The Northwestern women’s swimming and diving team placed ninth overall in the Big Ten Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship title last weekend at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center in Minneapolis.
The ‘Cats tied their 2025 conference finish, despite scoring 446 points, a 37-point increase from last season.
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Entering the meet, No. 4 Michigan, No. 6 Indiana and No. 11 Ohio State were widely viewed as the conference’s top contenders, and the results reflected that expectation. Michigan finally won its first women’s swimming and diving conference championship since 2018, Indiana finished second and the reigning champion Buckeyes placed third. The Wolverines displayed dominant star power during the four-day meet, led by senior champion Bella Sims, who won the 400-yard individual medley, the 200-yard individual medley and swam on three championship-winning relays.
Results from the Big Ten Championships can be found in the Meet Mobile app or on the Swimcloud meet page for the event.
Meeting Summary
Northwestern finished ninth for the second year in a row, scoring 446 total points. The ‘Cats came close to improving on their 2025 finish, battling all weekend against Purdue for an eighth-place finish. In the end, however, Purdue outscored Northwestern 497 to 446, fueled in large part by a strong performance in the meet’s diving events that was too much for the ‘Cats to overcome on the swimming side. On the overall competition podium, Michigan topped the standings, followed by Indiana in second and Ohio State in third.
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Michigan controlled much of the championship, winning half of the individual events and four of the five relays. The Wolverines were boosted by their three star swimmers, Bella Sims, Hannah Bellard and Letitia Sim, who finished in the top five in the meet’s highest ranking. Sims won the 400-yard individual medley and 200-yard individual medley, Bellard won the 200-yard butterfly and 500-yard freestyle, while Sim swept the breaststroke events.
A number of Big Ten conference records were obliterated at the championships. The meet records were set by Michigan’s Sims-Sim-Kendall-Greenhawt and Sims-Sim-Kendall-Balduccini relay teams in the 200- and 400-yard medley relays, respectively. Sims set individual meet records in the 400-yard individual medley, Indiana’s Liberty Clark in the 100-yard freestyle and Wisconsin’s Maggie Wanezek in the 200-yard backstroke.
For Northwestern, the highlight of the meet came in the 800-yard freestyle relay, where Ekaterina Nikonova, Sydney Smith, Zoe Nordmann and Hana Shimizu-Bowers combined for a school-record time of 7:01.42 to finish sixth – the Wildcats’ highest relay placing at the meet. Northwestern also placed sixth in the 200 freestyle relay behind the team of Lindsay Ervin, Nikonova, Audrey Yu and Pan.
Individually, Zoe Nordmann placed sixth in the 1,650-yard freestyle, while Lindsay Ervin placed eighth in the 100 freestyle with a personal best time of 48.28. The Wildcats also had seven B Final appearances (with finishers ninth through 16th) from Sydney Smith (200-yard freestyle), Teya Nikolova (100-yard breaststroke), Nordmann (500-yard freestyle), Ervin (50-yard freestyle), Kat Nikonova (100-yard freestyle), Shimizu-Bowers (200-yard butterfly) and Claire Mehok. (200 yards backstroke).
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When it came to diving, Northwestern saw limited scoring impact compared to some of the deeper diving programs in the conference, which hurt them greatly in the overall team competition. Facing Purdue for eighth place, the ‘Cats scored points in just two C final appearances in all three diving events, while the Boilermakers placed their divers in the top three of each diving event, with Avery Worobel winning the 3-meter competition. Isabella Chen was the best athlete for the ‘Cats’ and the only point scorer in the 3 and 10 meter events, placing 19th and 24th respectively. Northwestern scored no points in the 1-meter test.
In the top individual ranking, Big Ten championship swimmer Bella Sims led the way for Michigan with five gold medals and two silver medals. Indiana’s Clark finished second after a strong championship that included personal best times in the 50-, 100- and 200-yard freestyle events, while Sims’ teammate Wolverine Bellard took third. For Northwestern, Nordmann was the highest-ranked Wildcat in high points rankings at 45th overall, with Ervin the only other Northwestern swimmer in the top 100, finishing 68th.
A great observation
Like last year, Northwestern was left without stars at the Big Ten Championships.
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In 2025, the ‘Cats’ top individual finisher was senior swimmer Nikki Venema, who placed 73rd in the meet’s highest ranking. Nordmann, then a freshman, was the only other top-100 finisher for the Wildcats, placing 92nd with B finishes in the 500-yard freestyle and 1,650-yard freestyle. This year, although both Nordmann and Lindsay Ervin managed to finish ahead of Venom’s team’s best finish in 2025, the ‘Cats once again saw just two swimmers finish in the top 100, once again struggling to achieve A-final-worthy times.
Of course, focusing on the ‘Cats’ absence from the top 100 swimmers is a bit of a “glass half empty” perspective. Northwestern has featured solid depth in 2025 and 2026, with seven swimmers finishing 100-150 in the Big Ten last year and eight swimmers doing the same this year. While the ‘Cats are in the bottom half of the Big Ten for swimmers who finish 1-99, if you expand the spectrum to 150, the ‘Cats are in the top half of the conference. That depth is important.
The bottom line, however, is that while Northwestern has grown a lot as a program in recent years under head coach Rachel Stratton-Mills, the ‘Cats’ repeat ninth-place finish served as a harsh reality check that the ‘Cats will not be able to advance in the Big Ten standings without more star power. Depth can only carry the ‘Cats so far without all-conference talent.
Fortunately for Northwestern, there are big recruits on the way. In the fall, Flawia Kamzol, the No. 20 recruit in the Class of 2026, and Xintong Wang, the No. 97 recruit in the Class of 2026, will be welcomed into Evanston as two of the highest-rated recruits of the Stratton-Mills era. Plus, future classes will be even more exciting, with Lucy Velte and Annabeth Town, the 14th and 41st recruits in the Class of 2027, respectively, on the way in a year and a half. Future Northwest seasons will be determined by whether Stratton-Mills and co. can turn these top talents into reliable star performers while maintaining the depth they’ve showcased over the past two years.