After a slow start the first two days, Northwestern won the three-day TYR Invitational in convincing fashion on Sunday.

The meet, held in Norris Aquatic Center, is the regular season’s only multi-session meet.

“Three day meets can be kind of daunting,” team captain and junior Lacey Locke said. “I think (hosting the meet) gives us an advantage to go home and nap and get ready for finals.”

While the Wildcats won by a large margin, with 1,188.5 points to second place Michigan State’s 962, the outcome was far from assured.  After the first day of competition, the Wildcats with 351 points, were only two points ahead of Michigan State, and NU’s margin was only slightly larger after the second day of swimming, when they led Michigan State by 22 points. And the slow start was in part due to NU’s smaller team, coach Abby Steketee said.

“This meet doesn’t have a roster cap,” Steketee said. “We had 23 swimmers cleared to swim, but Michigan State (for example) had 34. It was really about our girls maximizing their events.”

Steketee said the win against those odds was a testament to the swimmers’ passion and mental preparation.

Behind NU and Michigan State, Grand Canyon finished with 735 points, University of Illinois at Chicago had 446 points, Truman State totaled 348 points and St. Louis rounded out the group with 322.5 points.

The meet saw four Cats combine to earn six NCAA ‘B’ cuts, earning automatic consideration for the NCAA Championships.

Locke earned B cuts in the 200 yard backstroke and the 100 yard backstroke, despite taking second place in both events. Junior Melissa Postoll also earned a B cut in the 200 backstroke, finishing exactly 1.40 seconds behind Locke.

Junior Annika Winsnes also earned two B cuts, winning the 100 and 200 yard freestyles. NU’s sixth B cut came from sophomore Mary Warren, who swam a season best 22.98 seconds in the 50 yard freestyle.

Warren’s swimming is approaching a level where she could challenge NU’s school record in the event, which is currently 22.14 seconds held by Taylor Reynolds.

“Swimming in your home pool is one of the greatest feelings ever,” said Warren, continuing that the pool’s familiarity helped her focus her swimming.

Freshman Olivia Rosendahl continued her absolute dominance in the diving well, once again winning the 1 meter and 3 meter springboard diving competitions. Rosendahl has won the 3 meter springboard at every meet NU has been to this year, and has won the 1 meter springboard at every meet except for the dual meet last weekend against Wisconsin.

Rosendahl also won the 5 meter platform competition this weekend, the first time the event has been contested at a meet this season.  Following Rosendahl, NU divers sophomore Mashal Hashem, freshman Eryn Scannell and sophomore Monique Demaisip took second through fourth from the platform — an incredibly strong performance that added 68 very important points to the Cats’ team score on the final day of competition.

NU will return to action at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton during their winter break training trip to Ft. Lauderdale.

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