Sprint Freestyler Jasmine Nocentini Splits 26.82 50 BR In Northwestern Tri-Meet

Northwestern vs. UIC vs. Illinois

• October 29, 2022
• SCY (25 yards)
• Norris Aquatic Center, Evanston, Illinois
• Full Results Under “Northwester vs. UIC vs. Illinois” On MeetMobile

On Saturday, Northwestern opened up its 2022-23 season by hosting a tri-meet against in-state competitors Illinois and UIC (University of Illinois-Chicago) in Evanston. The wildcats’ men’s team beat UIC 200-87, while the#20-ranked women’s team beat Illinois 205-90 and UIC 215-77. In the battle between Illinois and UIC on the women’s side of the meet, Illinois beat UIC 225-74.

Notably, the head coaches of all three teams competing were women, a fact that is significant considering that collegiate swim coaching is a sphere that is predominantly male. Northwestern is led by Katie Robinson, Illinois by Jeana Kempe, and UIC by Ashley Dell. What’s also interesting about this combination of female coaches is that both Kempe and Dell were newly hired, as Kempe was named head coach in April 2022 and Dell was named head coach in May 2022.

We swam against two other programs today – and all HEAD COACHES on deck were WOMEN.
🤙🥳🤝 #shecancoach #RepresentationMatters pic.twitter.com/vpz18LBx70

— Katie Robinson (@KatieSwimCoach) October 29, 2022

Women’s Meet Recap

The most intriguing story about this meet was Jasmine Nocentini. She was named in our list of NCAA swimmers who could break out in the 2022-23 season, but that was primarily for her sprint freestyle abilities—which makes sense considering that she’s been as fast as 21.78 and 47.76 respectively in the 50 and 100 free and is the school record holder in the former event. At this meet, however, she tested her hand in another event discipline—breaststroke.

Nocentini started things off by swimming breast on the 200 medley relay, where she split a formidable time of 26.86 that had only been matched by a few of the nation’s top breaststroke specialists such as Kaelyn Gridley, Kaitlyn Dobler, Lydia Jacoby, and Anna Elendt, much less at an unsuited dual meet. The aforementioned 200 medley relay consisted of Isabella Wallace (27.33), Nocentini (26.82), Jamie Brennan (24.25), and Ally Larson (22.58) who combined for a time of 1:40.98.

Individually, Nocentini swam the 100 breast for the first time in her career, where she won in a time of 1:00.34. That time is less than a second off of last year’s NCAA invite time of 59.87. Adding the 100 breast as a third event in Nocetini’s lineup could be very beneficial towards Northwestern, especially after the departures of Sophie Angus and Tara Vovk, last year’s seventh and eighth-place finishers at NCAAs in the 100 breast. But Nocetini didn’t abandon the sprint freestyle races entirely this meet, as she also won the 100 free, swimming a 49.32. Later in the competition, she led off the 400 free relay nearly half a second fast in 48.82, as her, Lindsay Ervin (50.38), Miriam Guevara (52.46), and Wallace (53.22) combined to win in a time of 3:24.88.

Ervin, a freshman, finished second to Nocetini in a time of 49.94 and was not far off her best time of 49.48 set this April. She also won the 50 free in 23.41, just 0.14 seconds ahead of her teammate Audrey Yu, who is also a freshman coming from the Sandpipers of Nevada.

On the distance side of things, it was 2022 NCAA All-American Lola Mull who shined. She won the 1000 free (10:04.64) and 500 free (4:56.26), although she wasn’t the fastest swimmer in the 500. In that same race, freshman Hana Shimizu-Bowers was nearly a second fast than Mull to go 4:55.35, but she was marked as an exhibition swimmer. Also swimming exhibition in the 500 free was Ashley Strouse, who clocked a 4:56.48 that was the third-fastest time in the heat. Strouse, who endured a freshman year plagued with injuries, was racing in her first yards meet since undergoing elbow surgery in April 2022.

Strouse raced in the 200 free as well and was second in a time of 1:50.20, just behind her teammate Ally Larson who went 1:49.87 to win. Bowers also took two more official event wins, swimming a 2:04.57 in the 200 IM and 1:59.55 in the 200 fly.

In the 100 back, there was a tight race between Guevara and Justine Murdock, as they went 55.27 and 55.78 respectively to go 1-2. Guevara took victory in the 100 fly as well, clocking a 55.14. Murdock won the 200 back by over a second with a time of 2:00.34.

While Nocetini showed out in sprint breast, the rest of Northwestern’s breaststrokers performed well too. This was displayed when Hannah Brunzell took the 200 breast in a time of 2:16.71, beating out her competition by nearly five seconds. The top performers for Illinois at this meet were Sarah Jass and Liv Dorshorst, as Jass took second in the 200 breast (2:21.31) and 200 IM (2:06.02) and Dorhorst nabbed official second-place finishes in the 500 free (4:57.83) and 1000 free (10:11.21). UIC’s Ciara McCliment scored the only non-Northwestern event win on the women’s side, scoring 267.70 points to win the three-meter diving event. The one-meter diver was won by Northwestern’s Markie Hopkins, who scored 277.90 points.

Men’s Meet Recap

The Northwestern men were without their most high-profile swimmer, Olympic bronze medalist Federico Burdisso, or his brother, Alessandro Burdisso. However, they still managed to beat UIC handily. The Wildcats were led by Ryan King, Tyler Lu, and Tona Zinn, who each grabbed two wins apiece.

King swept the distance events, going 4:35.46 in the 500 free and 9:23.58 in the 1000 free. These times are substantially faster than the 4:36.91 and 9:33.44 times he swam to open up his season last October. Lu took the 100 and 200 back with times of 48.80 and 1:48.58 respectively, and he also led off Northwestern’s 200 medley relay in 22.79. His 100 back time was a bit over a second slower than his personal best time of 47.34, which was set back in 2019.

Zinn, a “best of the rest” in SwimSwam’s class of 2022 recruiting rankings, won the 200 fly and 200 IM with times of 1:49.67 and 1:51.21 respectively. He’s one of Northwestern’s strongest freshmen, coming in with best times of 1:44.89 and 1:46.47 respectively in the 200 fly and IM. Zinn also raced exhibition in the 100 fly and placed second with a 49.67, behind Ben Miller who won in 49.46.

The other “best of the rest” freshman that raced this meet was Matthew Lucky, who took third in the 100 breast with a 56.39 and third in the 200 IM with a 1:55.32 (although he raced exhibition here). He also competed in the 200 breast but was DQed. Saturday’s competition was Lucky’s first meet since 2022 Junior Pan Pacs in August, where he finished sixth in the 200 breast.

The 100 breast was won by U.S. National teamer Kevin Houseman, who put up a 54.38. He swam a similar time of 54.16 opening up his season last year. In the 200 breast, Houseman finished second in 2:06.64, three seconds behind his teammate Connor Morikawa who won with a 2:03.34.

Jan Karolczak, a trasnfer who spent his first two seasons at Virginia, made his Northwestern debut by winning the 200 free. He swam a 1:39.34, being the only swimmer in the field under 1:40. The shorter freestyle events were won by Ethan Churilla and Aleksa Bobar, who went 20.98 and 45.61 to win the 50 and 100 free respectively.  In fact, Bobar and Churilla were only separated by 0.01 seconds in the 100 free, as Churilla touched behind his teammate in 45.62. In the 50 free, Churilla’s winning time was less than a second off his personal best of 20.37.

In addition to winning all the individual swimming races, Northwestern also swept the relays. The 200 medley relay was won by Lu (22.79), Houseman (23.99), Miller (22.51), and Michael Linniham (21.03) who combined for a 1:30.23, whereas Bobar (45.67), Lu (45.09), Forbes (45.96), and Karolczak (45.19) took the 400 free relay in 3:01.91.

Just like on the women’s side, the only non-Northwestern winner in the men’s meet was UIC’s Cole Tremewan, who scored 283.80 points to win the one-meter dive. The three-meter dive was won by Northwestern’s Henry Schirmer, who scored 312.70 points.