Though first-place finishes get the glory, the outcome against Notre Dame hinged on the swimmers in the middle of the pack.

Northwestern took first place in 10 of 16 events in its win over the Fighting Irish, a victory due largely to the improvement of the swimmers who didn’t reach the wall first.

“We’ve always had the guys who can take first place,” senior Chris Doman said. “But it was the guys who moved from fifth- or sixth-place to a third- or fourth-place finish that made the difference this meet.”

Besides their first-place finishes, the Wildcats added 19 swimmers in the top four spots to claim a 158.5-139.5 victory.

The win in South Bend, Ind., marks the Cats’ eighth-consecutive series win over the Fighting Irish, and it was the narrowest margin of victory in series history. Though the two teams swim in different conferences-NU in the Big Ten, Notre Dame in the Big East-they often share a recruiting pool. At least six current NU swimmers were recruited by Notre Dame but chose NU instead.

“We recruit the same guys out of high school because we’re sort of similar schools,” junior Alex Tyler said. “So we’ve been competing against a lot of them for a long time, which starts that fire in our rivalry.”

The rivalry was intensified by the mid-season training trips both teams took over Winter Break. Notre Dame spent one week training in Puerto Rico and returned just before the meet on Jan. 6.

NU spent two weeks at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. Mid-season training is intense, as it precedes the conference championships at the end of February.

“In the last four weeks since our training trip, there has been a renewed focus and intensity,” Doman said. “That was definitely present against Notre Dame and hopefully will continue throughout the season.”

That focus was evident against Notre Dame, as six different NU swimmers recorded eight season-best times. The Cats got off to a fast start early on with a full-second win in the 200-yard medley relay and first- and second-place finishes from freshman Charlie Rimkus and junior Peter Park in the 1,000-yard freestyle. Rimkus and Park both set season-best times in the event. Tyler and sophomore Nathan Butler together took the top two spots in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke.

The most decisive win in the meet came later, when junior Kalister Harmon competed in the three-meter diving board. Notre Dame boasts a six-person diving team to NU’s lone-member squad. But Harmon’s season-high score of 328.88 beat out four other Notre Dame divers and qualified him for the NCAA Zone Diving Competition at the end of the season.

“Last year we walked in and crushed their spirit by winning two or three events right away,” coach Jarod Schroeder said. “We used the same motto this year, but we came up with big wins throughout the entire meet-something we will try to do all season.”[email protected]