Northwestern University Athletics
Career Bests Highlight NU's Big Ten Championships Saturday
2/27/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 27, 2010
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Four Wildcats earned lanes in scoring finals during Saturday afternoon's preliminary action at the 2010 Big Ten Championships. Even those who did not receive second swims cut serious time in a mostly successful session for Northwestern.
Freshman Varun Shivakumar (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Fremd) opened Saturday afternoon's action with a career-best time in the 200 back, dropping from a 1:50.06 seed to a 1:46.86 in his preliminary heat. The time qualified him 18th overall and gave him a spot in the bonus final, .17 of a second out of 16th and the consolation scoring heat. Jan Hanulik (Cavisov, Czech Republic/Sportovni Gymnazium) also won a `C' final swim with a career-best 1:48.85 to slot him 24th overall.
Also of note, Daniel Salovesh (Casa Grande, Ariz./Casa Grande Union) dropped a whopping seven seconds from his 200 back seed time to go a 1:52.88 and place him 35th overall.
Junior Brian Kerr (East Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids) finished the preliminary heats of the 100 free in 28th place overall, coming within .04 of a second of his career best with a 45.10. He was Northwestern's lone representative in the top-40 of the event.
Alex Tyler (Birmingham, Mich./Birmingham Groves) secured a consolation final spot in the 200 breast with a career-best 1:59.18, good for an NCAA `B' provisional qualifying effort and 10th place overall after the afternoon session. Sophomore Nathan Butler (Cincinnati, Ohio/Turpin) also had a career-best time, dropping more than 2.5 seconds from his seed with a 2:01.46 to place 20th and earn a second swim in the bonus final.
Cal Staben (Lexington, Ky./Henry Clay) joined Salovesh in the realm of ridiculous time drops, cutting more than 5.5 from his seed in the 200 breast to place 27th overall with a 2:03.68.
Sean Mathews (St. Louis, Mo./Lafayette) put together a tremendous swim in the 200 fly prelims, qualifying second overall in the event with an NCAA `B' time of 1:44.19. Mathews' effort is a career-best for the junior and leaves him just .14 of a second shy of Eric Nilsson's school record in the race.
Tony Mattar (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) also will score points in this Big Ten meet after his 1:48.54 in the 200 fly -- a cut of almost three full seconds from his seed -- placed him 14th overall in the afternoon.
Peter Park (Princeton, N.J./Peddie School) earned the final scoring spot in the 200 fly with a 1:49.36, qualifying him 16th overall after he cut more than two seconds from his seed time in the event.
In the final individual event of his Big Ten Championships career, and swimming where he attended high school, senior Chris Doman (Pittsburgh, Pa./St. Charles Prep (Columbus, Ohio)) earned a second swim in the 200 fly with a precipitous more-than-three second drop from his seed to turn in a 1:50.96. He qualified 23rd overall to pick up his bonus final spot.
For more information on the 2010 Big Ten Championships including live results, link to the Championships page at OhioSateBuckeyes.com.
