Northwestern Women, Minnesota Men, Take Overall Meet Wins In Big Ten Quad-Meet Showdown

#20 NORTHWESTERN VS. PURDUE, #17 MINNESOTA & IOWA

• Jan. 26-28, 2023
• Norris Aquatics Center
  • Evanston, IL
• SCY (25 yards)
• Day 1 Results
• Day 2 Results under “Northwestern vs Purdue, Minnesota & Iowa” on MeetMobile
• Final Women’s Scores: Northwestern 182, Minnesota 110, Purdue 51, Iowa 10
• Final Men’s Scores: Minnesota 158, Purdue 107, Northwestern 89

On Saturday, the second day of a meet between Northwestern, Purdue, Minnesota, and Iowa took place, where swimmers got their last few races in before the Big Ten Championships. Like on day one, most of the swimmers at this meet suited up.

Women’s Recap

Like on day one, the Northwestern women dominated, winning the majority of the events. Lindsay Ervin (22.64), Audrey Yu (22.22), Jamie Brennan (22.39), and Ally Larson (21.97) started things off by winning the 200 free relay in a time of 1:29.22, although Minnesota was just 0.18. With Larson’s split, Yu splitting 21.87 on day one, and Jasmine Nocentini having a 21.59 flat start best time, this Northwestern relay could be an emerging threat once Nocentini returns from injury-related absences.

After setting a personal best in the 50 free on day one, Ervin did the swam in the 100 free, beating out Minnesota’s Hannah Cornish by 0.03 seconds to break 49 seconds for the first time and go 48.86. Later, Ervin reset her best time by leading off Northwestern’s 400 free relay in a time of 48.77, and she, Larson (48.86), Brennan (48.76), and Riley Huddleston (50.16) won by over two seconds with a time of 3:16.55.

The longest event of the day was won by Ashley Strouse, who touched first in the 500 free in time of 4:44.99. This time is a new season-best for her, and just 0.05 seconds off of what she went at Big Tens last year. After having her freshman year plagued by injuries, Strouse has been on an upward tear in her current sophomore season, and is primed to improve significantly from her 2021-22 times. In fact, on day one of this meet, she swam a 1:45.78 in the 200 free—her fastest performance in the event since 2019.

Finishing second behind Strouse in the 500 free was school record holder Lola Mull, who went 4:48.58. Her season-best in the event is a 4:40.53 from the Purdue invite.

Hannah Brunzell won the 200 breast (2:11.55) and Miriam Guavera won the 100 fly (52.55), adding two more wins for Northwestern. Both swimmers set season-bests in their events.

The only two swimming events that were not won by Northwestern women were the 200 back and 400 IM, with both races being taken by Minnesota. Megan Van Berkom was dominant in the 400 IM, clocking a 4:08.98 and beating second place finisher Hanna Bowers by exactly eight seconds. This was Van Berkom’s second sub-4:10 of the season, with her first one being the 4:05.81 season-best she swam at invites to get ranked as the fourth-fastest swimmer in the country this year.

Paula Rodriguez Rivero took first in the 200 back, swimming a 1:55.46 and winning by over a second. She was impressively just 0.11 seconds off her personal best of 1:55.35 from midseason invites, and faster than she was at Big Tens last season.

The 10-meter diving event as also won by Minnesota, as Joy Zhu scored 322.35 points to place first overall.

Men’s Recap

On the men’s side of the meet, the wins were even-split between Purdue and Minnesota, which each school taking four apiece.

Purdue was more successful with the sprint events, sweeping both freestyle relays, in addition to having winners in the 100 free and 100 fly. Brady Samuels had a big swim in the 100 fly, clocking a 46.57 to win by half a second. He was just 0.4 seconds off his season-best of 46.17 from midseasons. The 100 free was won by Samuels’ teammate Keelan Hart, who swam a 43.97 and was the only one in the field under 44 seconds.

Sherman (19.97), Samuels (19.49), Idris Muhammad (19.29), and Hart (19.95) took the 200 free relay in a time of 1:18.70, while Samuels (43.01), Sherman (42.89), Muhammad (43.44), and Hart (43.76) combined for a 2:53.10 to win the 400 free relay. Teammates Sam Bennett and Jordan Rzepka went 1-2 in the 3-meter dive, scoring 408.20 and 369.10 points respectively.

Meanwhile, Minnesota was dominant in the 500 free, as Bar Soloveychik (4:19.43), Chris Nagy (4:25.84), and William Christenson (4:26.88) went 1-2-3. A day prior, Soloveychik had swam a 8:54.69 in the 1000 free to break Minnesota’s school record from 2001.

Christenson also won the 400 IM, swimming a 3:50.98.

In the 200 breast, it was Max McHugh who took the win in a time of 1:54.96. It seems that this year, this meet doesn’t hold as much weight for him—he went 50.58 in the 100 breast and 1:52.57 in the 200 breast (his 100 breast time was faster than his time at 2021 midseasons) at last year’s version of the Northwestern-Purdue-Minnesota meet compared to 52.07/1:54.96 this year. Desmon Sachtjen swam a 1:43.01 to win the 200 back, beating out his season-best time of 1:44.15 from the Minnesota Invite.