Northwestern swimming and diving suited up at Norris Aquatics Center for the final time this season and came away with two victories.
The Wildcats opened Senior Weekend with a dual meet against Southern Indiana on Friday night. On the men’s side, the undefeated ’Cats took down the Screaming Eagles 199-42, winning all 26 events. The women’s team won by an identical 199-42 margin, improving the ’Cats to 4-1.
Senior Tyler Lu, freshman Joshua Staples and freshman Kyle Ly each won multiple individual events against Southern Indiana.
On Saturday, NU faced Penn State and the University of Chicago in a double-dual meet against a Big Ten opponent and local rival.
Lu and sophomore Cade Duncan led the way on the men’s side, each setting a pool record. Duncan set a record in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 42.75, breaking the previous mark by .32 seconds. Lu set a new 200-yard individual medley record with a time of 1:45.23.
The ’Cats won 11 of 16 events, including victories from sophomore Adam Cohen in the one- and three-meter dives. NU’s men beat Penn State 172-127 and UChicago 231-63.
On the women’s side, the ’Cats defeated Penn State 207-88 and UChicago 247-50, winning 13 of 16 events.
Although it was Senior Weekend, NU’s young talent shined. Freshman Sophie Martin and freshman Zoe Nordmann continued their strong debut seasons with two wins each. Nordmann swept the distance races, winning the 500 free and 1000 free, while Martin won the 100-yard breaststroke and 200-yard IM. Sophomore Caroline Li won the one-meter dive, following up her victory in the same event on Friday.
Overall, the ’Cats dominated the weekend, winning 50 of 58 total events. NU celebrated its seven-athlete senior class throughout the meets. Among the graduating class are Lu, who won three individual events in his final weekend of competition at Norris Aquatics Center, and graduate student Nikki Venema, a graduate transfer from Princeton who won the 500 free on Friday and 50 free on Saturday.
The ’Cats have finished their home schedule for the 2024-25 season but have two more competitions before the Big Ten Championships in late February. NU competes next on Jan. 18 at Wisconsin.
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