Northwestern streamlined to three victories in its tri-dual meet against Minnesota and Purdue at Norris Aquatics Center on Friday and Saturday.
By the end of the two days, the Wildcats’ men’s team overcame the Gophers 214-139 and Purdue 181-172. The women’s side won 213-140 versus the Boilermakers, but came up short against Minnesota 166-186.
The performance was an improvement from last year’s tri-dual meet with Minnesota and Purdue, where Minnesota outpaced both the men’s and women’s teams.
Prior to the contest, the Wildcats came off a win for the men’s side and a close loss for the women’s side against Wisconsin the previous week. However, coach Rachel Stratton-Mills said the team had good energy going into the tri-dual meet.
“They showed a lot of grit on day two and really took time to think about how they want to present as a team and what they stand for,” Stratton-Mills said.
That grit and energy translated into several standout performances on both the men’s and women’s sides, with 30 wins in both individual and team events throughout the two days.
On day one, NU won 10 events out of 18. Junior Sydney Smith got the ’Cats their first individual event win in the 200-yard freestyle, swimming to a 1:45.27 time. Junior Stuart Seymour got the men’s side their first win in the 100-yard backstroke, posting a 45.38 time.
Junior Diego Nosack said that although the team got off to a slow start the first day, the second day made up for it, noting the incredible energy after the last men’s 400-yard freestyle relay, in which the ’Cats prevailed with a 2:50.40 time.
“Both the teams just came together, got our hands on the wall every opportunity we could,” Nosack said.
Sophomore Joshua Staples earned first place in the 200-yard breaststroke with a 1:54.71 personal best, qualifying him for the NCAA Division I championships.
Graduate student Ekaterina Nikonova also qualified for the NCAA championships, achieving a second place in the 50-yard freestyle with 22.25 seconds.
NU’s relay game was in top shape heading into competition season. The team won four out of four relay events on the first day and seven out of eight relay events.
On day two, the ’Cats men’s 800-yard freestyle relay team, composed of Staples, Seymour, sophomore Oliver Kós and junior Connor Schuster placed first with the time 6:22.89. The women’s team, consisting of Nikonova, Smith, sophomore Zoe Nordmann and senior Hana Shimizu-Bowers, earned a 7:09.03 time. NU’s diving squad did not fare as well.
Despite the entire meet technically being hosted by the ’Cats, the diving portion of the competition was held at Purdue’s Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center. The diving team did not win any events.
Looking ahead to the Big Ten Championships, Stratton-Mills said the team is focused on refining the details in their skills going into competition season.
“I’m just encouraging the athletes to come in every day and just continue to, even in the last few weeks leading into the conference championship, find ways to get better,” Stratton-Mills said.
Senior Lindsay Ervin said the team’s ability to support one another and cultivate positive energy demonstrated their strengths.
“This weekend was a great showing for that, and we could really take this momentum into Big Tens,” Ervin said.
The meet marked the ’Cats last regular-season competition, as they prepare to take on the Big Ten Championships at the end of February.
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