Soloveychik Breaks Oldest Minnesota School Record; Northwestern Women Dominate

Northwestern vs. Purdue, Minnesota & Iowa

• Jan. 26-28, 2023
• Norris Aquatics Center
  • Evanston, IL
• SCY (25 yards)
• Results

On Friday, a two-day meet hosted by Northwestern kicked off, and swimmers from Purdue, Minnesota, and Iowa all competed. Almost all of the swimmers racing at this meet were suited up, with the exception of a few swimmers from Iowa.

Men’s Recap

Minnesota sophomore Bar Soloveychik relegated the Gophers’ oldest school record to the archives during Friday’s meet against Northwestern, Purdue, and Iowa.

The freestyle specialist from Israel shaved nearly seven seconds off his lifetime best in the 1000 free with a time of 8:54.69, his first swim under the nine-minute barrier and more than a second faster than the former school record of 8:56.27 set by Justin Mortimer in 2001.

At 22 years old, the previous mark was the same age as Soloveychik, who now owns the fastest 1000 free time in the 36-year history of the Wildcats’ Norris Aquatics Center. His previous best stood at 9:01.47 from last month’s Minnesota Invite.

Soloveychik already owned individual school records in the 200 free (1:33.56), 500 free (4:12.76), and LCM 400 free (3:49.87). He was also a part of the 800 free relay record (6:16.25) set last month at the Minnesota Invite.

On Friday, Soloveychik also placed third in the 200 free (1:35.57) before wrapping up the first day of action with another victory in the 800 free relay (6:25.80) with fellow sophomore Chris Morris, junior Kaiser Neverman, and freshman Alberto Hernandez.

Lucas Farrar gave the Gophers a boost with a win in the 50 free (19.88), tying the fastest time by a Minnesota swimmer this season. Other Gopher highlights included Max McHugh winning the 100 breast in 52.07, about half a second off his season-best but still nearly two seconds ahead of the field. McHugh also teamed up with Neverman, Farrar, and Casey Stowe for a victory in the 200 medley relay. Freshman diver Drew Bennett won the 1-meter with a new career-best score of 316.75, more than 22 points ahead of second place.

Purdue sophomore Brady Samuels triumphed in the 200 free with a new personal-best time of 1:34.85. He now ranks No. 2 in program history behind fifth year Nick Sherman (1:33.81), who placed second in the 200 IM with a time of 1:46.39. Idris Muhammad also earned a runner-up finish for the Boilermakers in the 50 free (20.03).

Freshman Tyler Lu was the standout swimmer for the Northwestern men, tallying a pair of victories in the 100 back (47.36) and 200 IM (1:45.69).

Women’s Recap

Yanyan Li contributed to this report.

The Northwestern women put together a dominant performance on the first day of their regular season finale, posting first-place finishes in eight of nine events in the pool on Friday.

A big highlight on day one of the women’s side of the meet was Northwestern’s Ashley Strouse, who swam a 1:45.78 to win the 200 free. This was a major swim for the sophomore, as her time was her fastest since December 2019, when she set her personal best of 1:45.64. Strouse, the #14-ranked recruit in the high school class of 2021, dealt with a plethora of injuries her freshman season—she dislocated her knee twice in the summer of 2021 and fractured both of her elbows in December of that same year. Because of those injuries, she struggled to hit many of her best times from high school, and she was one of the four swimmers in SwimSwam’s top 20 recruit rankings for 2021 to not earn an NCAA invite.

However, Strouse’s 200 free time continues a positive trend we’ve seen from a now-healthy version of her this season. At the 2022 Purdue Invite, she swam a 16:21.33 in the 1650 free, which beats out her time from Big Tens last year and is her fastest swim since she went 16:14.84 in December 2019.

In that same race, Strouse’s teammate Jamie Brennan swam a huge time of 1:45.95, dropping over two seconds from her previous personal best time of 1:48.40. Both Strouse and Brennan’s times were fastest than the slowest two legs of Northwestern’s 800 free relay at Big Tens last year (1:46.83 and 1:48.25), which means that they could be huge relay assets to the Wildcats.

The Wildcats began the regular season finale with a victory in the women’s 200 medley relay. The Wildcats’ quartet of Justine Murdock, Hannah Brunzell, Miriam Guevara, and Audrey Yu combined for a time of 1:37.31, just about a second slower than the NCAA ‘A’ cut and 0.02 seconds off their season-best from midseason invites—which is significant because they pulled off this feat today without their star swimmer, Jasmine Nocentini, who is out of competition with an injury.

Most of the splits won’t show up for the 200 medley relay, but it’s been confirmed that freshman Audrey Yu anchored with a quick 21.87 freestyle leg. Yu went onto swim a 22.71 to finish third in the individual 50 free, a time that is just 0.07 seconds off her personal best. That 50 free race was won by fellow Northwestern freshman Lindsay Ervin, who swam a 22.23. This was a big swim for Ervin, as she came into the meet with a best time of 22.70 from the Purdue Invite.

Lola Mull cruised to the top time in the 1000 free (9:41.77) by nearly six seconds. That’s a new season-best for her, beating out her 9:52.74 from opening the 1650 free at invites, and now ranks her as the eighth-fastest performer of the 2022-23 NCAA season.

Then graduate Miriam Guevara made it four wins in a row for the Wildcat women with a 100 back win in a lifetime-best 52.71. The streak stretched to seven straight when Hannah Brunzell claimed the 100 breast title in 1:00.07 and Hana Shimizu-Bowers went sub-1:58 in the 200 fly for the first time en route to another first-place finish.

The team of Bowers (1:48.35), Ally Larson (1:47.54), Mull (1:48.48), and Brennan (1:47.13) concluded the night with a 7:11.50 in the 800 free relay, winning by over four seconds.

The Northwestern women’s run of topping the podium finally stopped in the 200 IM, where Minnesota went 1-2 courtesy of Megan Van Berkom (1:59.44) and Rachel Butler (2:00.48).

Kennedy Gilbertson highlighted Iowa’s night with two best times, registering the program’s fourth-fastest 50 free (22.75) and lowering her No. 5 all-time 100 back mark with a ‘B’ cut 53.66. Freshman Sabina Kupcova placed fourth in the 200 IM with a 2:02.95, moving up to eighth in Iowa’s all-time rankings.

Purdue diver Jenna Sonnenberg (318.85) edged teammate Daryn Wright (315.90) for the top score on the 3-meter.