By Chris GentilvisoThe Daily Northwestern
Undermanned throughout the regular season, Northwestern junior Katie Braun said the Wildcats would surprise some teams at the 2007 Big Ten Championships.
Mission accomplished.
Nine different NU swimmers raced to 16 NCAA provisional qualifying times, en route to a seventh-place finish. The Cats earned a total of 301 points, one point short of sixth-place Purdue. No. 8 Indiana won the team title with 715.5 points.
“It was probably the best Big Tens we’ve had in several years,” NU coach Jimmy Tierney said. “We knew sixth (place) was probably the best we could do. If Penn State wasn’t disqualified on its last relay, we would’ve overtaken Purdue.”
The story for NU was its relays. After finishing no higher than sixth at last year’s championships in Columbus, Ohio, the Cats medaled in three events, taking third in both the 400-yard freestyle and medley events.
“It was amazing to be a part of,” said freshman Emily Wong, who raced in all three relays. “I’ve never seen a meet where the team was so cohesive. We supported each other all the way through.”
On day two, the Cats’ relay prowess continued, as three freshmen and a junior All-American made history.
After setting a pool record in Evanston back in January, Wong, Jenn Kocsis, Kassia Shishkoff, and Andrea Hupman broke the 13-year old NU school record in the 800-yard freestyle relay. The second place finish was the Cats’ lone silver medal of the tournament, as host Minnesota captured the Big Ten
title by two seconds.
“It was a wonderful performance,” Tierney said. “We wanted to challenge Minnesota as the defending champion and we gave them quite a run. We certainly would’ve liked to have come away with some championships, but we were right on the edge there.”
The strong showing led the four NU swimmers to be named second team All-Big Ten – the most representatives for the Cats since 2000. Tierney said he expects the relay quartet to receive an invite to the NCAA Championships.
On the individual end, Hupman will make her second consecutive trip to the NCAAs after notching a third-place A cut automatic qualifying time in the 100-yard free. But despite qualifying, she said there is more work to be done.
“It’s not that it was a bad swim,” said Hupman, who also took part in all three medal earning relays. “It’s that I’m a perfectionist. Looking forward to NCAAs, I want to work on things from Big Tens and make it more perfect.”
Hupman entered the 200-yard free looking for a second medal. But she was disqualified for slight movement on the blocks prior to the start of the race, negating her chances of an NCAA appearance.
“I can’t believe I ever did it in the first place,” Hupman said. “It’s kind of like a nightmare.”
With the season far from over, several NU swimmers, headed by Braun, will head down to West Lafayette, Ind., on Saturday to participate in the Last Chance Meet, looking to shave seconds off their times with a chance to qualify for the NCAA tournament.
And with a likely bid sitting for her 800-yard free team, Wong showed no desire for her freshman season to end prematurely.
“We’re going to get back to practicing hard,” she said. “It’s going to be exciting to see what we can do against the best teams in the country.”
Reach Chris Gentilviso at [email protected].
