Wildcats Open 2015-16 Campaign at Eastern Michigan Thursday

10/14/2015 12:44:00 PM | Men's Swimming and Diving

Northwestern returns home for alumni meet on Friday

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern's men's swimming and diving program opens up its 2015-16 season this week with a pair of meets. The Wildcats travel to Eastern Michigan to take on the Eagles at 2 p.m. Central time. NU then returns home to Norris Aquatics Center on Friday to host an alumni meet at 5 p.m.

Head coach Jarod Schroeder's squad features 14 returning letterwinners as well as 12 newcomers. A year ago, the Wildcats posted a 4-4 dual meet record while finishing ninth at the Big Ten Championships.

Northwestern welcomes back 10 swimmers who earned NCAA B cuts during the 2014-15 season, including four freestylers (Almog Olshtein, Charlie Cole, Jonathan Lieberman, Gage Kohner), five in the backstroke (Lieberman, Nick Petersen, Andy Jovanovic, Grant Halsall, Alex Snarski), one in the breaststroke (Van Donkersgoed) and three in the butterfly (Petersen, Jovanovic, Jack Morris).

In addition, the Wildcats return junior Andrew Cramer who was the team's top performer on the 1-meter and 3-meter diving boards a year ago.

The Wildcats are hosting five meets at Norris Aquatics Center this season, including the annual TYR Invitational from Nov. 20-22.

Eastern Michigan is the preseason pick to win the MAC this season after winning the league title a year ago and sending two individuals to the NCAA Championships. The Eagles, under the leadership of head coach Peter Linn, welcome back seven swimmers who own top 10 times in program history as well as two-time Mid-American Conference diving champion Alex Chan.

Northwestern earned a 161-139 victory in last season's dual meet with Eastern Michigan on Oct. 16, 2014 in Ypsilanti.