Northwestern’s men’s and women’s swim and dive teams both finished their seasons at national meets over the last two weeks.
The men’s team ended its season more recently at the NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships in Federal Way, Washington, from March 26-29.
After an 8-1 regular season and a seventh-place finish at the Big Ten Championships, seven athletes swam for the Wildcats in the NCAA Championships, competing in 11 events. The ’Cats did not reach the top 16 of an event and therefore did not score, although sophomore Stuart Seymour came close.
Seymour led the way for the ’Cats by competing in five events: three individual and two relays. Seymour registered NU’s highest finish of the weekend in the 100-yard backstroke, tying California’s Björn Seeliger for 16th place in the preliminary heats with a time of 45.22 seconds.
The top 16 finishers in the preliminaries reached the final heats, so Seymour and Seeliger had a swim-off to determine the final qualifier. Both swimmers improved on their times. Seymour finished in 45.11 seconds; however Seeliger dropped over a second to 44.17, so he took the final spot — leaving Seymour in 17th.
Seymour also finished 47th and 52nd in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyle respectively, and then participated in two relays for the ’Cats.
Seymour, sophomore Cade Duncan, sophomore Connor Schuster and sophomore David Gerchik finished 24th out of 30 teams in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Gerchik, senior Tyler Lu, Seymour and Duncan finished 21st in the 200-yard medley relay.
The ’Cats also had Gerchik, Lu and freshman Josh Staples competing in individual events.
Staples, who has emerged as NU’s top distance swimmer this season, finished 29th in the 1650-yard freestyle and 47th in the 500-yard freestyle. Gerchik finished 29th in the 100-yard backstroke and 33rd in the 200-yard backstroke, while Lu placed 25th in the 200-yard individual medley.
Freshman Kyle Ly represented NU’s men in the platform dive. Ly, who set a school record in the 3-meter dive earlier this season, finished his debut season on a high note by placing 26th in the country.
Although the ’Cats’ 2024-25 season concluded at the NCAA Championships, their postseason results signal optimism for the program’s future as six of the seven NCAA qualifiers were underclassmen.
The women’s team competed at the NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships the week prior, from March 19-22. The ’Cats had a 6-3 regular season and ninth-place Big Ten finish.
Seven NU athletes competed at the championships, including six swimmers and freshman diver Isabella Chen. Similar to the men, no ’Cats scored or made the podium.
The highlight of the weekend came in the meet’s final event on Saturday night, where the ’Cats set a new school record in the 400-yard freestyle relay and achieved the team’s highest placement. Graduate student Nikki Venema, junior Lindsay Ervin, sophomore Sydney Smith and junior Audrey Yu placed 18th in the nation with a time of 3:13.31.
Ervin returned to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2023. Then, as a freshman she earned Second-Team All-American honors in the 200-yard and 400-yard freestyle relays. This year, she competed in the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle, 400-yard freestyle relay and 800-yard freestyle relay, tying for 58th and placing 46th in her individual events, respectively.
Venema delivered NU’s highest individual event placements in her final collegiate meet, finishing 28th in the 100-yard freestyle and 30th in the 200-yard freestyle. Both were career-high NCAA Championship placements for Venema, a 2023 NCAA qualifier for Princeton. She also placed 62nd in the 50-yard freestyle.
Zoe Nordmann and Chen were the team’s two freshman NCAA qualifiers. Chen placed 42nd in the country in the platform dive, while Nordmann was part of the 21st-place 800-yard freestyle relay with Venema, Smith and Ervin.
The ’Cats also competed in the 200-yard freestyle relay, with Ervin, Venema, Yu and sophomore Amy Pan placing 30th in the nation.
Both swimming and diving teams look forward to their 2025-26 seasons after concluding their seasons in Federal Way.
Email: andrewlittle2028@u.northwestern.edu
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