It was a BIG day at the Norris Aquatics Center on Saturday, as the ‘Cats two top 25 ranked swim and dive teams faced off against Wisconsin’s similarly ranked top 25 squads. In two hard fought matchups,
the Northwestern men’s team pulled off an upset, taking down the Badgers 161-133. The women were extremely competitive as well, but came just short of an upset win of their own, falling 154-146.
Entering the meet, Northwestern’s men’s team was ranked No. 25 in the nation, while the women’s team was ranked No. 21, per the CSCAA’s most recent top 25 poll. Across the pool, Wisconsin’s men’s team entered the meet ranked No. 19 in the nation, while its women’s team ranked No. 15. Last year Wisconsin’s men’s team finished 6th at Big Ten Championships, while its women’s team finished 4th.
On top of the fact that it was a ranked matchup, it was Senior Night to commemorate all of Northwestern’s graduating senior swimmers. The men celebrated four senior swimmers: Tina Zinn, Jack Doyle, Jack White and Matthew Lucky. The women celebrated eight senior swimmers: Mackenzie Landing, Ekaterina Nikonova, Shauntel Lim, Claudia Chang, Ines Sancho, Hana Shimizu-Bowers, Lindsay Ervin and Audrey Yu.
Results for the Wisconsin 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
BIGTIME WIN!! The Northwestern’s men’s team defeated the Badgers 161-133. Though, in the end, the ‘Cats won by a somewhat comfortable 28 points, many of the events were heavily contested.
Northwestern and Wisconsin split victories in the 14 swim events, but the ‘Cats swept the meet’s two critical relays. The Seymour-Staples-Schuster-Kos team won the 400-yard medley relay with a time of 3:05.27, while the Shuster-Seymour-Duncan-Kos team’s 1:16.98 won the 200-yard freestyle relay.
The ‘Cats also swept the meet’s two diving attempts, as the Badgers’ mens divers did not compete on Saturday. Though, considering the 28-point final margin of victory, the ‘Cats would’ve likely still won even if Wisconsin’s divers were in attendance.
Six Northwestern swimmers finished in the top 10 of the meet’s high point standings. Third-year Connor Schuster was the ‘Cats top swimmer, touching first in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly, while contributing to both of Northwestern’s winning relays. Joshua Staples placed fourth, Stuart Seymour placed fifth, Ryan Augustine placed sixth, Adam Cohen placed eight and Cade Duncan placed tenth. The Badgers’ Dominik Mark Torok won high point, as the Hungarian finished first-place in the 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly and 400-yard individual medley.
Women’s Recap
The women were extremely close to completing a Wildcat sweep of the Badgers, but fell just short after a late comeback attempt. Wisconsin won four of the meet’s opening five events, forcing the ‘Cats to have to claw their way back. A late victory from Kat Nikonova in the 100-yard butterfly and the Ervin-Nikonova-Yu-Pan first place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay made things close, but the Badgers held on by a narrow eight points for the win.
Northwestern won just five of the meet’s 14 swimming events, though the Badgers proved to be top heavy, allowing for Northwestern to score points with lower-level event finishes. Additionally, Chloe Sharp swept the two diving events for the ‘Cats, upping their gold medal count to 7 for the meet.
In the end, Wisconsin’s all-star swimmers proved to be too much for Northwestern to overcome. Maggie Wanezek, who’s currently ranked 13th of all United States female swimmers in the 2025-2026 season (via SwimCloud), won high point, sweeping the backstroke events and contributing to the Badgers’ first-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Maddie Waggoner, the No. 23 ranked recruit in the Class of 2027, finished second, with event wins in the 1650-yard freestyle and 400-yard individual medley. Northwestern’s Chloe Sharp placed third, rounding out the high point podium.
One Big Observation
Considering it was Senior Night in Evanston on Saturday, it’s interesting to take a look at the impact of the seniors on the teams this year, and the holes they’ll leave when they graduate in the spring.
On the men’s side, the senior swimmers currently have a low impact on team scoring, as exemplified by the Wisconsin meet this weekend. Not a single senior men’s swimmer finished in the top 25 of the meet’s high point standings. However, Zinn and White were both contributors for the ‘Cats at Big Ten Championships in 2025. Zinn scored 13 points with a 14th place finish in the 200-yard butterfly, while White, a diver, scored 4 points by nabbing 21st in the 10-meter competition.
On the contrary, the women’s side has twice as many seniors as the men, and many of them have had a greater recent impact on team success. Against the Badgers, three seniors — Shimizu-Bowers, Nikonova and Ervin — finished in the top 10 of the meet’s high point standings. Ervin and Shimizu-Bowers were both impact scorers at Big Ten Championships last year, who are likely to play a similar scoring role this February. Ervin scored 23 points for the ‘Cats by placing 11th in the 50-yard freestyle, 18th in the 100-yard freestyle and anchoring the 200 and 400-yard medley relays which placed 8th and 10th, respectively. Shimizu-Bowers scored 2 points, placing 23rd in the 200-yard butterfly finals and anchoring the ‘Cats’ 6th place 800-yard freestyle relay. Nikonova did not compete at Big Ten’s nursing an injury, but is expected to be one of the ‘Cats’ big scorers this year competing in sprint freestyle and butterfly events.
Luckily for the ‘Cats, Stratton-Mills has done an unbelievable of addressing these impending departures. At the top of the men’s team’s Class of 2030 will be Brandon Ha, ranked No. 17 by Swimcloud in the Class of 2030 (the highest ranked Northwestern men’s recruit in recent history), a 200-yard butterfly who will succeed Zinn next season. For the women, Flawia Kamzol, ranked No. 20 by Swimcloud in the Class of 2030 (the highest ranked Northwestern women’s swim recruit in recent history), will swim sprint freestyle and butterfly in Evanston, softening the losses of Ervin and Nikonova.
Looking Ahead
Following the ‘Cats’ momentous Senior Night performances against the Badgers, they’ll look ahead to their meet next weekend, at the Norris Aquatics Center, against Purdue and Minnesota. In February Northwestern will gear up for Big Ten Championships. The women will swim February 18-21 at the Jean K Freeman Aquatic Center in Minneapolis, while the men will swim February 25-28 at the Soderholm Family Aquatic Center in Madison.
