By Chris GentilvisoThe Daily Northwestern
As the chants of “One, two, Go Blue” emanated from the visiting Michigan crowd, Northwestern sensed it was in for a dogfight.
In their final tune-up before the Big Ten Championships, the Wildcats couldn’t match the depth of the No. 10 Wolverines (4-2, 3-0 Big Ten), falling 162-132. NU (3-6, 1-4 Big Ten) dropped to 0-5 this season against top-25 teams.
For the first time this season, the Cats’ strong freshman class put up a donut in the win column, recording no first place finishes.
“When you get close to a big meet, you change up the training a little bit, which I think put some of their bodies out of whack,” Tierney said. “We’ve had some days where they are all on. Today just wasn’t one of them.”
With one of the strongest cores of distance swimmers in the country, Michigan made an immediate statement, sweeping the top three spots in the 1000-yard free. Freshman Kassia Shishkoff finished a distant fourth, recording her slowest time since her first meet against Cal back in October.
Shishkoff struggled all day, placing fourth in the 200 free and fifth in the 200 IM.
“She was a little bit off today, ” NU coach Jimmy Tierney said. “It’s disappointing and difficult to take, but she’ll bounce back. She’ll be ready to go for Big Ten’s.”
The Cats received a boost from their veterans, taking first in three of the next four events. Juniors Andrea Hupman (200 free), Jessie Bailis (100 breast) and Katie Braun (200 fly) raced to first place finishes.
“People were slightly disappointed timewise, but effort wise we were exactly where we needed to be,” Braun said, as she continues to work her way back from a layoff from mononucleosis. “(Michigan) was the highest ranked team we had faced since Cal. The effort was there and that’s all we can ask for.”
In the second half of the meet, Michigan’s turns proved to be too much for NU to handle.
The 50 free, 100 fly, and 200 back events were all decided by less than 33-hundredths of a second. But Michigan came out on top in all three races, squashing NU’s hopes for an upset win. Hupman’s NCAA qualifying time in the 100 free was the only top finish for the Cats in the final ten events.
“We knew we had to stay tough through,” Hupman said. “They had good people across the board. We knew we had to fire it off every race.”
NU stepped up its performance in the final 400-yard freestyle relay event. Leading after 300 yards, freshman Jenn Kocsis was neck-and-neck with fellow Michigan freshman Margaret Kelly, but could not hold off the Ann Arbor native’s late surge. Despite the second place finish, the Cats recorded their second NCAA relay qualifying time of the season.
Braun and the youthful Cats have significant time off to fine tune those little things before heading north to Minneapolis for the Big Ten Tournament on February 8th. With the close of the dual meet schedule, she said a new season has begun.
“The end of the season matters most,” Braun said. “Dual meets are a good team indicator, but we’re swimming against teams twice our size. Two and a half weeks rest and we’re going to surprise some people.”
Reach Chris Gentilviso at [email protected].
