Jumping into pool competition for the first time since November, Northwestern left UChicago eating its bubbles at the Gerald Ratner Athletics Center Saturday.

Fresh out of team training camp in Puerto Rico during winter break, the Wildcats swam to a 222-76 victory on the No. 25 men’s side and a 247-45 point performance on the No. 21 women’s side. NU won 29 out of the 32 events at the meet. 

Individually, multiple NU swimmers topped the scoreboards. 

In lane five of the 200-yard breaststroke, sophomore swimmer Joshua Staples was miles ahead of the competition — he bested his previous top time of 1:55.46 from the ’Cats’ November meet against Notre Dame with a 1:54.93 performance Saturday. 

On the women’s side, the ’Cats won first place in every contest. Graduate student Ekaterina Nikonova won both of her individual events in the 50-and 100-yard freestyle. Sophomore Zoe Nordmann also earned top honors, prevailing in the 200 butterfly and 500 freestyle. 

The ’Cats also cleared the top five spots in both 1-meter and 3-meter women’s diving events, with junior Chloe Sharpe scoring 297.53 for the 1-meter and sophomore Isabella Chen scoring 325.50 for the 3-meter. The men’s diving team also took the top five spots in the same events. 

Junior Adam Cohen won both the 1-meter and 3-meter events with performances of 385.58 and 350.40, respectively.

All three of NU’s women’s 200-medley relay teams finished at the top of the podium. The A-team, which finished first with a 1:38.59 time, was composed of Nikonova, sophomore Grey Davis, freshman Teya Nikolova and senior Lindsay Ervin. Two of the women’s 400-yard freestyle relay teams also placed first and second in their heat. 

NU’s men’s 200-medley relay team, led by the quartet of Staples, junior Stuart Seymour, junior Connor Schuster and sophomore Oliver Kós, finished in 1:25.15, the fastest time in their heat. UChicago, however, took first place in the men’s 400-yard freestyle relay with a 2:59.11 time. NU’s Schuster, Seymour, Kós and junior Cade Duncan, swam a 2:51.62, but were excluded from the event standings because they were marked for an exhibition swim. 

With these performances, the ’Cats extended their historical winning streak against UChicago in dual meets, producing similar results to the last time they faced off against the Maroons. In their most recent contest in 2025, NU won 231-63 on the men’s side and 247-50 on the women’s side.

NU will next host Wisconsin’s No. 19 men’s and No. 15 women’s teams for Senior Day at Norris Aquatics Center on Jan. 17. 

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