It may have lost to Michigan for the 30th consecutive meet, but this time the Northwestern men’s swim team wasn’t intimidated.
“Our guys went there with a sense of purpose,” NU coach Bob Groseth said. “In many of the races, they asserted themselves.”
The Wildcats lost 153-132 Friday against the No. 4 Wolverines. While the loss would have been greater had Michigan not exhibitioned some of its racers in the final events, the Cats did win 7 of the 16 events — a large number considering the strong competition.
“It wasn’t a meet we expected to win,” said freshman freestyler Brian Davis. “We didn’t anticipate the (close) margin.”
Davis helped the Cats make it close by winning the 1000-yard freestyle by more than four seconds. His time was more than four seconds faster than his previous career best.
His victory was impressive because it came against one of the finest distance-swimming teams in the country.
“I was surprised I made it a race,” Davis said. “I expected to just dive in and automatically get blown away.”
Senior Kellan O’Connor won the 200 butterfly and improved on his fastest time in the Big Ten. He also took first place in the 100 butterfly and is now the second-fastest swimmer in the conference in that event.
While they lost the meet, the swimmers said they were content with their performances. They certainly swam much better than they did on their last trip to Michigan, when they lost to unranked Michigan State and Eastern Michigan.
“If you consider the last time we were in Michigan to be rock bottom, everything since then has been a step in the right direction,” senior captain Dave Hersh said.
After the Michigan trip, Groseth faulted his team for its lack of emotion. But this time, Groseth said his team showed more intensity in their swimming.
“You could probably use the exact opposite adjectives to describe this trip,” he said. “It was a spirited performance.”
Groseth may have watched NU’s loss Friday from the sidelines, but he was the center of attention for the NU women’s meet Saturday against Ohio State. At the request of women’s coach Jimmy Tierney, Groseth served as public address announcer.
Usually, the announcer introduces the swimmers and reports the results of each event. But Groseth chose instead to offer play-by-play and commentary on the swimmers. Throughout the two-hour meet, Groseth rarely missed an opportunity to provide his fans with swimming information.
Most of Groseth’s swimmers attended the women’s meet and said they were impressed — not embarrassed — by their coach.
“I think he’s the best announcer that ever was,” Hersh said. “The Howard Cosell of swim-meet announcing.”
Groseth thanked Hersh for the compliment, but not for the comparison.
“My comments aren’t nearly as caustic as Howard’s,” he said.
