Northwestern won its season opener 161-139 against Eastern Michigan on Thursday night. Key contributions came from freshman Alex Snarski, who finished first in the 100 and 200 backstroke and 200 individual medley competitions.

“Alex Snarski had a great meet,” coach Jarod Schroeder said. “As a freshman to come in and win every event that he swam was pretty exciting to see. Hopefully there are bigger and better things to come.”

Schroeder noted freshman Almog Olshtein, who won the 50 free, and breaststrokers junior Van Donkersgoed and senior Uula Auren, who won their events. Junior Jordan Wilimovsky also won two of his races.

“It was a really fun event, though I was a little nervous going into it,” Snarski said. “But I’m really excited because it’s a whole new level from high school swimming and club swimming.”

Schroeder said he hopes the freshmen will continue to contribute to the team’s success.

“We just have a lot of talent in our younger class,” he said. “So hopefully they continue to improve and get better every meet that we have.”

Despite the win, Schroeder said that he sees where the team needs improvement, such as being more aggressive on the front half of longer races.

“I thought that we were probably a little more rusty than we should be,” he said. “It was a good win but I think we still have a long way to go. Most of these guys haven’t been off the blocks racing since August so they’re a little rusty. Hopefully as we move through the season we do a little better, and get a little bit crisper with our racing.”

The Wildcats will be at home next Saturday against UIC and Oakland, followed by a bye week for the team to take time and focus on the season ahead.

“We had some great swims today,” Schroeder said. “But I don’t think we were a great team, and we have the potential to be a great team.”

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