While many of us spent our breaks sleeping, eating, and watching television, Northwestern swimmers were hard at work.
On their annual trip to Florida, the Wildcats spent a week of grueling training to prepare themselves for the upcoming Big Ten season. In addition to the workouts, the team participated in two meets. First, the Georgia Fall Invitational at the end of November, followed by a double-dual meet with Florida Atlantic and the University of Denver in mid-December. While No. 17 NU only managed to produce a 2-3 record over the break, coach Bob Groseth said he was happy with his team’s results.
“I’m very happy with the effort the guys put in,” Groseth said. “The performances were about what we expected.”
The Georgia Invitational in Athens, Ga., featured three ranked teams, Georgia, Virginia and Florida, and one, Harvard, that has received votes from the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA). Although the Cats finished third out of the four teams that swam every event (Florida only participated in diving), they produced some very strong results. NU swimmers clocked seven NCAA ‘B’ provisional qualifying times including two each for junior Eric Nilsson and senior Bruno Barbic. In addition, some of the Cats’ younger swimmers showed signs of progress. Freshman Peter Park swam NU’s best time of the year in the 400 individual medley with a 3:59.30, while a number of his classmates, such as Sean Mathews and Alex Tyler scored key points in the first two days of competition.
“A lot of (the freshmen) struggled during the first half of the season,” Groseth said. “But some are primed for some really fast swims.”
Despite the team’s success in Georgia, Groseth didn’t go easy on his swimmers during their week-long training trip to Florida.
“It was really intense,” Tyler said. “Bob worked us really hard, but it’s definitely paying off.”
In addition to its daily workouts, the team also swam an NCAA-mandated dual meet in Boca Raton, Fla. NU defeated host Florida Atlantic, despite missing the entire diving team, but fell to the University of Denver. Some of NU’s other swimmers, such as Adam Beckman and Jon Ehret, put in strong showings at the meet. The team also saw the potential emergence of the long-distance threat it has been lacking. Park won the 1,000 freestyle by more than six seconds, with a time of 9:33.32. He also finished second in the 500 free with Mathews finishing third.
With the loss of NCAA Champions Matt Grevers and Mike Alexandrov, NU’s success in the Big Ten will have to be much more of a team effort. More than anything, the trip seemed to provide an important opportunity for some of the team’s supporting cast.
“We definitely lost some talent,” said junior breaststroke specialist John Franklin, who posted personal-bests in both meets. “But that just means we have to put in more work because the expectations aren’t as high.”
The team looks to defend its Big Ten title against some improved competition. While Groseth believes his squad isn’t quite at an elite level, he said he likes what he’s seen from his swimmers since returning from Florida.
“The effort shown when the guys got back has been real good,” he said. “They’ll be ready for conference play.”
Reach James Graham at [email protected].
