship final appearance of the Big Ten Championships with a season-best and NCAA `B' provisional qualifying time of 3:48.76 in the 400 IM, placing fifth overall after the afternoon session.
Freshman Charlie Rimkus (Tustin, Calif./Beckman) also turned in an NCAA `B' performance of 3:53.66, placing him 19th and giving him a lane in Friday evening's bonus final.
Sophomore Tony Mattar (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) cut 5.4 seconds from his seed time to swim a 4:01.19, putting him 32nd. Following right behind Mattar was Peter Park (Princeton, N.J./Peddie School), whose 4:01.33 put him 33rd in the standings. With scratches, both Mattar and Park would earn bonus final swims later in the meet.
Junior Sean Mathews (St. Louis, Mo./Lafayette) matched his career best in the 100 fly with an NCAA `B' time of 48.08, placing him in a dead heat for 12th place in the prelims and securing a scoring spot in the consolation final of the event. Junior Brian Kerr (East Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids) also had a career-best time in the 100 fly, swimming a 48.88 to come in 19th to qualify for the bonus final.
Senior Chris Doman (Pittsburgh, Pa./St. Charles Prep (Columbus, Ohio)) narrowly missed a spot in the bonus heat of the 100 fly with a 28th-place season-best time of 49.84.
John Frutiger (Alma, Mich./Alma) earned a bonus final position in the 200 free with a 20th-place time of 1:38.71 in the prelims Friday afternoon.
In the 100 breast, sophomore Nathan Butler (Cincinnati, Ohio/Turpin) swam into the first scoring heat of his career at the Big Ten Championships with a career-best and NCAA `B' cut of 55.35. His effort gave him the 16th and final scoring spot for Friday night's finals.
Cal Staben (Lexington, Ky./Henry Clay) cut more than two full seconds from his seed time with a 56.92 in the 100 breast to give him a top-30 effort with a 29th-place finish.
Freshman Varun Shivakumar (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Fremd) cut 2.49 seconds off his previous collegiate best time in the 100 back to pick up a bonus final spot, finishing with a 49.44 in 21st overall after the afternoon session. Daniel Salovesh (Casa Grande, Ariz./Casa Grande Union) came in 37th overall, but his more than three-full second drop to 53.19 for a new collegiate best bears mention.
On the 3-meter springboard, senior Kalister Harmon (Olympia, Wash./Capital) took 21st with a 287.55 tally.
FRIDAY FINALS SESSION RECAP:
Northwestern kicked off Friday night's finals session with a season-best 1:21.89 from the team of Alexander Ratajczyk (Parlin, N.J./Sayreville War Memorial), Mathews, Kerr and Doman to come in 10th place.
During the bonus final of the 400 IM, Rimkus went 1.33 seconds faster than his morning time to win the heat and finish 17th overall with a season-best effort of 3:52.33. Park took fourth in the bonus final with a career-best 3:57.66, dropping nearly four full seconds off his prelim time in a tremendous swim. He ended up 20th overall. Mattar rounded out NU's work in the heat with a 21st-place overall effort of 3:57.72, a career-best time for him and a more-than three-second cut in time over the prelims.
In the championship final of the 400 IM, Tyler swam another `B' cut, but this time his 3:51.93 was slightly off his morning pace resulting in an eighth place finish.
Mathews turned in a 48.47 in the consolation final of the 100 fly, placing fifth in the heat and 13th overall for the Wildcats. Kerr also was slightly off his preliminary pace in the bonus heat, coming in 21st overall with a 49.51.
During the bonus heat of the 200 free, Frutiger's 1:39.35 was good for third place in the heat and 19th place overall in the event.
Butler improved his career-best time in the 100 breast even more during the consolation final, moving up three spots to 13th overall with an NCAA `B' cut of 55.20.
In the bonus final of the 100 back, Shivakumar took third in the heat with a 49.65 to finish in the top 20 in his first Big Ten Championships.
Players Mentioned
