March 29, 2007

Herbert wins wrestling title

Wrestler Herbert wins title

Junior wrestler Jake Herbert won the national title at 184 pounds, powering the Wildcats to a fourth place finish at the 2007 NCAA Championships outside Detroit.

The seventh national champion in Northwestern history and first since 1990, Herbert wrestled a dominating final match over Iowa State’s Jake Varner by a 6-1 decision.

Last season Herbert finished runner-up at 174 pounds to Missouri’s Ben Askren, who repeated as champion of that weight class.

Herbert becomes Northwestern’s first individual champion since Jack Griffin in 1990. The fourth-place finish matches Northwestern’s best-ever finishes in 1932 and 1990.

Overall, Northwestern earned four All-America honors — the most since 1990 — as junior Dustin Fox finished third at heavyweight, junior Ryan Lang finished second at 141 pounds and junior Mike Tamillow finished seventh at 197 pounds.

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Hupman leads women’s swimming

Junior Andrea Hupman earned her third-consecutive All-America honor in the 100 free at the 2007 NCAA Championships in Minneapolis, earning the lone point for the Wildcats.

Hupman qualified for the ‘B’ final with a time of 49.25, then finished in 16th place overall with a 49.58 in the finals.

The Wildcats placed 41st overall.

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Swimmers Grevers, Alexandrov go out as national champs

In his last event, senior Matt Grevers put one final exclamation mark on the Northwestern record books, winning the 200 back by over two seconds at the NCAA Championships in Minneapolis.

Grevers swam the fifth-fastest time in the event’s history during the final, clocking a new school-record time of 1:38.71.

With the win, Grevers earned the third individual NCAA championship of his career, making him Northwestern’s first three-time NCAA champion since Al Schwartz accomplished the feat in 1930.

Northwestern’s 2007 Championships performance will go down as its best since the NCAA officially recognized men’s swimming in 1937. The Wildcats’ earned three titles (400 medley relay, 100 breast and 200 back) for the first time in the modern era, with only the 1924 and 1930 Wildcat squads, both before NCAA recognition, matching the feat.

Senior Mike Alexandrov joined Grevers as an NCAA individual champion by winning the 100 breast.

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Fencing finishes seventh

Northwestern fencing finished its season with a seventh place showing at the 2007 Fencing Championships, in Madison, N.J.

Freshman Christa French was Northwestern’s top finisher, placing sixth in women’s epee.

The Wildcats’ top finisher, French, placed sixth in epee, while her sister, freshman Kayley French, finished 14th.

In foil, the Wildcats two returning All-Americans, sophomore Sam Nemecek and senior Jessica Florendo placed seventh and 16th, respectively.

Senior Mai Vu, the lone Wildcat competitor in sabre, placed 22nd.