Swimming and Diving

Despite impressive individual performances, Northwestern lost its final fall dual meet to Wisconsin on Saturday, marking its third consecutive loss.

The Wildcats (3-6) posted six season-best times and earned five first-place finishes, but didn’t have enough to edge out the the Badgers (3-6) who won 162-115. Despite the loss, NU saw multiple injured teammates return to the pool this weekend after battling the first part of the season shorthanded.

Junior diver Ben Magliato competed in his first meet this season after suffering a concussion in the preseason. Magliato said he was happy to dive again, but that his recovery is far from over.

“The biggest thing with this return after injury is being patient,” Magliato said. “It’s really important for my safety to progress really slowly as my brain continues to heal.”

Wisconsin did not bring any divers to Evanston this weekend, allowing Magliato to earn an easy 18 points for NU with first-place finishes in both the one- and three-meter diving events.

Building off Magliato’s momentum, junior Jack Thorne and senior Alex Snarski secured first and second place, respectively, in the 100-yard backstroke.

Thorne said he was proud of the race, even though he only won because the top finisher, Wisconsin freshman Matthew Novinski, was disqualified. After sustaining multiple injuries in the last two years, Thorne said he had one of his best races in a while.

“I had shoulder surgery my freshman year, so I was out the entire season for that,” he said. “Last year … I got sick in the spring so those two things made it tough to be as successful as I wanted to be. Right now, I am starting to come into my own.”

Thorne also placed second in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:49.72. Junior Will Hofstadter was the only other swimmer to win a race for the Cats, touching out the competition in the 100-yard breaststroke by only .23 seconds, with a final time of 56.58.

Later in the meet, he earned NU another four points with a second-place finish in the 200 breast. Despite his strong performance, Hofstadter credited freshman DJ Hwang with leading the team this weekend.

“We were just generally a lot more intentional with our swims, focusing on what we were doing well — not necessarily on what the other team was doing,” Hofstadter said. “We really saw that especially with (Hwang’s) 1000… even though he didn’t win the race, that was still a really big win for us.”

Hwang finished second in the 1000-yard freestyle and beat his previous season best by an impressive 12 seconds.

Though this meet was the Cats’ last dual meet until January, Hofstadter said they will use next week’s TYR Invitational as an opportunity to showcase their training. The meet will take place over three days, and will mark the end of the fall season.

“We will see what we are like with a little bit of rest and some suits next weekend,” Hofstadter said. “That will be a fun meet.”

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