Even though Northwestern was already thinking about the Big Ten Championships, the team took care of business against the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers on Friday, winning 163-128.

As the Wildcats had hoped, their relay teams in the 200-yard medley set the tone immediately, taking first and second place. Coach Jarod Schroeder had a lot of his swimmers participate in off events, races that weren’t their strong suit.

But regardless of where Schroeder put his guys, they still found ways to win, beating the Panthers in every swimming event except the 200-yard butterfly.

Junior Uula Auren broke his own pool record he set at the Klotsche Natatorium last year in the 100-yard breaststroke with a new time of 57.02 seconds. It was an encouraging sign for Auren, who is already further along at this point in the season than he was last year when he was recovering from shoulder surgery.

At 7-3-1, NU has already surpassed expectations for this season. Senior Chase Stephens said this year’s team has an entirely different feel compared to other squads in the past.

“This year is definitely different,” Stephens said. “This year is more about completion. Everything has to be done to completion or we’ve failed. It’s really good to start to see that being fostered now. Our record is a reflection of that.”

With the year’s marquee event, the Big Ten Championships, now less than a month away, Schroeder and Stephens said the Cats will focus on the little details that will help NU perform well in a raucous environment in Ann Arbor, Mich. But with their strong dual meet record, Schroeder hopes the Cats have earned the respect of their conference foes.

“The last three or four years we’ve gone into Big Tens to try and prove to everyone that we’re a good team,” Schroeder said. “We don’t have the pressure of going into Big Tens to prove that we’re as good as a .500 team. Hopefully we now understand that.”

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