It was a senior week sweep.
This past weekend, Northwestern swimming and diving raced for the first time in 2025. First, the men’s and women’s teams swept Southern Indiana on Friday, and then defeated both Penn State and UChicago in a Saturday tri-meet. Both meets were a part of Senior Weekend.
Jan. 10 vs. Southern Indiana
The Wildcats swept every event against the Screaming Eagles, with both the men’s and women’s teams winning 199-42.
On the women’s side, everybody got a share of the pie, with nobody winning more than one event. Grey Davis, Sophie Martin, Nikki Venema and Lindsay Ervin first kicked things off with a win in the 200 medley relay (1:38.82). Then, Claire Mehok had a victory and a small personal best in the 200-yard freestyle (1:50.39), out-touching her teammate Hana Shimizu-Bowers by 0.14 seconds. Next, Maggie Papanicholas won the 200 individual medley by nearly a second (2:06.21) and Amy Pan took the 50 freestyle (23.40).
Caroline Li won the first diving event of the meet, scoring 280.43 points in the one-meter event. That was followed by Martin’s 52.53 to win the 100 butterfly, which was arguably the most impressive result of the meet as it was NU’s fastest 100 fly time posted since March 2023. Maggie Belbot, the winner of the 100 free, also had a milestone moment, clocking a 49.99 to post her fastest time since 2019.
In the 500 free, Venema posted a dominant win (4:55.83), finishing nearly ten seconds before the rest of her competitions. That victory was followed by part two of NU’s relay sweep, where Ervin, Venema, Martin and Pan won the 200 free relay (1:30.69). Next was the three-meter diving event, where Chloe Sharp won with a score of 274.20.
Brianna Deierlein (54.24) and Sydney Smith (1:01.79) won the 100 back and breast respectively. To close out the meet for the women, the same squad that won the 200 free relay teamed up to win the 400 free relay in a time of 3:20.58.
To start off the meet for the men, Stuart Seymour, Tyler Lu, Christopher Leung and Cade Duncan combined for a time of 1:26.40 to win the 200 medley relay. Lu, Joshua Staples and Kyle Ly were all double winners on the men’s side. Lu was victorious in the 200 free (1:38.81) and 100 fly (47.73), setting a best time in the latter event to go under 48 seconds for the first time ever. Staples won the 100 free (45.93) and 100 breast (54.46) and went a personal best in the latter, while Ly took victory in the one-meter (323.93) and three-meter (353.48) diving events.
Seymour won the 200 IM (1:46.35) by over two seconds and clocked a personal best, improving upon his previous mark of 1:48.95 from last year. In the next event, Gal Shlegel, a freshman from Israel racing in his first collegiate meet, won the 50 free (20.49). In addition, Tristan Prizler (4:30.22) and Duncan (47.67) won the 500 free and 100 back respectively, with Duncan setting a best time.
The men were just as dominant as the women on relays, with Seymour, Duncan, Connor Schuster and Lu winning the 200 free relay (1:18.99). Notably, all four swimmers went under 19 seconds. Meanwhile, Duncan, Seymour, Schuster and Malachi Cohen combined for a time of 2:57.49 to win the 400 free relay.
Jan. 11 vs. UChicago and Penn State
Northwestern’s Saturday meet was slightly more competitive, but the men and women still swept. The men beat Penn State 172-127 and UChicago 231-63, while the women defeated Penn State 207-88 and UChicago 247-50.
The women won every event aside from the three-meter dive, 100 back and 100 fly, the latter two of which were won by Penn State’s Margaret Markvardt. Double winners for the Wildcats included Zoe Nordmann and Martin. Nordmann took the 1000 free (9:50.17) and 500 free (4:50.88), while Martin won the 100 breast (1:01.47) and 200 IM (1:58.15). The 1000 free was a best time by over 14 seconds for Nordmann (it was just her fourth time swimming the event), and the 200 IM was a personal best for Martin.
Li won the sole women’s diving event for NU, scoring 265.65 points to narrowly win the one-meter. Other individual winners included Smith in the 200 free (1:47.19), Mehok in the 200 fly (2:00.81), Venema in the 50 free (22.58), Ervin in the 100 free (49.95), Mehok in the 200 back (1:57.09) and Papanicholas in the 200 breast (2:13.04).
Justine Murdock, Martin, Venema and Ervin combined for a time of 1:39.09 to win the 200 medley relay, while Ervin, Venema, Martin and Yu went 3:19.93 to win the 400 free relay. Yu’s 47.64 100 freestyle anchor leg on the medley relay was especially notable, being the fastest in the field by over three seconds.
Penn State saw more success on the men’s side, winning the 200 medley relay, the 200/500 free and the 100/200 breast. Meanwhile, Northwestern won the rest of the events. Adam Cohen swept on the diving board, taking care of the three-meter (352.15) and the one-meter (341.90). Seymour won the 50 free (20.03) and 100 back (45.84), breaking 46 seconds for the first time in the latter event. That time mixes him in with the best in the nation, being just 0.28 seconds away from the 2024 NCAA Championships qualification cut line.
Another notable result came from Duncan, who won the 100 free in a Norris Aquatic Center pool record time of 42.75. He also shed 0.05 seconds off his best time of 42.80 from last season. David Gerchik took the 200 back in dominant fashion, clocking a 1:42.61 to win by nearly five seconds. Other event winners included Diego Nosack in the 200 fly (1:44.41) and Leung (47.32), with the latter swimmer going a best time.
Northwestern’s one men’s relay victory came in the 400 free relay, where Duncan, Seymour, Schuster and Cohen combined for a time of 2:54.50.
Next up, the Wildcats will face Wisconsin in Madison on Jan. 18 at 12 p.m. CST.