Northwestern’s swimming and diving team left Hyde Park bundled in coats after a dominating win over the University of Chicago on Saturday.
The Wildcats’ performance was that of a team which, for most of the meet, competed against itself. The men’s squad defeated UChicago 221-73 and the women’s team had an equally triumphant final score of 221-69.
A strong opening by the men’s and women’s 400-yard medley relay set the tone for the rest of the matchup. Both squads took first and second place finishes and the men’s final relay by freshmen David Gerchik, Stuart Seymour and Cade Duncan, and sophomore Matthew Lucky set a new pool record of 3:12.53 at UChicago.
Graduate students Ayla Spitz and Andrew Martin also set new pool records in the 1,000-yard freestyle with times of 9:58.17 and 8:59.04 by Spitz and Martin, respectively.
The ‘Cats women’s team left the pool with first place finishes after every dive this weekend.
Notable performances came from sophomore Lindsay Ervin’s 22.98 in the 50-yard free, Spitz’s 49.64 in the 100-yard free, sophomore Hana Shimizu-Bowers’ 2:00.05 in the 200-yard backstroke, and graduate student Markie Hopkins’ 3-meter dive with a new pool record score of 330.60.
Graduate student Ben Forbes overcame a close race in the mens’ 500-yard free with a time of 4:33.51, finishing just .15 seconds ahead of UChicago’s Marcell Milo-Sidlo. Gerchik’s 20.75 in the 50 free and freshman Diego Nosack’s 1:46.41 in the 200-yard butterfly maintained the men’s squad’s momentum throughout Saturday’s meet.
Overall, NU claimed first place in 31 of the 32 events it competed in, falling short by a margin of only 1.2 seconds in the mens’ 100-yard fly.
The ‘Cats will host their first conference matchup against the Wisconsin Badgers at the Norris Aquatics Center next Saturday.
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