Northwestern’s Aquatic Showdown: Men Shock Wisconsin While Women Face Tough Tide

On Saturday, the Northwestern swimming and diving team made their way to Madison to compete against Wisconsin. The Badgers, holding ranks of No. 12 for the women and No. 18 for the men, are usually one of the most formidable challengers for the Wildcats throughout the regular season.

The Northwestern women faced defeat against Wisconsin, with a score of 205.5-93.5. However, the men celebrated a significant victory of 163.5-136.5, triumphing over the Badgers for the first occasion since 2013.

Women’s Recap

For the women, Northwestern encountered a formidable Wisconsin squad projected to achieve a top-12 finish at the current NCAA Championships. The Badgers were relentless from the outset, with both their A and B relays outperforming the Wildcats’ A relay in the 400-yard medley relay. Wisconsin, recognized for its impressive depth in women’s distance swimming, secured the top three spots in the 1000 freestyle.

Wisconsin’s dominance extended into the mid-distance freestyle, achieving a 1-2-3 finish in the 200 free as well. However, unlike the earlier event, Northwestern’s Sydney Smith managed to keep pace with the leaders, recording a time of 1:46.81 to fall just 0.21 seconds short of the top three. This time was also Smith’s best since December 2021. Two-time U.S. Olympian Phoebe Bacon then claimed victory in the 100 backstroke by more than three seconds, but NU first-year Claire Mehok had a fierce contest with Wisconsin’s Abby Wanezek for second place, edging her out by 0.26 seconds and achieving a new personal best (54.07).

Maggie Papanicholas did not replicate Mehok’s success, narrowly losing to Wisconsin’s Bridget McGann for second by just 0.01 of a second in the 100 breaststroke (Papanicholas clocked in at 1:01.22). McGann’s teammate Hazal Ozkan claimed the event victory. This trend persisted in the 200 fly, where Wisconsin’s Mackenzie McConagha won by over five seconds with Northwestern’s Lilly Mehok finishing in second place several body lengths behind (2:00.38).

Sprint freestyle remains one of the few vulnerabilities of the Badger women, and Northwestern undoubtedly took advantage of this. Although Wisconsin’s Hailey Tierney won the 50 free, Lindsay Ervin, Audrey Yu, and Amy Pan secured a 2-3-4 finish for NU. Ervin’s time of 22.55 was merely 0.23 seconds shy of Tierney.

This momentum propelled into the one-meter diving event, where Caroline Li and Shauntel Lim finished 1-2 with scores of 261.23 and 248.40 respectively, marking Northwestern’s first and only women’s victory of the day. Then came another narrowly missed second-place finish from Ervin, who was out-touched by Wanezek in the 100 freestyle (49.14) by 0.4 seconds. Wanezek’s younger sister, Maggie, clinched victory in the 200 back (1:53.69), finishing nearly three seconds ahead of Claire Mehok (1:56.69). Mehok neared her best time but was unable to close the gap on one of the Big Ten title contenders in the 200 back.

Ozkan and Papanicholas replicated their 100 breast result with a 1-2 finish in the 200 breast. Papanicholas posted a time of 2:11.57 — a personal best improved by half a second. Wisconsin’s Blair Stoneburg triumphed in the 500 free by nearly four seconds, but Northwestern’s Zoe Nordmann clocked in at 4:46.30 to take second place and disrupt a Badger quartet that placed 1-3-4-5. Following this was the 100 fly, where Wildcats Sophie Martin and Maggie Belbot finished second and third with respective times of 53.50 and 54.46.

The platform diving event did not yield results as favorable as the one-meter event, with Wisconsin divers occupying the top four positions. Li placed fifth with a score of 179.70. Bacon excelled in the 200 individual medley, with Grey Davis secured second place nearly four seconds behind (1:59.60). To wrap up the meet, Northwestern finished in second place in the 200 free relay.

With Wisconsin presenting their strongest team in several years and Northwestern lacking standout performers, this outcome was somewhat anticipated. Nevertheless, the few personal bests from the Wildcats indicate a promising future.

Men’s Recap

The Wisconsin men are not as formidable as their female counterparts, but Northwestern’s victory over them for the first time in over ten years demonstrates its advancement.

Northwestern commenced strongly, clinching the 400 medley relay by more than a second to acquire crucial relay points. Wisconsin achieved a 1-2 finish in the 1000 free, and Nico Butera emerged victorious in the 200 free, granting the Badgers an initial lead. However, the Wildcats shone in the 100 back. A week after achieving a significant personal best, Stuart Seymour maintained his momentum in this event, timing 45.93, which was just 0.08 seconds shy of his personal best to secure victory. David Gerchik claimed second, assisting NU in attaining its first 1-2 finish of the meet.

Following this, the winning streak persisted for the Wildcats, with Tyler Lu (53.75) and Diego Nosack (1:43.75) triumphing in their races in the 100 breast and 200 fly respectively. Notably, Nosack outperformed Wisconsin’s Dominik Mark Torok by 0.05 seconds — both swimmers finished in the top eight at Big Tens in this event last year and are expected to vie for the title again this year.

Wisconsin secured a 1-2 finish in the 50 free and next won the platform diving event, but Northwestern’s Adam Cohen, Kyle Ly, and Nolan Rooker achieved a 2-3-4 finish in the latter event to outscore the Badgers. Subsequently, Cade Duncan claimed victory in the 100 free by nearly two seconds (42.55), improving upon his best time from the previous week by 0.2 seconds. Teammate Connor Schuster finished in second. Duncan is now edging closer to Matt Grevers’ team record of 42.33 set in 2007.

Northwestern continued to accumulate wins in the 200 back, where David Gerchik won by over three seconds (1:42.40) and Oliver Kos took second. Torok won the 200 breast for Wisconsin, but Nosack triumphed in his second event of the day in the 500 free (4:22.62) after setting a personal best by nearly a second. Wisconsin’s Charlie Jones claimed victory in the 100 fly, but Adam Cohen’s leading performance (327.30) aided a 1-2-3 finish for Northwestern in the one-meter dive, boosting the Wildcats in the concluding portion of the meet.

To conclude, Torok won the 200 IM, but Northwestern clinched the 200 free relay with a narrow advantage of 0.19 seconds to secure its triumph.

Northwestern’s next competitors will be Minnesota and Purdue in Minneapolis on January 31 and February 1.