Northwestern University breakout star Jasmine Nocentini will miss next week’s Big Ten Swimming & Diving Championships and says that she is probably done for the season.
“I will be back soon to start recovering for the next (season),” Nocentini told SwimSwam on Friday.
Nocentini then ends her junior season undefeated, though her last meet was the Purdue Invitational from November 16-18. She is the fastest swimmer this season in the Big Ten in the 50 free (21.59) and 100 breast (58.31), and ranks in the top 7 of the NCAA in both races so far this season.
Nocentini said in January that she was working on the “long term health” of her shoulder after an injury, and the coaching staff said that there was no timetable for her return.
This is Nocentini’s second season with Northwestern after transferring from FIU.
That is a huge blow for the Northwestern relays and team overall headed into the Big Ten Championships. The Wildcats placed 5th last season, 165.5 points behind 4th-place Wisconsin. While she is not the team’s only swimmer having a big breakout year (Carolina Hernandez, for example), they don’t have a ton of depth to absorb that kind of loss.
For example, in the 50 free, their 5th-best performer this season is Riley Huddleston at 23.08 – a second-and-a-half slower than Nocentini’s best time.
Their next-best 100 breaststroker is Hannah Brunzell in 1:00.07, almost two seconds behind Nocentini’s best time.
That leaves the Wildcats in a probable battle with Minnesota for 5th place at the Big Ten Championships (there is a pretty significant dropoff after the Gophers).
The 2023 Big Ten Women’s Swimming & Diving Championship will run from February 15-18 at the University of Michigan.
Bummer. Was looking forward to her NCAAS.
The NU sprint crew will step up. Look out for the freshmen 👀
i am going to scream and cry and throw up
Speedy recovery.
Tough lost but the cats are still gonna be ones to watch at big tens!!
Jasmine hasn’t competed at all in 2023 and still, Northwestern beat both Wisconsin and Minnesota in dual meets. It’s a loss for sure, but seems like they’ve been doing just fine!
Too bad. Nice article; however, this is not her first season with Northwestern. She swam with them last year as well.
She’s also a junior, not a senior
Northwestern lists her as a junior, but this is her fourth year of collegiate eligibility, which makes her athletically a senior. I don’t have a good explanation for why Northwestern lists her as a junior – maybe that’s how they prefer to list seniors who are going to use a 5th year, or maybe it’s an academic designation after losing credits to transfer. But she swam at the 2020 and 2021 Conference USA Championship meets, and the 2022 Big Ten Championship.