EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern swimming and diving picked up a second dual meet sweep of the 2026-27 season on Friday afternoon, with both the men’s and women’s teams defeating Notre Dame. The women won 180-120, while the men won 186-114 in the Norris Aquatics Center.
The result was a reverse of last year’s competition in South Bend, Ind., when the Fighting Irish narrowly beat the Northwestern men’s and women’s teams.
“I’m really happy with how they executed that,” Northwestern Director of Swimming & Diving Rachel Stratton-Mills said. Talk about performing from top to bottom. We had a really great meet against this team last year, and people who didn’t score [last year] are getting second and third place [this year.”
Northwestern won 16 of 30 contested events. Oli Kos, Joshua Staples and Stuart Seymour all won multiple individual events on the men’s side, while Zoe Nordmann, Margaret Papanicholas, Flawia Kamzol and Chloe Sharpe did so on the women’s side.
How It Happened
Northwestern kicked off its meet with a win in the men’s 400 Medley Relay, as Kos, Staples, Seymour and Caden Duncan touched in a time of 3:05.27. That momentum continued into the next event, when NU’s Nordmann (16:37.32) and Iris Kim (16:48.11) claimed first and second, respectively in the 1650 Free.
“A lot of our milers set the tone for our first mile of the season,” Stratton-Mills said, also noting Tristian Prizler’s second-place finish in the men’s 1650 Free where he “put it all on the line.”
Kos picked up his first individual event win of the afternoon in the 200 Free, clearing the field by nearly two seconds with a 1:36.26. The ‘Cats then swept the 100 Back — first-year Flawia Kamzol won the women’s race (53.65), while Seymour (45.32) overtook Notre Dame’s Marcus Reyes-Gentry to win the men’s race.
Margaret Papanicholas won the women’s 100 Breast in 1:00.91, a time just 0.56 from her personal best. Staples followed that event up with his own 100 Breast win, clocking a 52.67. On the diving end, Chloe Sharpe (267.75) and Adam Cohen (391.10) picked up victories in the one-meter event.
At the first break, Northwestern led 80-51 on the women’s side and 93-57 on the men’s side.
Claire Mehok snapped a four-event Notre Dame win streak with a victory in the 200 Back (1:57.05), while her teammate Gretchen Braun finished behind her for another Wildcat 1-2 placing. Kos (1:41.66) and David Gerchik (1:43.07) then took the top two spots in the men’s 200 Back, with Kos throwing down his fastest performance ever outside of a Big Ten or NCAA Championships.
Papanicholas and Staples completed breaststroke sweeps with wins in the 200 Breast. First, Papanicholas won the women’s race in a time of 2:11.58, before Staples won his event with a 1:56.92. In the subsequent event, Nordmann picked up her second race win of the day by swimming a time of 4:47.77 in the 500 Free.
“Maggie Papanicholas, as a senior, is having a tremendous year,” Stratton-Mills said. “Watching her battle through hard years and being so engaged in winning her events, that’s somebody I really want to shout out.”
Kamzol out-touched Notre Dame NCAA championships qualifier Carli Cronk to win the 100 fly in a time of 52.30, a personal best by 0.46 seconds for her. Seymour followed her with a win in the men’s edition of the event, going 45.70.
Sharpe won her second event of the day in the three-meter diving contest, posting a score of 281.30. All top three finishers in this event were Wildcats, with Lydia Georgopoulou (274.84) and Caroline Li (274.80) following Sharpe.
To wrap up individual racing, Staples became the only Wildcat to pick up three individual race wins, taking home the 200 IM (1:46.43) and beating the field by over a second.
In a thriller of a final women’s race, Northwestern out-touched Notre Dame by just 0.02 seconds to win the 200 Free Relay. The ‘Cats were powered by anchor Amy Pan, as well as Kamzol, Aya Ferguson and Bri Deierlen. Next, the men’s squad won their relay in a time of 1:17.97, with contributions from Connor Schuster, Seymour, Duncan and Kos.
“I loved watching some women who maybe don’t identify as a sprinter [go] for a 50, and they’re stepping up because they want their team to win and that really, really sticks out,” Stratton-Mills said of the women’s 200 Free Relay.
Final Scores:
Men: Northwestern 186, Notre Dame 114
Women: Northwestern 180, Notre Dame 120
Short Course World Trials
Short Course World Trials
Next up, select Wildcats will travel to Westmont, Ill., for the U.S. Short Course World Championship Trials, which take place from Oct. 28-31 and serve as a selection meet for the 2026 Short Course World Championships in Beijing, China.