If weekends are a time to relax, forgive the Wildcats if they don’t seem refreshed.
The men’s team swam in three meets during a span of 48 hours last weekend. Northwestern hit the road Friday afternoon for a matchup with Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Afterwards the Cats traveled back to Evanston for Saturday’s 1 p.m. dual meet with Texas A&M and then finished the gauntlet with the NU Relays, which began at noon on Sunday.
It wasn’t exactly a chance to ease into the season for the No. 13 Cats, who managed to win nine of 11 events to place first in the NU Relays. But it was a chance to get an early glimpse of a team that has yet to form an identity. Sixteen of NU’s 20 mens swimmers this year are freshmen or sophomores.
“The first half [of the season] is going to be ragged,” coach Bob Groseth said. “You can see it in practice. There’s just too many young guys in the water.
“Not that they’re not good enough. It’s just that they’re not ready yet. That was exposed [Saturday] in the meet against Texas A&M.”
In that meet, NU held the lead entering the day’s final event. The Aggies needed to win the 200 free relay and place another team in the top three to steal the victory. They swept the top two spots to edge the Cats 149.5-144.5.
“They’re a veteran team,” Groseth said of Texas A&M. “When it came down to the end of the meet, they were able to do what they needed to do, and we weren’t.”
On the women’s side, the outlook was brighter. The team also won nine of its 11 events to earn first place in the NU Relays. Sophomore Katie Braun and senior Katie Paglini each swam on five winning relay teams.
“That was an area where we were thin coming in and really needed to find other people that wanted to prove themselves on those relays,” coach Jimmy Tierney said. “That was a good start for us.”
Tierney said the Cats – especially the sprinters – are significantly ahead of where they were at this point last season. Paglini, in particular, is off to her best start in four years.
“This is definitely one of my favorite meets,” she said after swimming the NU Relays for the last time. “I wanted to go out in a good way.”
Both the men’s and women’s teams cruised to lopsided victories in Milwaukee on Friday. Each dropped only one event against the Panthers. While the women had a rest day before the relays, the men were just getting started.
The demanding weekend schedule was an important experience for the team’s young swimmers. The Big Ten and NCAA Championships run the same three-day format.
“It’s really hard on the muscles, but we’re getting used to it,” freshman Eric Nilsson said.
Nilsson emerged Sunday as a newcomer who potentially could become a major contributor this season. He swam on four winning teams, including the 800 free relay.
At last year’s Big Ten Championships, NU won three relays and placed second in another. The Cats finished ninth in the 800 – a weakness that Groseth hopes to address early in this season.
Near the bottom of Groseth’s list of concerns is any individual event that Matt Grevers enters. The decorated junior began the encore to his phenomenal 2005 season by winning the 100 and 200 backstrokes and 200 IM on Saturday.
Even if Grevers continues his dominant run throughout the season, this NU team’s success undoubtedly will hinge on the development of its youngsters.
“You can tell from the freshmen how much heart they really have,” Grevers said. “It’s good to have leadership and older guys, but young guys bring some new excitement.”
Reach Gerald Tang at [email protected].
