After working out in the tropical waters of Hawaii over Winter Break, the Northwestern men’s swimming team returns this quarter to the cold reality of swimming in the competitive Big Ten Conference.
But the Wildcats’ impressive showings in October and November have grabbed the attention of the country to the tune of a No. 16 national ranking. NU is the fourth-highest ranked Big Ten team, behind Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Despite attaining the highest ranking in head coach Bob Groseth’s 13-year tenure at NU, he and the rest of the squad are working as hard as ever in practice, knowing that their position in the polls won’t intimidate any of their conference foes.
“The only ranking that counts is the one at the end of the year,” Groseth said. “That’s not to say that we’re not happy being ranked, but we still have a lot of work to do.”
Groseth said he is only concerned that his team might get complacent with their recent success.
“After dominating at Purdue, having such a good trip to Hawaii and staying relatively injury-free, I just don’t want us to be satisfied,” Groseth said.
CREAM OF THE COUNTRY: Along with the team gaining national recognition, a few individuals on NU’s squad are turning heads with some of the nation’s best times. At the head of the class is freshman phenom Matt Grevers, whose 100 butterfly time of 47.72 is the fastest in the country this year. Grevers’ 100-meter backstroke time of 47.64 is good enough for fourth, his 100 freestyle time of 43.53 is fifth and his 50 freestyle time of 20.05 ranks seventh.
Fellow freshman Mike Alexandrov’s time of 1:59.08 in the 200 breaststroke ranks sixth nationally.
The rookie brilliance of Grevers and Alexandrov has been book-ended by the experience of seniors Mark Hamming and Tony Swanson. Hamming’s times of 146.06 in the 200 fly and 148.12 in the 200 individual medley are fourth in the nation. Swanson added a performance of 1:48.22 in the 200 IM, which is the fifth-best time recorded this season. Hamming and Swanson also rank eighth and ninth nationally in the 200 IM, with times of 148.12 and 148.22.
“Those guys have been stepping up big and leading the team by example all year,” Groseth said.
Four Northwestern relay teams rank in the top 15 as well. The 400 freestyle relay team’s time of 2:58.14 is the second fastest in the nation, while the 400 medley relay team is sixth, with a 3:16.20 mark. The 800 and 200 freestyle relay teams rank 11th and 12th.
MOVIN’ ON UP: Though idle in competition during the break, the team kept busy not only on the physical end, by training in Hawaii, but also in the front office. NU promoted assistant coach Sergio Lopez to associate head coach, a position that will give Lopez control of coaching the stroke-event swimmers and recruiting.
The stroke swimmers could learn a thing or twenty from Lopez, whose list of accolades includes a bronze medal from the 1988 Olympics and a fourth-place finish in the 1992 games in the 200 breaststroke while representing Spain. He is the former European and U.S. Open record holder in that event, and from 1986-96 was world-ranked in six separate events. Lopez was also a nine-time collegiate All-American, and can relate to the pressures of swimming in the Big Ten: He swam for Indiana his first two years in college.
“Coach Lopez can concentrate on coaching his specialty with the stroke swimmers, and I’ll be focusing on the freestyle swimmers,” Groseth said. “His promotion creates stability on our staff as far as drawing recruits in to the program.”
EARLY SIGNEES: Over the break, Groseth announced that four student athletes signed National Letters of Intent. Swimmers Kyle Bubolz, Jonathan Ehret and David Kormushoff and diver Ryan McIntosh have committed to the Cats for the 2004-05 season.
