Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
TYR Invitational
Wildcats Earn Two NCAA Cuts Sunday, Finish Second at TYR
11/23/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Results
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2014 TYR Invitational Norris Aquatics Center • Evanston, Ill. • NU's Place: 2nd/5 Final Results |
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern won six events and recorded two NCAA `B' provisional qualifying times Sunday during the final day of its home TYR Invitational at the Norris Aquatics Center.
With its focus squarely on U.S. Nationals in two weeks, Northwestern still raced to record a trio of NCAA `B' cuts during the three-day meet, with two of them going to junior Jordan Wilimovsky (Malibu, Calif./Malibu), who positioned himself as an early contender once again for the NCAA title in the 1,650 freestyle. Freshman Alex Snarski (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) grabbed the other in the 100 backstroke.
Not to be outdone was sophomore Andrew Cramer (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral) on the diving boards. The sophomore swept all three diving competitions at the meet and extended his current season-best and NCAA Zone cut in the 3-meter event Saturday.
Michigan State took first place in the meet followed by Northwestern in second, Saint Louis in third, UIC in fourth and Truman State in fifth.
Northwestern now shifts its focus to U.S. Nationals, where 11 Wildcats will represent the University Dec. 3-6 in Greensboro, N.C. NU then will embark on its winter training trip following fall exams and resume collegiate competition in January.
Sunday's Preliminary Session
Northwestern earned seven second swims in the day's first event, the 50 fly. Freshman Almog Olshtein (Haifa, Israel/Haifa) continued his dominance in the sprint events at this meet by qualifying second overall in 22.42. Mark Ferguson (Perth, Australia/John XXIII) in fourth and Jack Morris (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) in sixth joined him in the championship final. Uula Auren (Helsinki, Finland/Mäkelänrinteen Lukio) earned the top overall seed in the consolation final with a ninth-place 23.01 with teammate Joao Steiner (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/The Bolles School) also making that heat with a 14th place finish.
Freshman Gage Kohner (Boca Raton, Fla./Boca Raton Community) won the top seed in the bonus final of the 50 fly and Andrew Seitz (Pleasanton, Calif./Amador Valley) will swim it as well following a 22nd-place morning time.
Snarski won the top qualification spot in the 200 back by almost two full seconds when he touched in 1:46.93. Andy Jovanovic (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy) took third in the prelim while Grant Halsall (Laxey, Isle of Man, GBR) was seventh overall to give the Wildcats three entries in the championship final.
Sophomore Jonathan Lieberman (Eden Praire, Minn./Eden Prairie) narrowly missed out on the `A' heat and will be the `B' final's top entry following a 1:52.79 in the 200 back. Freshman Nick Petersen (Thiensville, Wis./Homestead) also made the consolation final with a 15th-place 1:55.28.
Olshtein was the lone Wildcat to make it through to the `A' final of the 100 free after swimming a fifth-place qualification time of 45.96. Kohner, Charlie Cole (Bernardsville, N.J./Bernards) and Morris qualified for the `B' final in 10th, 11th and 15th, respectively, while Steiner and William Rosler (Bexley, Ohio/Columbus Academy) moved on to the 100 free bonus final.
All three Wildcats in the 200 breast advanced to scoring lanes for Sunday afternoon. Van Donkersgoed (Eden Prairie, Minn./Minnehaha Academy) qualified second overall for NU with a 2:04.48 behind a super fast 2:01.21 from MSU's breaststroke specialist Alec Kandt. Both Auren (11th) and Aaron Sears (Neenah, Minn./Neenah) (16th) made the scoring `B' final of the event
Northwestern sent six to Sunday afternoon scoring lanes during 50 back preliminaries, including four to the championship heat. Jovanovic and Ferguson qualified 1-2 overall with times of 22.97 and 23.46 followed by Snarski in fourth and Halsall in sixth. Both Petersen in 11th and Rosler in 16th made the `B' final.
Four of Northwestern's five entries in the 200 fly qualified for the consolation final of the event, and all did so in a row. Lieberman led the Wildcats in 11th followed by Wilimovsky in 12th, Donkersgoed in 13th and Seitz in 14th. Stephen Shull (Evanston, Ill./Homeschooled) made the bonus final in 21st position.
Northwestern and Saint Louis competed in a 5-meter platform diving competition during the morning preliminary sessions, and the Wildcats swept the top three positions. Cramer made it a clean sweep of all three diving events with a winning score of 288.68 followed by Reed Dillon (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence Central) in second with a 241.73 and John Andrade (Avon, Conn./Avon) in third with a 240.00.
Sunday's Finals Session
The last finals session of the TYR began with a fierce battle in the 50 fly championship final won by Michigan State's Jacob Moore with Olshtein in second and Ferguson in third. Morris ended up sixth behind two more Spartans swimmers. In the consolation final, Auren eked out a two one-hundredth of a second victory to place ninth overall while Steiner ended up 12th and Kohner 14th. Seitz cut .26 of a second from his prelim time to swim a 24.00 in the bonus final.
Snarski got the first NCAA `B' cut of his college career while winning the 200 back, touching the wall in 1:46.33 to win by 1.2 seconds. Jovanovic came in third with a 1:48.34 and Halsall was fifth in 1:50.00.
Lieberman ran away with the `B' final of the 200 back, coming home in 1:50.69 to win by 2.14 seconds over a Saint Louis entry. Petersen was 12th overall for NU.
In the 100 free, Wildcats won all three heats. Olshtein won the title tilt for Northwestern with a time of 44.63 that was 1.33 seconds faster than his morning swim, moving him up from fifth after qualification to the top of the podium. In the consolation final, Kohner touched first in 46.21 while Morris was 13th. The bonus final saw Steiner reach the wall first with a 46.89. Rosler (20th) and Shull (22nd) also competed in that `C' heat. Cole scratched his 100 free berth to concentrate on the 1,650, which was the very next event.
In that 1,650 event, U.S. National Team distance swimmer Wilimovsky lapped his first opponent before the halfway point of the race and continued to pull away until he touched in a low NCAA `B' cut time of 15:00.91, tied for the third-fastest time in the nation following Sunday. His time was so fast that the second-place swimmer, Michigan State's Jon Burke, touched 25.06 seconds after Wilimovsky and also received an NCAA `B' cut for his effort.
NU's Cole placed fifth overall in the 1,650 free with a 15:52.45 while Blansfield was ninth in 16:13.52.
Donkersgoed used his 200 breast championship final berth to swim a 2:03.71 and take fourth place. Auren was 10th overall after placing second in the consolation final in 2:05.89 while Sears earned a point with a 16th-place finish.
Jovanovic and Ferguson went 1-2 in the 50 back for Northwestern in the championship final while Halsall and Snarski were fourth and sixth, respectively, for a very strong Wildcats showing in the heat. Petersen had the good times rolling with a relatively comfortable win in the consolation final; Rosler also grabbed a point for NU in that heat with a 16th-place finish.
With no Northwestern swimmer in the 200 fly `A' heat, Wilimovsky was Northwestern's top finisher with a victory in the consolation heat via a 1:53.63. Lieberman followed in 12th, Seitz was 13th and Donkersgoed 16th.
In the final 400 free relay, Michigan State held a slight edge on Northwestern's team of Jovanovic, Ferguson, Kohner and Olshtein entering the final leg, but Olshtein entered the pool and shut the door with a 43.55 anchor leg to give NU the win, 2:58.52 to 2:58.85.
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