Painted banners and purple and white balloons adorned the walls of the Norris Aquatic Center on Saturday, as five senior Northwestern women’s swimmers competed in their last home meet.
Katie Simmons, Maria Reeves, Erin Swenson, Vicky West and Erica Rose went out with a bang as the Wildcats beat Iowa, 163-128, on Senior Day at the Sports Pavilion and Aquatic Center.
“They’re just an awesome group, they’re a terrific bunch of young ladies that have done an outstanding job of leading this program the last four years,” coach Jimmy Tierney said. “They swam beautifully today.
West isn’t considering her season over yet.
“It was exciting — a lot of emotion,” she said. “(We’re) going out on a good note with Big Tens and hopefully NCAA’s coming up.”
West turned in a huge performance, winning the 1,000-yard freestyle with a season best 10:08.73. She also won the 500 free.
Down 44-30, the Cats were fueled by Christy Olin’s dominance in the butterfly — she won the 100 and 200.
“Her outstanding butterfly performances have been incredible all year,” Tierney said.
The Cats then flexed their muscles in the 50 free, taking the four spots. Reeves claimed first and was followed by Sara Petric, Michelle Oeser and Marijana Surkovic.
“Maria hadn’t won a 50 like that in a long time,” Tierney said.
Iowa started strong, winning the 200 medley relay. West, however, led the way in a first through third sweep of the 1,000 free, with Rose and Amy Mueller finishing right behind.
The Hawkeyes took the next two events, sweeping the 200 free and taking first in the 100 backstroke.
“I’m happy Iowa stepped up to the challenge and swam a couple of those early races really fast where they have been all year because it made us rise up to the challenge a little bit more,” Tierney said.
The Cats put the meet away with wins by Swenson in the 100 free and 200 individual medley, Simmons in the 200 breaststroke, West in the 500 free and Olin in the 100 butterfly.
The swimmers get the next three weeks to rest and train for the Big Ten championships in Minneapolis, Minn., Feb 18-20.
“There’s going to be a lot of rest and letting their bodies recover and just get mentally prepared,” Tierney said. “I’m just looking for them to have the meet of their lives.”
