The men proved victorious, but the women were defeated this weekend in their respective bouts against Duke.
This past weekend proved to be a rollercoaster for Northwestern swimming and diving. Both the men’s and women’s teams traveled to Durham to face the Blue Devils in a two-day meet. The men’s team dominated for much of the weekend in individual events, coasting to a 222.5-107.5 victory, but it was a different story for the women who were unable to overcome a strong Duke squad, dropping the meet 194-137 to the Blue Devils.
Events kicked off at the Taishoff Aquatics Center on Friday for both sides, and from the jump, the Northwestern men looked the better team from top to bottom, earning victories in all eight of its races for the day. The Wildcat women, however, did not find similar success, dropping six of its eight day one races.
Highlighting the day were a first place finish from Luiza Lima (16:39.95) in the Women 1650 Yard Free, and a ‘Cats sweep in the Men 1650 Yard Free, with Joshua Staples (15:19.04), Tristan Prizler (15:39.99) and Alexander Rousseau (15:49.08) responsible for a 1-2-3 finish in the race.
Both Northwestern squads delivered strong performance on Saturday, as the Wildcats’ two teams would go on to win 11 of the remaining 16 races, once again winning three of four relays. The Wildcats left no room for doubt in the final 400 Yard Free Relays, with Sophie Martin, Nikki Venema, Audrey Yu and Lindsay Ervin (3:16.84) earning first place for the women’s team, and Cade Duncan, Stuart Seymour, Malachi Cohen and Tyler Lu (2.55.58) for the men. Staples came home with the most to show for, winning three events (Men 1650 Yard Free, 800 Yard Free and 500 Yard Free) and finishing second in the 400 Yard Free Relay.
The men’s team improved to 3-0, while the women’s team fell to 2-1. Both are set to face off against the Wolfpack in the NC State Invite next from Nov. 21-23.