EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern swimming and diving will open its 2026-27 season on Saturday, Oct. 3, hosting Miami (OH) for a dual meet at 11 a.m. CT inside Norris Aquatic Center.
The Wildcats face the RedHawks in dual-meet competition for the fifth consecutive season. They have swept the last four matchups – in 2025, the men’s team pulled together a 203-97 victory and the women won 224-76.
During the 2025-26 season, the RedHawks placed fourth in the Mid-American Championships on the women’s side and second at the Missouri Valley Conference Championships on the men’s side. They qualified two swimmers for the NCAA Championships — Chrisna Bezuidenhout for the women and Elijah Rolfsen for the men.
2025-26 Rewind
Northwestern opens the 2026-27 season ranked No. 16 in the CSCAA Coaches Poll on the men’s side. That ranking follows a successful 2025-26 campaign that produced 10 NCAA championship qualifiers and a 26th-place finish at the event. The ‘Cats also placed fourth at the Big Ten championships, their highest result since 2006, and broke 12 school records.
The Wildcats return both of their top scorers from the 2025 NCAA Championships: junior Joshua Staples and senior Stuart Seymour. Staples finished eighth in the 400-yard Individual Medley at NCAAs last year, becoming the first NU men’s swimmer to place top eight nationally since 2017. He also set school records in the 200 IM and 400 IM to go alongside his record in the 500-yard Freestyle.
Seymour, who is on the 2026-27 Big Ten Swimmers and Divers to Watch List, set school records in the 50 Free, 100 Free, 100 Butterfly and 100 Backstroke during his junior season. He earned NCAA Championship points with an 11th-place finish in the 100 back, and also scored a runner-up finish in the 100 free at Big Tens.
The Northwestern women sent six athletes to NCAAs last season and placed 36th overall, following a ninth-place finish at Big Tens. They also set two school records in the 200 and 800 Free Relays.
Junior Zoe Nordmann was the top performer for her team last season, and the only female individual swimmer to qualify for NCAAs, where she raced the 500 and 1650 Free. She accumulated top-16 finishes in both events at Big Tens, where she led the women’s team in scoring with 49 points. Nordmann was named to the 2026-27 Big Ten Swimmers and Divers to Watch List.
NU’s other women’s NCAA individual qualifier was junior diver Isabella Chen, who placed 22nd in the 10-meter diving event at the NCAA Championships. She also ranked 10th in the event at the NCAA Zone C Diving event to qualify for the NCAA Championships meet.
At the Helm
Director of Swimming & Diving Rachel Stratton-Mills will serve as president of the CSCAA (College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America) beginning during the 2026-27 school year, after spending the last two seasons as President-Elect. The CSCAA announced the transition on April 29.
Also in the offseason, Northwestern assistant coach Margaret Howe was promoted to associate head coach. Howe joined the Wildcats in August 2023 and is entering her fourth season with the team.