Northwestern men’s swim and dive team competed in the Men’s Big Ten Swimming and Diving Championships at Canham Natatorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan last week.

Day one featured the 200-yard medley and 800-yard freestyle relays. The Wildcats’ team of sophomore Tyler Lu and seniors Kevin Houseman, Ben Miller and Ethan Churilla took seventh in the medley relay with a time of 1:25.66. NU also clinched seventh in the freestyle relay, as the team of Lu, freshman Jan Karolczak and seniors Ben Forbes and Aleksa Bobar finished with a time of 6:29.29.

On day two, senior Ryan King secured the sixth place spot in the C final of the 500-yard freestyle and 22nd overall, adding about a second to his preliminary time and coming home in 4:25.55 to earn three points for NU. The Cats saw two swimmers make it to the 200-yard individual medley’s B final, as Lu and freshman Tonahuc Zinn finished in 10th and 14th place overall, respectively. 

In the C final of the 50-yard freestyle, Churilla and junior Collin Schuster both went 19.95 to tie for 18th overall. The night ended with the 400-yard medley relay in which the Cats’ team of Lu, Houseman, Churilla and Miller took seventh with a time of 3:08.34.

On day three, NU’s Miller improved 0.01 seconds from his preliminary time to 46.94 to get 14th place overall in the 100-yard butterfly. In the 400-yard IM, Zinn, Lu and King went 20th, 22nd and 23rd overall, respectively. Karolczak and Forbes swam in the B final of the 200-yard freestyle, Karolczak going 1:36.95 and Forbes going 1:36.98 to bring 24.5 points home for NU. 

The 100-yard breaststroke saw NU’s highest place in the competition so far, with Houseman clocking in at 51.90 to get fourth place overall. In the 100-yard backstroke, Schuster took 16th overall with a time of 48.06. The night culminated with the 200-yard freestyle relay in which the team of Schuster, Churilla, Forbes and Lu took eighth place with a time of 1:19.15. 

The last day of competition saw King take 12th place in the mile with a time of 15:15.63. In the 200-yard backstroke, Lu finished in eighth in both the A final and overall, with a time of 1:43.52, about a second slower than his preliminary time of 1:42.83. Senior Marcus Mok came home in seventh place, going 1:54.74 in the A final of the 200-yard breaststroke. Another fourth place finish for NU came from Miller’s swim in the 200 butterfly, dropping almost two seconds off his time from preliminaries and going a 1:41.43. The last event of the meet was the 400-yard freestyle relay: The Cats’ team of Bobar, Forbes, Schuster and Churilla earned seventh place with a time of 2:56.71.

The Cats finished in seventh place overall with a score of 618 points. NU looks ahead to the NCAA Championships next month at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center in Minneapolis. 

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