They might have limped into the pools, but Northwestern’s women swimmers (5-3) walked away from the state of Michigan with two wins this weekend.

Due to numerous injuries, coach Jimmy Tierney was forced to mix up his roster Friday against Michigan State. A bum shoulder left the Wildcats without sophomore standout Brielle Bovee. Bovee, who has yet to lose in the 100- or 200-yard breaststroke, is still awaiting results from an MRI taken Thursday.

To make matters worse, NU’s next best swimmer in the breaststroke, junior Katie Simmons, was limited to only one race — and it wasn’t the breaststroke.

“We couldn’t make too many mistakes or have too many off-hand performances,” Tierney said. “The group that was there did a nice job filling in events they don’t normally swim in.”

Even though the Cats found themselves trailing Michigan State for the majority of the meet, they were able to bounce back and win 114-109.

Sophomore Ashley Carter, who Tierney proclaimed one of his “best divers ever recruited,” struggled on the foreign diving boards — failing to win any events. Junior diver Kristin Ward’s diving was good enough to keep NU within striking distance.

After the close win over Michigan State, NU didn’t have to go far to get its next victory — traveling 75 miles from East Lansing to Ypsilanti to overpower Eastern Michigan 142-99.

Carter’s score of 290.70 was ample to win the 1-meter dive against Eastern Michigan. Overall, NU won eight of the nine individual races Saturday.

The Cats were anchored on both days by junior Erica Rose and senior Carmen Cosgrove. Rose, who was voted NU’s female athlete of the week, won four events over the weekend on an injured shoulder. Her dominance over Eastern Michigan was apparent — her two wins were by a combined 16 seconds. Cosgrove chipped in three wins during the weekend.

But Rose and Cosgrove weren’t the only NU swimmers who performed well.

Junior Erin Swenson won a pair of events, in what Tierney said was her best swimming of the season. And although Rachel Tepe is still rehabing an operated shoulder, the sophomore gave the Cats something to look forward to, finishing second behind freshman teammate Katie Pagani in the 200-yard backstroke on Saturday.

“For us to be the best, we need people like that to perform up to their capability,” Tierney said.

But not all the injured NU swimmers could look as sharp.

Senior Rachel Johnson, another one of several Cats with a bad shoulder, was able to compete in only one race. After racing in the 200-yard individual medley, pain forced the senior to sit out the remaining events.

“It’s hard for our girls who are hurt because they can’t train as much as we do,” Rose said. “But I think by the end of the season they’ll be ready to swim well.”