By Chris GentilvisoThe Daily Northwestern
After nearly upsetting Purdue, Northwestern women’s swimming had every expectation of picking up its first conference win against No.19 Wisconsin on Friday afternoon.
Despite a season-high four NCAA qualifying times for NU, the Badgers squeezed out a 129-114 victory. NU dropped to 0-4 (0-3 Big Ten) in dual meets, with three of those four losses coming against top-20 opponents.
“Last week was the first week I saw major fatigue in practices,” coach Jimmy Tierney said. “If we continue knocking on the door, we’re going to make our way in. These girls have a lot of courage and strength. They’re not afraid of anyone.”
The meet saw a battle of NCAA All-Americans, as NU junior Andrea Hupman and Wisconsin sophomore Yi Ting Siow both shattered pool records. Siow’s time of 2:11.19 in the 200-yard breaststroke was the first NCAA ‘A’ cut qualifying time recorded in Evanston this season.
Hupman, a two-time All-American turned in her strongest outing of the season, setting a pool record in the 100-yard freestyle with a ‘B’ cut qualifying time of 49.99.
Freshman Emily Wong gave NU the sweep, following Hupman with a second-place finish at 51.62.
In the 200-yard freestyle, Hupman notched another ‘B’ cut time, topping Wisconsin sophomore Jen Illescas by one second.
“Andrea’s doing an excellent job as always,” Tierney said. “Her 200-yard time at Indiana and 100-yard this week were some of the best times I’ve seen at this point in the season since I’ve been here.”
Freshman Kassia Shishkoff turned in another pair of strong times, notching a ‘B’ cut time of 4:52.76 in the 500-yard freestyle. She captured first in the 1000-yard freestyle for the fourth consecutive week.
With junior Katie Braun out for the second consecutive week due to mononucleosis, NU witnessed another impressive performance from its newcomers.
Freshman Rachel Rys captured her first dual meet victory, snagging the 200-yard fly with an NCAA ‘B’ cut qualifying time of 2:01.51.
“I was trying to step it up,” Rys said. “Obviously, we’re a small team. Especially with Katie’s absence, I just took that to work in my performance.
With the Big Ten schedule on hold for the TYR invitational and U.S. Open, Tierney said that the team would shift its focus towards stamina as the meet schedule lengthens and deepens.
“I want them to pay attention to how to prepare themselves for a championship format,” he said. “Little things like warm-ups and rest will be critical come those meets. Even though these races have an individual focus, we want our team to make an impression.”
Reach Chris Gentilviso at [email protected].
