Facing stiff competition in the first meet of the year sometimes can be overwhelming.

This was not the case for the NIU swim team when it faced Wisconsin last Friday. The Huskies battled with one of the Big 10’s best all throughout the night before eventually falling to the Badgers.

This strong performance should give the Huskies much needed confidence this week when they face Western Illinois and Northern Iowa in Macomb.

“To compete against Wisconsin the way our team did shows a lot of character,” third-year coach Anne Marie Stricklin said. “To our team’s credit, they never gave up, and I’m proud of how they fought until the very last race.”

Last year’s back-to-back rotating dual meet at the University of Northern Iowa proved to be a very successful trip for the Huskies. The men’s squad blew the field away, beating UNI 90-16 and topping Western Illinois 83-28. The women were almost as impressive as the men, winning 74.5-54.5 over the home team and whipping the Westerwinds 59-22.

Going into this year’s dual meet against Northern Iowa and Western Illinois, the women’s squad will look to sophomore Shanna Rankin to improve on her outstanding performance against Wisconsin.

“Shanna had a breakthrough meet against Wisconsin,” Stricklin said. “She stepped up her training and became the leader of our sprint group.”

Rankin’s times of :56.40 and :25.62 were just off her best times of last year in the 100- and 50-yard freestyle.

On the men’s side, senior co-captain Leon Weed and fellow senior Andras Schonek will shoulder the majority of the load at WIU.

Schonek grabbed the only first place finish for Northern last week when he won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:42.53.

Weed was his usual stellar self lowering his own school records in the 200-yard individual medley and 200-yard breaststroke.

“Leon has trained hard and it is paying off,” Stricklin noted. “We are impressed with what he has done so far.”

This weekend’s meet should be a good measuring stick to see how the Huskies will bounce back from the loss against Wisconsin.

“We’re going to have the opportunity to put some swimmers in different events to find a possible third race for the conference meet,” Stricklin commented. “We’re looking to improve our times from the past weekend, and our goal is to get faster each and every week.”