By Chris GentilvisoThe Daily Northwestern
In a mirror image of last season, Northwestern opened the New Year with No. 16 Tennessee. Needing strong performances from a short roster, the Wildcats fell short against the Lady Volunteers, 210-139.
The Cats appeared rusty after a 19-day Winter Break layoff. NU (1-5) placed first in only six of 19 events, and dropped to 0-4 against top-25 teams this season. Christine Magnuson led the ladies from Knoxville, Tenn. with three individual and three relay wins.
“Tennessee came out in the morning session and swam unbelievably fast to a point where they were hitting NCAA level times,” NU coach Jimmy Tierney said. “They were fresher than we were and it put us in a hole. But we knew we could regroup and I thought the girls did a great job responding to that.”
With one of the toughest dual-meet schedules in the nation, the score wasn’t an indicator of the Cats’ performance. NU is in a good position to send a number of swimmers to the NCAA Championships. NU recorded a season-high nine NCAA ‘B’ cut qualifying times, led by freshman Kassia Shishkoff, who placed first in all four of her individual events.
A pool record in the 1650-yard free headed her quartet of victories as she shattered the 10-year-old Norris Aquatics Center mark held by Amy Olberhelman of Stanford by five seconds. She narrowly missed a second pool record in the 500-yard free by one tenth of a second.
“I swam pretty badly at the Hawaii meet,” Shishkoff said. “It was probably the sorest I’ve ever been. I was really excited to go out there and swim fast.”
Fellow freshman Jenn Kocsis capped the Cats’ 1-2 punch in the 1650 free, turning in a ‘B’ cut time of her own, the ninth best time in NU history in the event.
“They’re buying into what we’ve asked for,” Tierney said of the freshman class. “There’s great leadership with the upperclassmen and I’m more confident with that group than I have been in a long, long time.”
In the Cats most dominating race of the day, Shishkoff headed a trio of swimmers who swept the three top spots in the 200-yard free. Junior Andrea Hupman followed Shishkoff with a ‘B’ cut time, while freshman Emily Wong missed a ‘B’ cut of her own by two hundredths of a second.
With depth one of the team’s biggest issues, the Cats received a much-needed boost with the return of junior Katie Braun. After battling mononucleosis for the past six weeks, Braun was part of a victory in the 200-yard medley relay.
“My initial reaction was ‘ouch’,” Braun said. “It’s definitely been hard to get back to where I was but my teammates and coaches have been really supportive. It’s now about getting back in shape and getting ready for the end of the season.”
The Cats head into next weekend facing their most grueling stretch of the season in preparation for the Big Ten Tournament.
They will face Marshall and Ohio State in Columbus, with only 20 hours separating the start times of the two meets.
“The biggest focus is Ohio State,” Tierney said. “We’ll get to adjust the lineup and have the girls swim some things they normally wouldn’t (against Marshall). We’ll go with our full fledged lineup and take it to them the best we can.”
But Kocsis expressed no concern about pressure or fatigue as the Cats head closer to the tournament atmosphere.
“I think our team’s ready,” she said. “We’ve been working really hard and it should be interesting to see what we can do.”
Reach Chris Gentilviso at [email protected].
