Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern Kicks Off Winter Schedule With Local Meet
1/4/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Jan. 4, 2012
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern begins its push toward the Big Ten Championships at 1 p.m. CT Saturday, Jan. 7, with a local double-dual meet against NCAA Division II Lewis and NCAA Division III Carthage at the Lewis Pool in Romeoville, Ill.
The Wildcats' series with their local brethren from other NCAA Divisions began in 2007 when NU sent a split squad featuring the likes of NCAA champions Matt Grevers, Mike Alexandrov, Kyle Bubolz and Bruno Barbic to the elite Dallas Morning News Classic while the balance of the squad remained in the Chicago area to compete. After two years as a split-squad meet for Northwestern, the competition has become NU's traditional winter quarter kickoff for the entire team.
Northwestern is coming off its annual winter training trip to Hawaii, where the Wildcats trained hard in the tropical climate. Prior to flying to the 50th state, NU volunteered as Salvation Army bell ringers at Evanston grocery stores during the holiday season. Northwestern then partook in the "Hour of Power" on December 31 to raise funds in memory of Anna Frutiger, the sister of senior John Frutiger, who passed away on May 20, 2010, after an undiagnosed Deep Vein Thrombosis in her leg. The Hour of Power is an hour-long continuous relay in which the teams swim as many lengths in one hour as possible.
The Wildcats had a successful close to the fall slate at their own five-team TYR Invitational. All five NU relays earned NCAA 'B' provisional qualifying cut times while junior Charlie Rimkus (Tustin, Calif./Beckman) achieved individual 'B' cuts in the 200 fly and 400 IM and freshman Uula Auren (Helsinki, Finland/Mäkelänrinteen Lukio) picked up one of his own in the 100 breast.
Saturday's meet is the first of four-straight weekends of competition for Northwestern before the February 22-25 Big Ten Championships in Iowa City, Iowa. NU travels to Notre Dame on January 14 before returning home to the Norris Aquatics Center for a January 21 dual with Iowa and a January 27-28 "Northwestern Invitational" meet featuring Missouri and Denver.
Following Northwestern's home dual against Iowa on January 21, the men's and women's swimming and diving programs will host their "Celebrate the Past and Plan for the Future" Endowment Campaign kickoff at 6 p.m. at the James Allen Center on the Evanston Campus. Find more information in this NUsports.com release!
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