Byron Butler’s arms glided through the water growing faster with each stroke while Northwestern’s Charlie Rimkus was working his way to pass him on the last stretch for a close battle to the wall.

With the members of the crowd on their feet, it came down to a photo finish. For the first time in four years, Butler bested Rimkus by a 0.01 of a second.

Butler finished the 200 butterfly at 1:48.27.

“I know Rimkus is a really good swimmer all-around,” Butler said. “I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a goal of mine to finally beat him in that 200 fly.”

The win helped Iowa defeat Northwestern, 161-122, a dual-meet victory for the fifth-consecutive year. The Hawks took first place in 10 events.

Butler’s performance in the 200 fly wasn’t his only stellar showing of the day. He began the day by helping to lead the 200-medley relay to a victory.

Sophomores Grant Betulius and Korey Schneider began the race fighting neck in neck against Northwestern, but when Butler dove into the water for his butterfly stretch, he put the team in the front of the race. Senior Jordan Huff was then able to close out the race with a strong performance in the freestyle to finish with a time of 1:28.68.

“I just took over from the great lead that Byron gave me,” Huff said. “It’s really nice to have a great butterflyer like Byron in front of me. I just kind of feed off of him, so anything that I do in that relay is just fed off of from Byron.”

Butler also had another first-place finisher in the 100 fly and 200 backstroke.

Huff again went on to win the 200 freestyle after passing freshman David Ernstsson, who led the majority of the race. Ernstsson followed Huff for a second-place finish.

The Black and Gold also had double 1-2-3 finishes in the 100 breaststroke and the 100 free. Schneider finished first for the breast, followed by freshman Roman Trussov and junior Andrew Marciniak, and Huff nabbed first in the freettyle, followed by sophomore Brian Donatelli and Ernstsson.

Trussov also finished first in the 200 breaststroke.

Freshman Addison Boschult was able to best Northwestern’s Nick Pinkerton in the platform dive for first place, but hewasn’t able to overcome him in the 1-meter.

“It’s great to get a win, and there’s still a lot of preparation to go before our conference meet and NCAAs,” Iowa head swimming coach Marc Long said. “We’re happy with getting a win here against a quality team.”

The Hawkeyes will get back in the pool to practice for the next week until they travel to Evanston, Ill., to compete in the Northwestern Invitationalon Friday for a two-day format.

“Next week is going to be tough because we don’t get too much of a break in between these meets,” Huff said. “It’s a pretty long meet, but if we can keep this edge, I think it’s going to be a great meet for us.”