It’s time to separate the men from the boys.

After months of preparation, the season culminates for the NIU men swimmers at the Midwest Independent Championships at Illinois-Chicago Thursday and Friday beginning at noon.

“It’s finally here,” said senior co-captain Dave Talbot. “I’m ready to go. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”

The Huskies have been setting their sights on this competition since the beginning of the season. NIU brings an impressive 14-2 dual-meet record into the Chicago tourney, and the squad hopes to leave with a blue ribbon. If all goes well, it is the first time in the last four years the Huskies believe they have a shot at winning it all.

“Each person swimming knows his potential,” said Mike Godstead, senior co-captain. “The only obstacle I can see is if someone messes (their time) up. If we don’t mess up, there’s nothing that could really stop us.”

Besides NIU, 10 other teams will fight for the top spot. The list includes Bradley, Eastern Illinois, Illinois State, Northeastern Louisiana, Northern Iowa, Oral Roberts, Southwest Missouri State, Western Illinois, Western Kentucky and host UIC.

Godstead, Talbot and NIU coach Dave Clark agree that the toughest teams will be SWMS, Louisiana and Western Kentucky. Western Kentucky won the title last year and SWMS won the championship the year before.

“We figure these are the four teams (including NIU) that are relatively equal,” said the Huskie boss. “As of Thursday, we are going to be as ready as we can be.”

NIU’s strengths include the butterfly, the 500-yard freestyle and the free relays. NIU has three returners from last year’s top eight in the butterfly event. In their 138-83 victory over UIC on Feb. 18, the Huskies won the top three places in the 200-yard butterfly. Andy Flodin, Bill Zolna and Godstead finished first, second and third, respectively.

In the 500-yard freestyle, Talbot won the blue ribbon with 4:49.21 and teammate Steve Sanders finished second with 4:51.52.

“We will at least finish third,” Talbot said. “If we swim good, we’ll finish second and if we swim awesome we will be the champions.”

“Other than winning, our number one goal is to do our best,” Godstead said.