Northwestern Women, Minnesota Men Big Winners at Big Ten Duals

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Miriam Guevara; Photo Courtesy: Northwestern Atletics

Northwestern Women, Minnesota Men Big Winners at Big Ten Duals

The Northwestern women’s team and the Minnesota men were the big winners at the two-day Big Ten Duals hosted by Northwestern Friday and Saturday.

Minnesota’s men took a pair of wins over Purdue and Northwestern in the tri-meet format. In the women’s quad meet, Northwestern took home three victories – over Minnesota, Iowa and Purdue. Minnesota beat Iowa and Purdue.

Men’s Scores

Minnesota 194, Purdue 153
Minnesota 221, Northwestern 130
Purdue 181.5, Northwestern 170.5

Women’s Scores

Northwestern 200, Minnesota 153
Northwestern 269, Iowa 81
Northwestern 237, Purdue 115
Minnesota 287.5, Iowa 64.5
Minnesota 247, Purdue 105
Purdue 257, Iowa 90

The Northwestern women’s team re-set all four relay records in claiming their three wins.

Among the standout individual performances was Minnesota’s Bar Soloveychik, who set a program record in the men’s 1,000 free on Friday. His time of 8:54.69 downed more than a second off the school record that had stood since 2001 in the hands of Justin Mortimer (8:56.27). It also set a Northwestern pool record.

Minnesota took home the top three spots in that event, with Chris Nagy and William Christenson following. That would be the order of finish in Saturday’s 500 free as well, led by Soloveychik winning in 4:19.43 and missing a Jordan Wilimovsky pool record by four tenths.

Soloveychik also finished third in the 200 free on the opening night, a spot behind teammate Chris Morris, and teamed with Morris, Kaiser Neverman and Alberto Hernandez Garcia to set a pool record in the 800 free relay at 6:25.80, downing a 2006 Northwestern mark.

The Golden Gophers won both relays on the opening day. Neverman was part of the 200 medley relay, then finished second in both butterfly events. Also on that medley relay was Max McHugh, winner of the 100 breast and 200 breast, and 50 free champ Lucas Farrar. McHugh threatened pool records in both, going 52.07 in the 100 and nearing his pool mark from 2019 in the 200, just .27 off it at 1:54.96. Farrar was third in the 100 free.

Minnesota started Day 2 by taking the top two in the 400 individual medley, Christenson winning in 3:50.98 ahead of Isaac Barrera. The Gophers also took three of the top four spots in the 200 back, won by Dez Sachtjen, who had been the 100 back runner-up. The Golden Gophers got a boost in diving with Drew Bennett breaking the Purdue blockade by winning 1-meter in 316.75.

Purdue’s win over Northwestern came on the back of its sprint depth. The foursome of Brady Samuels, Nick Sherman, Idris Muhammad and Keelan Hart won both free relays, setting a pool record of 2:53.10 in the 400. Muhammad was the runner-up in he 50 free. Hart won the 100 free ahead of Sherman, who was second in the 200 IM and third in the 100 back. Samuels won the 200 free, in a time of 1:34.85 that is the second-fastest in program history, and the 100 fly. Samuels’ leadoff leg of 43.01 in the 400 free relay set the pool record in the 100 free, downing a 2019 mark belonging to Bowe Becker.

Jordan Rzepka was the runner-up in both diving events; in the 3-meter, that came behind teammate Samuel Bennett’s pool record 408.20.

Northwestern got a pair of wins from Tyler Lu, who prevailed in the 100 back and 200 IM. He was also the runner-up in the 200 back. Ben Miller won the 200 fly. Marcus Mok was second to McHugh in both breaststroke events and third in the 200 IM.

The Northwestern women’s team went 4-for-4 on relay records. The 200 medley relay that started it led to the Wildcats setting three pool records in the first three swimming events on Friday.

The 200 medley relay started it with a time of 1:37.31, the squad comprising Justine Murdock, Hannah Brunzell, Miriam Guevara and Audrey Yu. The Wildcats’ 800 free relay capped Day 1 with a pool mark, slicing four seconds off the record that had stood since 2017. Hana Shimizu-Bowers, Ally Larson, Lola Mull and Jamie Brennan took down that record.

Northwestern added the pool record in 1:29.22 (Ervin, Yu, Brennan, Larson), edging Minnesota by .18 seconds, with the Golden Gophers also under the mark. Ervin led off the 400 free relay with Larson, Brennan and Riley Huddleston in 3:16.55.

Mull won the 1,000 free in 9:41.77, a pool mark, then Ashley Strouse went 1:45.78 to earn the pool standard in the 200 free. Both records had stood since 2016. Brennan was also under the record in the 200 free. Ervin followed with a 22.23 to win the 50, tying Calypso Sheridan’s pool record. (She added the 100 free title on Saturday.)

Guevara had a stellar outing on Friday, winning the 100 back and finishing second to Shimizu-Bowers in the 200 fly. She added the 100 fly title on Saturday. Strouse won the 500 free ahead of Mull and Shimizu-Bowers. Brunzell swept the breaststroke events.

Minnesota’s standout was Megan Van Berkom. She followed up a third-place finish in the 1,000 free and a third-place result in the 200 fly by winning the 200 IM ahead of teammate Rachel Butler. She also won the 400 IM ahead of Shimizu-Bowers. Paula Rodriguez Rivero won the 200 back. Hannah Cornish was the runner-up in both sprint events. Joy Zhu won 1-meter diving for Minnesota.

Purdue got a win in 3-meter via Jenna Sonnenberg, who scored 318.85 in a 1-2 with Daryn Wright. Kate Beavon was second in the 1,000, and Maggie Love finished third in the 100 breast and 200 IM.

Iowa’s top performer was Kennedy Gilbertson, who finished second in the 100 back and fourth in the 200 back.

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