Minnesota Takes Down Northwestern and Purdue in Two-Day Meet
Three Big Ten schools met in Minneapolis for their final regular season competitions, and the hosting Golden Gophers came out on top. The Minnesota women beat Northwestern and Purdue by identical scores of 241-112, and Northwestern’s women won 200-153 against Purdue. The Minnesota men won 232.5-120.5 against Northwestern and 248-105 against Purdue while Northwestern beat Purdue 196-161.
To begin the meet, the Minnesota team of Ava Yablonski, Ava Goodno, Morgan Thomas and Hannah Cornish won the 200 medley relay in 1:37.21. Yablonski was the winner of the 100 backstroke (51.99). Minnesota’s Eliot Kennedy topped the 1000 freestyle (9:33.64), and Anja Kaljevic was first in the 200 free (1:45.88).
Claire Reinke was first in the 200 butterfly (1:57.02) while Livi Wanner captured the 50 free (22.18). Kaljevic, Katie McCarthy, Mina Kaljevic and Wanner dominated the 800 free relay with a time of 7:07.48, and Vivi Del Angel was the top scorer in exhibition platform diving (336.10).
On day two, Wanner won again in the 100 free (48.42), and McCarthy came from behind to edge Kennedy by four hundredths in the 500 free, 4:42.16 to 4:42.20. Ava Gustafson topped the 200 breast (2:11.01) before Wanner, Mina Kaljevic, Hannah Cornish and Thomas secured the 400 free relay win in 3:16.61.
Northwestern’s first win came from Maggie Papanicholas in the 100 breaststroke (1:00.35), and her teammates Lindsay Ervin, Nikki Venema, Audrey Yu and Amy Pan won the 200 free relay in 1:29.48, seven hundredths ahead of the Golden Gophers. Sophie Martin won the 100 fly (52.34)
Purdue’s Kathryn Ackerman led the way in the 200 IM (1:59.44) and 400 IM (4:11.14), and her team excelled in diving as Avery Worobel won 3-meter (354.80) and 1-meter (334.10). Abby Marcukaitis got first in the 200 back (1:54.46)
The men’s meet started out with Minnesota’s Casey Stowe, Kaiser Neverman, Jacob Johnson and Davide Harabagiu claiming the win in the 200 medley relay by three tenths in 1:25.27. Johnson was the winner in the 200 fly (1:41.94). Bar Soloveychik placed first in the 1000 free (8:52.17), and Max Scheurer won the 100 breast (52.92), with Ryan Slonac coming in first in the 200 IM (1:45.28).
The Golden Gophers’ 800 free relay team of Tyler Hanse. Soloveychik, Joey Tepper and Daniel Eichel won in 6:25.40. In diving, YuTong Wang won 1-meter (402.45) and 3-meter (472.05) while Drew Bennett had the top score in the exhibition platform event (425.60).
Saturday’s session began with Tepper winning the 400 IM in 3:48.22, his clutch 51.71 freestyle split helping him overcome the huge lead of Northwestern’s Diego Nosack and win by three hundredths. Soloveychik dominated the 500 free in 4:17.14, and Scheurer won again in the 200 breast (1:54.03).
Northwestern’s David Gerchik was first in the 100 back in 46.07, one hundredth ahead of teammate Stuart Seymour, and he returned the next day to claim the win in the 200 back (1:41.82). Caden Duncan claimed first in the 50 free (19.97) and 100 free (43.03), and he led off the team that won the 400 free relay. Seymour, Connor Schuster and Gerchik rounded out the 2:52.21 clocking.
Purdue’s Brady Samuels came away with the top spot in the 200 free (1:34.49), and he anchored his team to a win in the 200 free relay, with Nathaniel Thomas, Dominic Mazurek and Idris Muhammad providing the first three legs on the way to a time of 1:18.38. Samuels also won the 100 fly in 45.37.
