Swimming and Diving

With just 13 of 24 swimmers competing, Northwestern fell handily to No. 19 Wisconsin on Saturday.

The Wildcats (4-3) fell to the Badgers (5-4) 130-161, but won three events and placed second in 10 despite lacking athletes in the water.

Coach Abby Steketee said she was pleased with the team’s energy. She was also proud of junior Alex Grimes and freshman Sophie Angus for sticking to their race plans.

“Persistence is what you do not just when you’re ahead but when you’re behind,” Steketee said. “For them to do that again and again and again is the kind of spirit you want. It’s the kind of character we want to show.”

Angus swam breaststroke in the 200-yard medley relay and placed third in the 200-yard breaststroke with a 2:20.63. She said she works on her race plan in practice and sticks with it because it has worked in the past.

Angus also came away with a win in the 100 breast with a 1:03.86. She has yet to lose the event this season.

“I don’t go into it thinking, ‘Oh, I’m going to win this,’” Angus said. “I knew that there would be tough competition so I just focused on my race for the first half and then saw who was around me and just kept my head down and pushed to the finish.”

Grimes placed second in the 200-yard butterfly, touching in 2:05.64, and placed third in the 100 fly, finishing just one second behind first place in 56.90. She also swam the third leg of the winning 200-free relay.

The meet was also the first time NU raced the 400-yard individual medley, and the Cats took it by storm. Freshman Calypso Sheridan won the event, finishing in 4:21.85. She was followed by classmate Ilektra Lebl in second in 4:28.07 and sophomore Sandra Freeman in third in 4:31.40.

Freeman had one of the most successful meets of any NU swimmer, timewise, setting personal bests in the 200 fly and the 200-yard backstroke.

“It’s great to see my work pay off and see everyone else’s work pay off,” Freeman said. “Little things day by day.”

On the diving side of the meet, junior Olivia Rosendahl, junior Eryn Scannell and freshman Sarah Gardner placed in the top three spots for both the 1-meter and 3-meter competitions. Wisconsin did not bring any divers to the meet.

The Cats had a day of improvement, with Rosendahl and Gardner scoring personal bests in both events and Scannell achieving a personal best in the 3-meter.

Rosendahl, who is usually a platform diver, said she struggles with a non-stationary board and is focusing on board work to improve her scores. She and the other divers are also continuing improve by adding new dives every week, she said.

“We look really good,” Rosendahl said. “We’re getting better every time we compete.”

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