Feb. 22, 2006

Northwestern's Big Ten Championships Notes in PDF Format
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- Featuring some of the best individual talent in the nation, No. 15 Northwestern enters the 2006 Big Ten Championships this weekend with eyes on topping its record-setting 2005 effort -- which was the most incredible performance at the meet in recent Northwestern history.

No one had the individual success at last year's Big Ten Championships that Northwestern enjoyed. Consider:

• Six Wildcats earned first-team All-Big Ten honors, two more than Michigan and Minnesota, which both fielded the next most with four.
• Northwestern won seven event titles, the most of any school.
• Of the 11 Big Ten records broken at last year's meet, the Wildcats set six of them -- more than all of the other schools combined.
• Three different Wildcats earned conference superlatives after the meet (Matt Grevers, Swimmer of the Championships; Kyle Bubolz, Freshman of the Year; Bob Groseth, Swimming Coach of the Year), matching the total number of individuals honored from the rest of the Big Ten schools combined.

Even with that staggering success, Northwestern finished fourth at last year's Championships because of the depth of other conference schools. The Wildcats continue to boast some of the top athletes, and hope to showcase more depth this season, as well.

The usual suspects still are here. Grevers already has set two school records this season, breaking a pair of seven-year old marks in the 200 free and the 200 back. Junior Mike Alexandrov has the top time in the nation in the 200 breast and the No. 2 time in the 400 IM according to the Taper & Shave College Quick 100, and Bubolz has the No. 10 tiime in the country in the 100 fly.

Providing the 'Cats with more depth this season will be senior Brian Davis and freshman Eric Nilsson in the distance free events -- a focus for Groseth entering this year. Davis has been a finalist in the 500 free in each of the last three seasons, and finished third in the 1650 free as a sophomore. Nilsson has impressed in his freshman campaign, turning in NU's top time of the year in the 1000 free, and challenging Grevers and Davis for supremency in the 200 and 500 free events.

For Northwestern's complete preview and notes, click on the link at the top of the page. For complete meet coverage, including live stats, please link to iuhoosiers.com.