Northwestern Takes Ninth Place at Big Ten Championships

2/26/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving

Feb. 26, 2011

Results

2011 Big Ten Championships Website

Saturday Photo Gallery

MINNEAPOLIS -- Northwestern finished the 2011 Big Ten Championships in ninth place following the final day of competition Saturday, improving one spot from its finish a year ago while scoring 26 percent more points.

The Wildcats earned 212.5 points to finish ahead of Michigan State and behind eighth-place Wisconsin (224 points) and seventh-place Iowa (228.5 points). NU totaled 169 points while finishing 10th a year ago.

By virtue of his second-place finish in the 400 IM on Friday, Alex Tyler (Birmingham, Mich./Birmingham Groves) as named All-Big Ten second team. Peter Park (Princeton, N.J./Peddie School) was named Northwestern's Big Ten Sportsmanship Award honoree.

Saturday Preliminary Session Recap:

Northwestern had another strong morning Saturday at the Big Ten Championships, landing three Wildcats in championship finals and one more in a consolation heat on the final day of competition.

Saturday morning began on a great note for Northwestern thanks to Varun Shivakumar (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Fremd). The 6-4 sophomore swam steady sub-27 second 50-yard splits in the 200 back to shatter his previous career-best in the event by nearly 1.5 full seconds, qualifying eighth overall for the championship final with an NCAA `B' provisional time of 1:44.98.

Jan Hanulik (Cavisov, Czech Republic/Sportovnia Gymnazium) earned a bonus final lane with a career-best 200 back time of 1:48.47, good for 24th overall after the morning heats. Daniel Salovesh (Casa Grande, Ariz./Casa Grande Union) cut more than nine seconds off his seed time and 3.74 seconds off his career-best in the 200 back to place 27th, while fifth-year senior Jake Vogel (Canton, Ill./Canton) also earned a career-best time with a 1:49.26 to take 28th.

In the 100 free, freshman Dominik Cubelic (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook North) ended up in a three-way tie for 21st after a morning swim of 44.44, earning a lane in the Saturday evening bonus final.

Tyler qualified sixth overall for the championship final of the 200 breast, swimming a career-best and NCAA `B' time of 1:56.84. He earned championship heat appearances in all three of his events at the 2011 Big Ten Championships.

Senior Sean Mathews (St. Louis, Mo./Lafayette) swam a career-best and NCAA `B' provisional time of 1:44.14 to qualify third overall for the championship final of the 200 fly. The career best marks a phenomenal swim for the senior who took fourth in the Big Ten and qualified for the NCAA Championships in this event a year ago.

Also securing a scoring final position in the 200 fly was Tony Mattar (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion), whose career-best `B' cut of 1:46.87 to win his preliminary heat held up to slate him 16th overall and give him a consolation final lane on Saturday night.

Saturday Finals Session Recap:

Northwestern gained one point during the 1,650 freestyle event that was held throughout the afternoon Saturday, with Charlie Rimkus (Tustin, Calif./Beckman) capturing 16th place with a season-best and NCAA `B' time of 15:25.40.

In the championship final of the 200 back, Shivakumar was not able to get as low as he did in the morning, but he did swim another `B' time with an eighth-place 1:46.14 to earn 11 points for Northwestern. Hanulik ended up 22nd overall after a 1:48.32 in the bonus final.

Alexander Ratajczyk (Parlin, N.J./Sayreville War Memorial) was NU's representation in the bonus final of the 100 free following scratches in that heat. He swam a 44.99 to take 20th overall in the event.

Tyler earned sixth-place points in the 200 breast with a `B' time of 1:57.11 during the championship heat.

Mathews swam an identical 1:44.14 during the championship heat of the 200 fly, earning his second-consecutive fourth place finish in the event for the Wildcats after matching his new career-best time established Saturday morning. Mattar took 12th overall following the 200 fly consolation heat, swimming a 1:47.22 to pick up five big points for the Wildcats.

Northwestern then closed out its 2011 Big Ten Championships with an NCAA `B' time of 2:58.07 in the 400 free from the team of Cubelic, Tyler, Grosser and Ratajczyk.

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