Sprint Depth Leads Late Surge as Northwestern Sweeps Big Ten Tri-Dual

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Miriam Guevara; Photo Courtesy: Northwestern Atletics

Sprint Depth Leads Late Surge as Northwestern Sweeps Big Ten Tri-Dual

Following the lead of their female sprinters, Northwestern rallied on Saturday to pick up two wins on each side of the Big Ten Tri-Dual hosted by Minnesota.

Northwestern’s men’s team had led both Minnesota and Purdue after the first day of the meet Friday and duly put away those victories. But the turn came on the women’s side, where the Wildcats women overcame Minnesota to augment a victory over Iowa. Minnesota’s men beat Purdue, and the Golden Gopher women bested Iowa.

Men’s Scores

Northwestern 188.5, Minnesota 164.5
Northwestern 201, Purdue 151
Minnesota 190, Purdue 163

Women’s Scores

Northwestern 183, Minnesota 170
Northwestern 295, Iowa 42
Minnesota 299, Iowa 41

The Northwestern women finished on a hot streak by winning the final five events. Jasmine Nocentini and Maddie Smith orchestrated a 1-2 finish in the 100 freestyle, Nocentini nipping her teammate at the wall by .06 seconds in 48.46. Emma Lepisova fueled another 1-2 by wining the 200 backstroke in 1:54.86, teammate Justine Murdock second.

Big Ten Swimming

Miriam Guevara got to the wall first in the 100 butterfly, followed by Lola Mull’s second win of the meet in the 500 free. The Wildcats finished with a flourish, Hannah Brunzell winning the 200 breast in 2:10.44, leading a trip of teammates under 2:11, with Sophie Angus second and Tara Vovk third. The foursome of Smith, Ally Larson, Annika Wagner and Nocentini capped it with a 3:14.56 time in the 400 free relay.

The only chip in the Northwestern blockade was provided by Megan Van Berkom in the 400 individual medley. She won in 4:09.81, with Minnesota filling the top three spots to gain the early initiative. Van Berkom was second to Mull in the 500 free.

Live Results

Minnesota also won the opening 200 free relay, the squad of Olivia Bloomer, Hannah Cornish, Maggie Summit and Grace Benning edging Northwestern by .07 in 1:28.43.

The men’s Big Ten Tri-Dual ended with a cracking race with a tie for the 400 free relay win. Both Northwestern (Federico Burdisso, Andrew Zhang, Aleksa Bobar, Connor Lamastra) and Minnesota (Lucas Farrar, Chris Morris, Tom Donker, Bar Soloveychik) clocked in at 2:56.28, in a race where the favored Purdue A squad was disqualified. Purdue had won the 200 free relay to start the day, the foursome of Nick Sherman, Ryan Hrosik, Brady Samuels and Nikola Acin going 1:17.63.

Northwestern picked up wins via Tyler Lu in the 400 IM (3:50.18) and Manuel Martos Bacarizo in the 200 back (1:43.72). Marcus Mok was second in the 200 breast, as was Zhang in the 100 free.

Minnesota mounted a late charge behind its distance set. Soloveychik won the 500 free in 4:23.67, leading Cameron Kelly and James Freeman in a 1-2-3. Max McHugh threw down a 1:52.57 to dominate the 200 breast.

Samuels outdueled the brothers Burdisso in a scintillating 100 fly. Samuels won in 46.31, ahead of Federico (46.53) and Alessandro Burdisso (47.63). Acin won the 100 free in 43.32.

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