March isn’t just a month for basketball.
Northwestern women’s swimming and diving competed in the NCAA Championships at Federal Way, Washington this weekend after qualifying earlier this month. Among the participants representing the purple and white were Nikki Venema, Lindsay Ervin, Audrey Yu, Sydney Smith, Amy Pan and Zoe Nordmann.
The championships spanned over four days, from Mar. 19-22, including relays and individual events.
Kicking off championship week, Northwestern competed in the 800-yard freestyle relay on Wednesday — Venema, Smith, Nordmann and Ervin rounded out the group. The Wildcats would place 21st out of 24 teams, finishing with a time of 7:04.55.
Picking back up on Thursday, both Venema and Ervin competed for the ‘Cats in the 50-yard freestyle. Out of 74 total competitors, Ervin (22.37) and Venema (22.46) finished 58th and 62nd, respectively.
That same evening, the Wildcats returned back to the 200-yard freestyle relay hoping to pull off an upset. Facing off against big names such as Olympic swimmers Torri Huske (Stanford) and Gretchen Walsh (Virginia) however, it was a challenge. Ervin, Venema, Yu and Pan teamed up and finished with a time of 1:29.53, good for 30th place.
The fifth-year Venema had herself a busy weekend, again competing in the 200-yard freestyle on Friday. The veteran finished admirably, finishing 30th out of 49 swimmers with a time of 1:45.25. The next morning, her and Ervin returned for the 100-yard freestyle, finishing in 28th (48.21) and 46th (48.60), respectively.
The only diving competitor, Isabella Chen, got the opportunity to compete that same morning for NU, placing 42nd in the platform diving championships with a score of 218.20.
And ending the competitions for the NCAA Championships, Northwestern competed as a squad in the 400-yard freestyle relay, pulling off arguably its best performance of the week with an 18th-place finish. Venema, Ervin, Smith and Yu combined for a time of 3:13.31. Ultimately, star-studded Virginia would come out on top to win the Championships.
The NCAA Championships mark the end of Northwestern’s season, as the Wildcats end the year 6-3, earning a ninth-place finish in the Big Ten championships and an invite to nationals.