Women’s Swimming: Northwestern dominates competition at Winter Break invitational
Daniel Tian/The Daily Northwestern
Ellen Stello races past her competition. The junior swimmer and the rest of the Wildcats handled nearly every opponent that came their way over Winter Break.
January 5, 2016
Swimming and Diving
While most students returned home after Finals Week, Northwestern traveled to Florida for a week-long training trip and meet, where it notched an easy victory against four opponents.
The Wildcats were able to train outdoors in Ft. Lauderdale before traveling to Boca Raton on Dec. 19 for Florida Atlantic’s FUN Invite. In addition to the Wildcats and their hosts, Marywood, Old Dominion and Northern Arizona competed at the invitational.
NU dominated the meet, winning 12 of 14 events, beginning with an auspicious 1-2-3 finish in the 100-yard medley relay. Junior Lacey Locke led the Cats, followed by freshman Lindsay Adamski, senior Julia Pratt and sophomore Mary Warren.
In the second event, the 200-yard freestyle, junior Annika Winsnes notched her third first place finish in the event this season despite her time being nearly five seconds slower than her NCAA ‘B’ cut from the TYR Invitational.
The Cats continued to dominate their competition in later events, with Locke and juniors Melissa Postoll and Jackie Doyle finishing 1-2-3 in the 50-yard backstroke. NU also went 1-2-3 in the 50-yard freestyle, and Pratt and sophomore Maddy Sims took first and second, respectively, in the 50-yard butterfly.
In the 100-yard reverse individual medley, freshman Alex Grimes and Postoll took first and second. The reverse IM was a novelty event included in the meet that flipped the traditional order of the event, requiring the swimmers to start with freestyle and finish with butterfly.
In addition to her wins in the 200-yard and 50-yard freestyles, Winsnes also won the 100-yard freestyle. Her margin of victory over Hayley Edmond of Northern Arizona was nearly three seconds, an eternity for the distance.
NU lost only two races on the day — the 100-yard and 50-yard breaststrokes. However, the Florida Atlantic advantage in the 50-yard breaststroke was slim, as senior Julianne Kurke, Adamski, Warren and junior Katie Branch finished second through fifth respectively. Adding to the impressive nature of their consecutive finish was that all four were less than three-quarters of a second behind Roper.
The Cats return to action Jan. 16, taking on Notre Dame in South Bend. It will be the team’s final road meet before the Big Ten championships in February.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @kentuckyjohnson
