After a heart wrenching 155-142 near upset of No. 19 Michigan, the Northwestern women’s swim team had a message for Michigan in the customary NU post-meet chant:
“See you at Big Ten’s.”
After dropping their first three matches against conference opponents this season, the Wildcats beat Michigan State on Jan. 10 and sought to build it into a Big Ten winning streak Saturday when they took on the Wolverines.
But Michigan came out too strong — winning four of the first five races. The Cats quickly found themselves down 26 points.
Even though Katie Simmons is still rehabilitating an injured shoulder, the junior placed first in the 200-yard breaststroke and touched in .01 seconds behind Michigan swimmer Kelli Stein in the 100 breaststroke.
Coming close was a recurring theme for NU. Freshman Sara Petric won the 50 freestyle, but came up .2 seconds short of winning the 100. All Katie Paglini needed to win the 100 backstroke was .24 seconds. Instead the 6-foot freshman finished in third place.
“We felt like we were capable and prepared to beat Michigan,” NU coach Jimmy Tierney said. “We just fell short in a few areas. It hurts because we felt that we should’ve won the meet.”
A charge led by senior Carmen Cosgrove and sophomore diver Ashley Carter put the Cats within a paw’s reach of Michigan. Cosgrove won the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:02.10 in an exciting race, edging out Michigan co-captain Anne Weilbacher by .56 seconds.
Carter dominated the diving board — winning the one-meter and three-meter events by a combined 38 points.
With two races left, NU found itself down by 11 points. Juniors Erica Rose and Erin Swenson represented the Cats in the 400 individual medley. Swenson won the race easily with a time of 4:25.76. Rose fought for second place, but in the end found herself in fourth — missing third by .05 seconds.
But their performance brought NU even closer. Down by just eight points with the 400 medley relay being the only event left, the Cats needed at least a first- and third-place finish to win. Swenson didn’t even have time to dry off before she found herself on the block ready to swim a leg for one of NU’s two relay teams.
But the Cats fell just short of completing a comeback. The two relay teams finished second and third.
Even though NU’s focus this season is set squarely on the Big Ten Championships, a loss at home to Michigan was nonetheless disappointing.
“It was pretty frustrating,” Swenson said. “A lot of points were lost in tiny things. We got second place a lot where we could’ve got first.”
Saturday’s meet against Ohio State will be NU’s final competition before the start of the Big Ten Championships on Feb. 19. Tierney is confident that the badly worn-down bodies of his swimmers will be rested and ready to go by then.
Sophomore breaststroker Brielle Bovee has resumed practicing with the team. Even though Bovee sat out five matches due to an injured shoulder, Tierney believes she’ll be ready to go in time for Big Ten’s.
Because with four conference losses, the Cats will have a lot to prove.
