Northwestern Drops Big Ten Opener at Purdue, 182-116

11/5/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving

Nov. 5, 2011

Results

Site: West Lafayette, Ind. (Boilermaker Aquatic Center)
Score: Purdue 182, Northwestern 116
Records: NU (1-1, 0-1 Big Ten), Purdue (3-0, 1-0 Big Ten)
Next NU Event: Nov. 11, 2011 -- vs. Wisconsin (Norris Aquatic Center), 5 p.m. CT

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Northwestern opened its Big Ten schedule on the road Saturday at Purdue, falling to the Boilermakers, 182-116.

Northwestern's `A' relayed was disqualified in the opening event of the meet, giving Purdue an early edge. In the first individual race, junior Jan Hanulik (Cavisov, Czech Republic/Sportovni Gymnazium) held an early lead in the 1,000 free, but ended up third in a time of 9:38.80 to lead NU. Senior John Frutiger (Alma, Mich./Alma) then swam a 1:42.29 in the 200 free to earn second-place points for Northwestern.

Freshman Mark Ferguson (Perth, Australia/John XXIII) and junior Varun Shivakumar (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Fremd) finished within .05 of a second of each other in the 100 back, taking third and fourth with times of 52.83 and 52.87, respectively.

Freshman Uula Auren (Helsinki, Finland/Mäkelänrinteen Lukio) put Northwestern's first win on the board with a come-from-behind victory in the 100 breast. His 56.77 bested Purdue's second-place effort of 56.90.

Junior Charlie Rimkus (Tustin, Calif./Beckman) held the lead for much of the 200 fly before being chased down at the very end, finishing second by .06 of a second with a time of 1:50.30. Senior Tony Mattar (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) was third in 1:53.22.

Going into the first diving break, senior Jake Grosser (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles) took fourth in the 50 free with a Northwestern-best 21.13. The Boilermakers also had a top-three sweep on the 3-meter springboard during the first diving break, with Nick Pinkerton's (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) season-best 273.68 the top total for NU.

Freshman Matthew Margritier (Leawood, Kan./Rockhurst) turned in a season-best 46.45 in the 100 free to lead a 2-3-5 Northwestern finish in the event. Alexander Ratajczyk (Parlin, N.J./Sayreville War Memorial) was third with a 47.20 and Chase Stephens (Madison, Wis./Edgewood) took fifth in 47.41 to score points for the Wildcats.

In his first 200 back of the year, 2011 Big Ten finalist Shivakumar took third place with a 1:51.64 to lead Northwestern. Hanulik grabbed fourth-place points by cutting 3.10 seconds off his season-opening time in the event two weeks ago at Eastern Michigan.

Purdue took the top two spots in the 200 breast with Auren coming in third with a 2:09.80, then Rimkus earned a run-away victory in the 500 free. The junior distance man swam a 4:33.48 to win by more than six seconds with Mattar placing third for the Wildcats in 4:44.12.

Grosser nearly pulled out the victory in the 100 fly with a 50.78, finishing just .16 of a second behind the Purdue winner, but capturing first-place points when the Boilermakers exhibitioned their top-two finishers in the event.

Purdue swept the top three spots on the 1-meter springboard as it did in the earlier diving event, then Rimkus took second in the 200 IM with a 1:54.12 to close out the individual events.

Northwestern returns to action at 5 p.m. CT Friday, Nov. 11, in its home opener against Wisconsin at the Norris Aquatic Center.

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