Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
No. 19 Iowa
No. 19 Iowa Outpaces Northwestern, 171-129
1/24/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
 |
||
 |
No. 19 Iowa 171, Northwestern 129 Campus Recreation and Wellness Center • Iowa City, Iowa Final Results |
|
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Northwestern traveled to Iowa Saturday for a dual meet against the 19th-ranked Hawkeyes at the site of the 2015 Big Ten Championships, fighting tooth-and-nail against the hosts before eventually falling, 171-129.
Northwestern falls to 7-4 on the dual-meet season following its loss.
NU started the meet in a hole after its `A' 200 medley relay was disqualified for an early takeoff to allow Iowa to grab the win. Still, the Wildcats' `B' team of Alex Snarski (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville), Aaron Sears (Neenah, Minn./Neenah), Jack Morris (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) and Nick Petersen (Thiensville, Wis./Homestead) out-touched Iowa's `B' team by .14 of a second with a 1:32.19 to take the runner-up position in the event.
Junior Jordan Wilimovsky (Malibu, Calif./Malibu) did what Jordan Wilimovsky does in the 1,000 free, building a huge advantage before cruising into the finish with a 9:20.93 to claim the individual win for Northwestern. Freshman Jonathan Blansfield (Westport, Conn./Staples) took fourth place to earn a pair of points for the Wildcats.
Sophomore Charlie Cole (Bernardsville, N.J./Bernards) made it two wins in a row for the Wildcats with a 1:39.48 in the 200 free to win by over a full second. Sophomore Jonathan Lieberman (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) came out on the short end of a three-way race for second, touching in fourth with a 1:41.13 that was just .13 of a second away from the runner-up spot.
In the 100 back, Iowa's Grant Betulius won with an NCAA `B' cut time, but Northwestern fought for second, third and fifth place to mitigate the damage. Mark Ferguson (Perth, Australia/John XXIII) took second followed by Snarski in third and Petersen in fifth. The Hawkeyes then got another `B' cut in the 100 breast to top NU's second place Uula Auren (Helsinki, Finland/Mäkelänrinteen Lukio), while junior Van Donkersgoed (Eden Prairie, Minn./Minnehaha Academy) had a season-best 57.14 to take fourth.
The Hawkeyes earned a 1-2-3 sweep in the 200 fly before freshman Almog Olshtein (Haifa, Israel/Haifa) got Northwestern back on track with a winning 20.53 in the 50 free heading into the first diving break. Andy Jovanovic (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy) was third in a season-best time of 20.76.
Northwestern got a big boost from its divers on the 1-meter board, led by sophomore Andrew Cramer (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral), who edged Iowa's top entry by just over two points to win with a 292.73. Senior John Andrade (Avon, Conn./Notre Dame) was third via a 287.55 and Reed Dillon (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence Central) took fourth after earning 272.33 points. That result made Iowa's lead 81-69 entering the second half of the meet.
Coming out the break, Northwestern cut its deficit down to five points when Olshtein and Jovanovic went 1-2 in the 100 free. Olshtein swam a 45.35 while Jovanovic was right on his heels in 45.57.
Iowa used a top three sweep in the 200 back to stymie NU's momentum, then Donkersgoed and Auren finished 2-3 for the Wildcats in the 200 breast, with Donkersgoed turning in his second season-best time of the meet via a 2:02.81.
Wilimovsky and Cole recorded a stellar 1-2 sweep of the 500 free to swing momentum back toward Northwestern. Wilimovsky won in 4:31.33 while Cole erased a deficit to Iowa's top swimmer midway through the race to touch in 4:32.34 and pick up runner-up points by .31 of a second.
In the 100 fly, Ferguson swam a season-best 48.78 to take second place followed by Petersen in third and Jovanovic in fifth. The result made Iowa's lead 132-113 entering the second diving break.
Iowa grabbed the victory on the 3-meter diving board to take a nearly insurmountable lead. Andrade led NU with a second-place, season-best and NCAA Zone qualification score of 334.73 while Cramer was third with a 329.10. The Hawkeyes then secured the win with a 1-2 finish in the 200 IM.
NU's 400 free relay team of Olshtein, Ferguson, Petersen and Auren swam a 3:01.34 in the final event, falling to Iowa by a mere two one-hundredths to conclude the meet.
Northwestern returns to action in its final dual meet of the season when it faces Minnesota and Purdue in a two-day meet Friday and Saturday, Jan. 30-31, in Minneapolis.
••••••
Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook, subscribe to the NU Sports Express e-newsletter and sign up to receive promotional text alerts for the latest news, schedule updates and video and to interact with NU. For more information on following specific Northwestern teams online, visit our Social Media page!
