Northwestern swimming and diving completed its sweep of southwest Ohio teams to open the season, defeating Cincinnati following last week’s wins over Miami (Ohio).
Freshman Kyle Ly has been a Northwestern student for less than a month and he has already carved his name in school history.
Ly set the program record in the three-meter dive in just his second meet for the Wildcats, contributing to NU men’s swimming and diving’s 188-111 win over the Bearcats at Norris Aquatics Center Friday.
His historic performance earned him 384.30 points in the three-meter event. Ly also won the one-meter dive with a score of 328.43.
NU women’s swimming and diving also defeated Cincinnati 188.5-110.5. Both ’Cats programs improved to 2-0 on the season.
Australia native Sophie Martin won the 200-yard breaststroke and 200-yard individual medley. The freshman was also part of NU’s winning 400-yard medley relay team.
Fellow Australian freshman Joshua Staples won both men’s distance events. Staples won the 1000-yard freestyle by over 13 seconds and edged out Cincinnati graduate student Max Murray by less than two seconds to win the 500-yard freestyle.
To complete the distance race sweep, freshmen Luiza Lima and Zoe Nordmann brought home individual wins in the women’s 1000-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle respectively.
Graduate student Nikki Venema won her third individual event of the season, taking the 50-yard freestyle in 22.79 seconds. Venema also had a second-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle.
In NU’s decisive win over Miami last week, the one-meter dive was one of three individual events the women did not win.
Against the Bearcats, however, the ’Cats took the top four spots, led by sophomore Caroline Li, who won the event. Sophomores Chloe Sharpe and Lydia Georgopoulou rounded out the top three, while freshman Isabella Chen won the three-meter dive.
NU’s youth shined in the dual meet as freshmen combined for ten individual wins. Sophomores added seven wins, including two from Stuart Seymour who won the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly.
Underclassmen comprise 20 of the women’s 31 athletes and 18 of the 25 men. Continuous strides from NU’s rising stars will be critical as the ’Cats move ahead this season.
The ’Cats are back in action on November 8 and 9 at Duke, their first road trip of the 2024-25 season.
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