How it Happened

The Wildcats kicked off the meet by sweeping the 200 Medley Relays. Grey Davis, Papanicholas, Kamzol and Amy Pan won the women’s relay (1:39.81), while Seymour, Joshua Staples, Connor Schuster and Kos took home the men’s relay (1:25.42) by over two seconds.

Lila Bleakney captured Northwestern’s first individual event win, clocking a 1:48.31 in the 200 Freestyle, a 1.7-second drop from her personal best time. Caleb Romero followed with a win on the men’s side, going 1:38.26 in his first collegiate individual swim. 

The first-year momentum continued into the 100 Backstroke, as Kamzol picked up a win in the women’s edition of the race with a 53.71.

“She not only is swimming fast, but she brings so much joy to it,” Stratton-Mills said of Kamzol. “She’s just constantly lifting up this team in every way possible, and she’s an example to everyone that you can race fast and have a really good time.”

Seymour, Northwestern’s program record-holder in the 100 Back, won the men’s race in 45.71 seconds — his fastest season-opener time ever. Papanicholas (1:01.61) and Staples (54.00) swept the 100 Breaststroke events, before Nordmann won the 200 Butterfly (2:00.49). 

Powered by a 21.86 split from Kamzol, the ‘Cats won the women’s 200 Free Relay with the Polish first-year, Pan, Davis and Sophie Martin at the helm (1:32.10). Seymour, Kos, Brandon He and Cade Duncan then won the men’s event to keep NU’s perfect relay streak alive (1:20.51). By the first meet break, the ‘Cats were up by over 30 points on both sides against the RedHawks.

Northwestern picked up its fourth individual event sweep in the 100 Free, with Bri Deierlein (50.41) and Duncan (43.65) emerging victorious. Kos then won the 200 back by nearly three seconds, with his 1:42.24 time being his fastest performance ever in a dual meet.

Papanicholas picked up a second event win in the 200 breast (2:15.05), becoming NU’s first multi-individual event winner of the day. Nordmann became the second, winning the 500 Free in a time of 4:51.05.

Kamzol picked up her second individual win in the 100 Fly (52.76), just 0.52 seconds off the pool record.

Northwestern swept diving, with Chloe Sharpe picking up victories in the women’s one-meter (261.10) and three-meter (280.05) events. Kyle Ly won the men’s one-meter (350.10) and three-meter (376.85).

The ‘Cats concluded their meet with perfect showings in the 400 Free Relay. Bleakney, Sydney Smith, Bella Teply and Isabella Chow won the women’s relay (3:22.65), while the men won their race in a time of 2:53.23 with a margin of over four seconds.

Final Scores
Women: Northwestern 230 – Miami (Ohio) 87
Men: Northwestern 187 – Miami (Ohio) 130