Northwestern University Athletics
Petersen Paces 'Cats During Friday B1G Championships Prelims
2/27/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 26, 2015
Friday Preliminary Heat Results
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Led by two outstanding swims from freshman Nick Petersen (Thiensville, Wis./Homestead), Northwestern landed nine finals berths during Friday morning preliminary competition at the 2015 Big Ten Championships hosted by Iowa at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center.
In the morning's first event, junior Jordan Wilimovsky (Malibu, Calif./Malibu) narrowly missed out on a scoring final berth in the 400 IM Friday morning but he still had a great swim in the event. Wilimovsky touched in a career-best and NCAA `B' cut time of 3:50.75 that was more than three seconds faster than his previous low in the race to place 17th overall. The swim also moved Wilimovsky into fourth place in event of NU's all-time top times list.
Senior Andrew Seitz (Pleasanton, Calif./Amador Valley) was NU's lone other entrant into the 400 IM, and he also achieved a career-best time via a 35th-place 3:56.91.
In the 100 fly Friday morning, Petersen popped for an NCAA `B' cut time of 47.62 that was more than two seconds better than his prior collegiate best, placing himself 15th overall and in the scoring consolation final in the process. The time makes Petersen the fifth-fastest Wildcat ever in the event.
Two more Wildcats earned second swims in the 100 fly bonus final. Andy Jovanovic (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy) swam a career-best and `B' cut of 47.82 to place 18th overall, just five one-hundredths of a second away from 16th position and the consolation final. Meanwhile, sophomore Jack Morris (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) was just behind Jovanovic in a career-best and `B' time of 47.99 to finish the morning in 20th place.
Freshman Alex Snarski (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) touched in a career-best 48.34 in the 100 fly to come in 26th and classmate Almog Olshtein (Haifa, Israel/Haifa) was 28th in a career-best 48.42 to also finish just shy of a second swim. The lone Wildcat to not record a career-best in the race was senior Mark Ferguson (Perth, Australia/John XXIII), who ended up 32nd overall.
Sophomore Charlie Cole (Bernardsville, N.J./Bernads) qualified for his second scoring final of the meet in the 200 free with an NCAA `B' time of 1:36.32, though he did not quite match his career-best 1:35.91 with which he led off Wednesday's 800 free relay. Still, he ended up 12th overall after the morning to comfortably qualify for an evening scoring lane.
Jonathan Lieberman (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) blew away his career-best time in the 200 free by over three full seconds to qualifying 18th overall for the bonus final, swimming an NCAA `B' provisional qualifying time of 1:37.07.
Senior Uula Auren (Helsinki, Finland/Mäkelänrinteen Lukio) was Northwestern's top competitor in the 100 breast Friday, placing 21st overall with a `B' time of 54.47 to pick up a second-swim opportunity in the bonus final. Behind him, senior Aaron Sears (Neenah, Minn./Neenah) swam a career-best 55.76 to end up 33rd overall while Van Donkersgoed (Eden Prairie, Minn./Minnehaha Academy) placed 34th with a 55.81.
Petersen was at it again in the 100 back, going off for a `B" time of 47.40 that slashed over three seconds from his season best to qualify him 11th overall for his second consolation final of Friday. That time makes Petersen the second-fastest swimmer in Northwestern history in the 100 back behind only reigning 100 back Olympic gold medalist Matt Grevers.
Jovanovic once again was mere hundredths away from a scoring final, this time falling three one-hundredths shy of 16th in the 100 back via a 17th-place and NCAA `B' career-best of 47.65. Snarski and Grant Halsall (Laxey, Isle of Man, GBR) were 25th and 26th overall, respectively, to just miss the bonus final with career-best times for both.
In diving preliminary action Friday afternoon on the 3-meter springboard, senior John Andrade (Avon, Conn./Avon) was Northwestern's top finished with a 24th-place 289.05 score. Sophomore Reed Dillon (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence Central) placed 28th with a 272.80.
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