No. 23 Northwestern travels to Notre Dame on Saturday for a dual meet involving two of the strongest 50- and 100- yard freestyle swimmers in their schools’ histories.
Don’t blink-you might not see who wins.
Fighting Irish junior Amywren Miller, who recorded the fastest times in school history for the 50- and 100-yard freestyle races, will race Wildcats senior Emily Wong. Wong broke the 50-yard freestyle Norris Aquatics Center record last November. She now holds the 50- and 100-yard freestyle pool records, times that place her third for both in the school record book.
“They should have some really good head-to-head races,” coach Jimmy Tierney said. “Amywren is an excellent swimmer-she’s been in NCAAs before. But we feel great about Emily, and I would put Emily up against anyone in the country right now.”
In last season’s competition, Wong won the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 51.41, which was 0.04 faster than Miller. Later that afternoon, Miller answered by reaching the wall 0.07 seconds ahead of Wong in the 50-yard freestyle.
“I’m just looking forward to going down there and racing again,” Wong said. “It’s good to have good competition in dual meets. It pushes us harder and gets us to where we want to be for Big Tens.”
Wong’s impact on Saturday’s meet against Notre Dame (1-1) will extend beyond individual events. The bedrock of NU’s (6-2) relay teams, Wong has been a constant in the eight relays during the four dual meets this season. She has swam in all but one of the races, the lone exception coming when NU was already assured of a win over UIC.
“We definitely take great pride in relays, it’s a team thing,” Tierney said. “I’m excited about all the relays, and the girls are, too.”
Freshman Felicitas Lenz, already a two-time Big Ten Diver of the Week, will square off against Notre Dame senior Natalie Stitt, the Big East’s Most Outstanding Diver at the 2009 league championship meet. In last season’s meet against NU, Stitt and Notre Dame’s diving team took the top four scores on the three-meter springboard. Stitt also scored highest on the one-meter springboard.
“Notre Dame has always had very good divers,” Tierney said. “It’s always a bit of an advantage in the home pool, especially with diving. But I’m looking forward to (Lenz) going down there.”
Cats sophomore Jenny Wilson will look to turn the tables on Notre Dame’s Samantha Maxwell. Last year, Wilson fell short in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke events to Maxwell, who went on to set school records for both distances two months later.
“Samantha is a very talented swimmer and had a very good end of the season last year,” Tierney said. “I’m excited for Jenny, Kathleen (Patterson) and Hannah (Points) and our girls to stand up and race against her.”
In addition to its strong swimmers, Notre Dame is mentored by reigning Big East Women’s Coach of the Year Brian Barnes.
The Cats are looking forward to the challenge of facing the Fighting Irish-familiar foes and 13-time Big East champions.
“There’s a rivalry, and we just want to perform well and beat them,” freshman Meghan Fenn [email protected]
