Wildcats Look Dominant in Early Season Double Dual Action

Saturday, October 25

Evanston, Ill.

1:00 PM

Northwestern

211

Illinois - Chicago

Wildcats Look Dominant in Early Season Double Dual Action

10/25/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern captured a couple of convincing wins on Saturday over visitors UIC and Oakland in double dual meet action. The Wildcats won 10 of 14 swimming events on their way to a 211-86 win over UIC and a 180-111 victory against Oakland.

The `Cats grabbed momentum early by winning the first four events of the afternoon, including sweeps of the top three spots in the 200 medley relay and the 200 free. Lacey Locke (Carmel, Ind./Carmel), Julianne Kurke (Atlanta, Ga./Parkview), Aja Malone (Acworth, Ga./Allatoona) and Annika Winsnes (Singapore/United World College) combined for a commanding victory in the 200 medley in a time of 1:44.71. In the 200 free, sophomore Megan Purdy (Boulder City, Nev./Boulder City) bested the field in 1:52.32.

In the 1000 free, Lauren Abruzzo (Denver, Colo./Kent Denver) topped the field by eight seconds, swimming to a win in 10:02.50. Teammate Sydney Modeas (East Amherst, N.Y./Clarence) was second in 10:10.61. Northwestern made it four straight wins when Locke handily took the 100 yard backstroke in 56.15.

The `Cats dominated the 200 yard butterfly, and sophomore Ellen Stello (Shorewood, Wis./Shorewood) was the star of the race, winning by a full five seconds in a time of 2:00.67.

After the intermission period, Northwestern picked right back up where it left off. Winsnes was close to an NCAA "B" time with her 50.77, which easily won the 100 free. NU sandwiched two Oakland spots with its 1-4-5-6 finish.

The Wildcats never relented, taking three of the top four positions in the 500 free, including a first-place finish by Stello in 4:55.47, a full three seconds ahead of the competition.

The very next race saw the `Cats finish 1-2-3-4. Locke beat out teammate Malone by .04 seconds to take the title in the 100 fly. Locke finished in 56.82.

After a short rest, Stello was back at it, securing victory in the 200 individual medley during a tight race with Oakland's Patricia Aschan. Stello reached the finish a mere tenth of a second faster than Aschan in a time of 2:07.92.

Northwestern took finishes of third and fourth in both the 3-meter and 1-meter diving competitions. Both times it was Monique Demaisip(Norwalk, Calif./Gahr) in third and Mashal Hashem (Potomac, Md./Winston Churchill) in fourth.

Northwestern returns to action Nov. 7-8 in Lexington, Ky., in a quad dual meet against Kentucky, Missouri and Southern Illinois.