Swim and Dive: Northwestern dominant in tune-up vs. UChicago

Northwestern was back in the pool Saturday morning to face the University of Chicago, and the ’Cats had no trouble dismantling their crosstown rivals in Hyde Park. After attending midseason invitational meets (see recap) in mid-November, Northwestern hunkered down for over a month of winter training, taking a training trip to Puerto Rico in mid-December. Back in action yesterday,Northwestern’s No. 25 ranked men’s team beat UChicago 222-76, while the No. 21 ranked women’s team dominated 247-45.

An annual early-January tradition, the Northwestern/UChicago dual meet serves as a tune-up meet for both teams entering conference competition in January and February. With UChicago competing as a Division III team, the meet is rarely competitive from a head-to-head team perspective, considering Northwestern is an elite Division I program. However, with both teams coming off tropical December training weeks and over a month of hard winter training, both the ‘Cats and Maroons use this unshaven meet as a tune-up for the conference meets to come in just a weeks.

Results for the UChicago meet can be found on the app Meet Mobile or on Swimcloud’s meet page for the event.

If interested in learning about how team and high point scoring works for dual-meets, please reference the section “Explanation of Dual-Meet Scoring System” at the bottom of the recap of the Miami (OH)/Southern Illinois dual meet.

Men’s Recap

The Northwestern men’s team cruised to its 222-76 victory over the Maroons, taking gold in 13 of the meet’s 16 events. The ‘Cats lost just three events: the 100-yard butterfly, 200-yard butterfly and 400-yard freestyle relay.

The ‘Cats split the relays with UChicago, with a Seymour-Staples-Schuster-Kos team taking gold in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:25.15. However, the Schuster-Seymour-Duncan-Kos A-relay team for the 400 freestyle relay designated their swim as exhibition (not counted in event standings), allowing for the Maroons to claim gold in the event.

17 Northwestern swimmers finished in the top 20 of the meet’s high point standings. Joshua Staples earned individual victories in the 200-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard individual medley, while also controlling the breaststroke leg in the ‘Cats’ first place 200-yard medley relay. UChicago’s top performer was Cooper Costello, a three-time Division III national champion and the all-time Division III record holder in the 100-yard butterfly. Costello placed second at the meet, sweeping the butterfly events and leading off the Maroons’ first place 400-yard freestyle relay. Cade Duncan, winner of the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard freestyle, rounded out the podium, taking third place for the ‘Cats.

Women’s Recap

The Northwestern women’s team were even more dominant than the men, taking down the Maroons 247-45 and winning all 16 of the meet’s events. The ‘Cats had each of the meet’s top 16 high point finishers, illustrating the gap in talent between the D1 Wildcats and D3 Maroons.

The women swept both of the meet’s relay events. The Davis-Nikolova-Nikonova-Ervin relay posted a first place 1:38.59 in the 200-yard medley relay, and the Chow-Deierlein-Smith-Davis relay won the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:23.50.

Of Northwestern’s top 16 high point finishers, it was Kat Nikonova who took the top spot with gold medal performances in the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle and 200-yard medley relay. Sophomores Zoe Nordmann, winner of the 500-yard freestyle and 200-yard butterfly, and Brianna Deierlein, winner of the 200-yard freestyle and 400-yard freestyle relay, took second and third, respectively. UChicago’s top finisher was Alexandra Milisavljevic, who claimed 17th in the high point standings after placing third in the 500-yard freestyle, fourth in the 200-yard butterfly and fifth in the 200-yard individual medley.

Rachel Stratton-Mills Interview

I was in-person for coverage of the Northwestern/UChicago dual meet at Myers-McLoraine Pool. After the meet’s conclusion, I was fortunate to be able to catch up with third-year head coach Rachel Stratton-Mills about this meet, the team’s status heading towards championship meets, recruiting and more:

Adam: Rachel, starting here, obviously great meet, getting back in action after the training trip in Puerto Rico. What’s a swim that stood out to you today… individual performances or just general team efforts?

Rachel: Yeah, well, I think a lot of our relays were very close or right on the times we had done at midseason invites, and to do that, very fatigued, coming off a training camp, and putting in two more great weeks of work… we were just really happy all around to see how fast people were swimming knowing that they’re really tired, their legs are tired. So some of the relay swims really good out to us for how great those were.

Adam: A lot of teams, pretty much all teams — UChicago went on one of these as well — are doing these training trips. I swam in high school and know winter training is a big deal, and that becomes an even bigger deal in college. What does the training trip do for the tea moving into the second half of the season?

Rachel: Well, really, it’s just to get a change of environment. They’re are really such a hard working, focused group, and just to be able to get out of Evanston and go some place a little warmer, I think it just helps them focus even more and maybe it makes it so it doesn’t feel as stale, right? And the training gives them just a different place to do great things, and so that’s really what we get out of it. It’s a continuation of amazing work they’ve already done, but I think during that break with the weather, it’s just nice to go somewhere warm and sunny and be able to continue to do the great work they’ve been doing.

Adam: So Josh Staples was 1:54 today… that was another personal best for him in the 200 breaststroke. For people following the team, I think it’s been kind of surprising to see his emergence as a breaststroker this year. And so I guess my question’s kind of twofold: what have you seen in him kind of developing that stroke this year, and then also, what does that mean for the relays? Tyler Lu left last year, but Staples… he’s so good in freestyle as well.

Rachel: I’m thinking about it all the time. I think coming into this season, we were unsure of like, where our breaststroker was going to come from. We have other great breaststrokers, but not quite at that level of being able to go 50 or 51 on our relay. So to have him be able to start filling that role has been great. And I think the big thing for Josh is that there are many events he can do and do well, and he’s really excited about the development of breaststroke and working on it. I mean, he’s a world class 400 IMer, so we always knew there was breaststroke there. So to see the speed come with it is what we’re excited about.

Adam: And then one final question, I know that this kind of zooming out a little bit, but recently at the end of 2024, you got those two big commitments from the girls’ side: Lucy Velte, No. 11 in the class of 2027, and Annabeth Town, No. 39 in the class of 2027. So those are two top 40 commitments… I feel like the numbers just keep getting bigger in terms of recruiting since you’ve been here. What does that process look like for you? How have you guys been able to seemingly get better each year?

Rachel: Well, I think we all know that Northwestern is an absolutely amazing place to be. And so what we’re starting to do with these great athletes is say, here is this great school and an amazing location, that really supports its students, and now we’re pairing that with elite level training, where w have athletes who want to be on the top of the world stage and be at the Olympics and be at the podium of NCAAs. So we’re really providing this great opportunity for these recruits who see all the amazing things Northwestern has to offer as an academic institution and now they’re seeing the swimming come up to speed in a place where they say: Oh, I can also reach all my goals there in the pool. I’m really passionate about what an amazing place Northwestern is so it’s really great to feel like the recruits are seeing what they want to see in the water that can have them reach all their goals.

Adam: Thank you so much for your time.

Rachel: Thank you, appreciate it.

Looking Ahead

After a great showing in Hyde Park, Northwestern will look to harness its momentum heading into the final few meets of the regular season. The ‘Cats will be home for the rest of January, hosting three Big Ten conference opponents at the Norris Aquatics Center; Northwestern faces Wisconsin on Jan. 17, before a tri-meet with Minnesota and Purdue spanning January 30-31st. In late February, the ‘Cats will head to the Big Ten Championships in Madison, Wisconsin.