Northwestern’s swim and dive squads kicked off their season with a bang, with the women’s team absolutely crushing Miami (OH) 230-87 and new recruit Flawia Kamzol making an insane, stellar debut. This wasn’t just a win, it was a statement from Rachel Stratton Mills’ squads, making easy work of the Redhawks for the second straight season opener.
Men’s Team Gets the Job Done, Sweeps Diving
The men’s team walked away with a solid 187-130 victory, defending their best finish at Big Ten Championships since 2008. While some might have expected an even wider margin, a W is a W, and they pulled it off with a healthy 57-point lead. They won 11 of the 17 events, sweeping both the relays and the diving competitions. Stuart Seymour was a beast, snagging wins in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard backstroke. Kyle Ly, a third-year from California, absolutely dominated the diving boards, winning both the one-meter and three-meter events. Relay teams featuring Seymour, Kos, Ha, and Duncan tore up the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:20.51). Seymour, Shuster, Duncan, and Kos teamed up for a 400-yard freestyle relay win (2:53.23), and Seymour, Staples, Schuster, and Kos grabbed the 200-yard medley relay (1:25.42). Miami (OH) did split the individual swimming events six to six, partly because the ‘Cats’ best swimmers were competing in some off-events, which is typical for early season meets. Still, Seymour was Northwestern’s top performer, finishing second in the meet’s high point standings, with Ly taking third.
Women’s Team Unleashes a Tidal Wave of Dominance
Unlike the men’s closer margin, the lady ‘Cats left Miami (OH) with practically no scoring opportunities, securing victories in a mind-blowing 14 of the meet’s 17 events! They beat the Redhawks by a walloping 143-point margin, just completely dominating. And can we talk about Flawia Kamzol? This recruit, ranked No. 28 in the Class of 2026 and one of the team’s highest-ranked recruits ever, showed up and showed out, winning both the 100-yard backstroke and the 100-yard butterfly. The women’s team brought out the broomstick on the relays, too. A Davis-Papanicholas-Kamzol-Pan team won the 200-yard medley relay (1:39.81), a Pan-Davis-Kamzol-Martin team took the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:32.10), and Bleakney-Smith-Teply-Chow came out on top in the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:22.65). They won each relay by over a second, taking the 400-yard freestyle relay by a massive gap of over five seconds! With seven separate individual event winners, and four of them snagging multiple events like Kamzol and Maggie Papanicholas, these women are on fire.
This is exactly the kind of start you want to see. The women’s team, after finishing ninth last year at the Big Ten’s, is already looking like they mean business, with Kamzol proving to be an instant impact player. With individual performances like these setting the tone, you gotta wonder what else these ‘Cats are going to pull off this season. This is only the beginning.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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