After a disappointing fourth-place finish at the Big Ten championships, the Northwestern women’s swimming team has room for improvement at this month’s NCAA championships.
The Cats are looking to salvage a season that began with expectations of winning the conference. Despite a strong start, the No. 18 Wildcats struggled to stay afloat late in the season after their final home meet against No. 13 Penn State.
On Jan. 19, NU trailed the Lady Lions, the eventual Big Ten champions, by two points going into the 200-yard freestyle relay. The Cats secured a three-point victory margin when their relay touched in just .48 seconds ahead of Penn State in the final event.
But while NU was able to defeat Penn State in dual-meet competition, Big Tens were quite another story.
“I guess people just weren’t on like I thought they would be,” Adams said.
The Cats swam against the current at the conference meet, finishing each of the first three days in sixth place. The team ended the meet at No. 4 – a far cry from its title aspirations.
“We were shooting for something we had never achieved before,” Tierney said. “But even though you may not reach that goal, you have to sit back and take pride in the work you’ve done.”
Looking back on the conference meet, he said, it was unrealistic to think the Cats could win. He added that Penn State and second-place Indiana had depth that was hard to compete with.
The frustrating finish had a lot to do with injuries some of the Cats sustained during January and February, Tierney said.
“To do something really big, we had to have everybody healthy and right on, and we just didn’t do it,” Tierney said. “That’s part of athletics. You have to step back and battle even if you’re not at your best.”
But the conference championships weren’t the only place NU had trouble at the end of the season. The Cats entered the meet coming off of tough regular-season losses to No. 10 Notre Dame and No. 16 Michigan.
The 201-99 loss to the Fighting Irish was the low point of the Cats’ season, and the 134-106 loss to the Wolverines the following day did little to boost confidence.
But the season isn’t over for three NU swimmers, and there’s hope that three others could see action at NCAAs if their B-cut times qualify.
Carmen Cosgrove in the 100 butterfly, and Rachel Johnson and Adams in the 200 fly will travel to Austin, Texas, March 21-23, hoping to improve upon NU’s 35th place finish last year. Katie Simmons, Vicky West and Erin Swenson in the 100 breaststroke, 1,650 free and 200 individual medley could join their teammates at the meet.
“You almost have to focus on each person trying to improve and see where that gets you,” Tierney said.
Adams said all of the NU qualifiers this year have a good chance of making top-eight All-American finishes at the meet.
“NCAAs this year was really fast,” Adams said. “It’s the fastest it’s been in my four years here.”
And with the unusual speed of the times that have qualified for the championships, the swimmers are ready to prove themselves.
“We put most of our emphasis on the championship meet,” Tierney said. “The ultimate evaluation is still to come.”
