By Jake Bridges on SwimSwam
Notre Dame vs Northwestern
- October 24th, 2025
- South Bend, Indiana – Rolfs Aquatic Center
- SCY (25 Yards)
- Results
- Final Scores:
- Men: Notre Dame 158.5 – Northwestern 141.5
- Women: Notre Dame 151 – Northwestern 149
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish took a pair of victories over the Northwestern Wildcats in South Bend on Friday. The dual meet featured incredibly close competition between the two teams, especially on the women’s side.
The wins were Notre Dame’s first under new head coach Michael Norment and his staff, as well as the men’s team’s first victory since returning from a season-long suspension.
Women’s Meet
The Northwestern women kicked off their first meeting with Notre Dame in six years in emphatic fashion. They began with a 1-2 finish in the 200 medley relay. Grey Davis (25.20), Teya Nikolova (28.81), Ekaterina Nikonova (23.83), and Lindsay Ervin (22.12) touched the wall just ahead of the Northwestern ‘B’ relay, clocking 1:39.16. Had the Wildcat’s fastest swimmers been combined on the same relay, they would have registered a time of 1:38.47.
Next came the 1000 freestyle, which saw another 1-2 finish for the Wildcats. Northwestern sophomore Zoe Nordmann produced a time of 9:45.69 to blitz the rest of the field and beat her teammate, Madeleine Simmons, by over 20 seconds. Nordmann’s time was a small personal best, an impressive feat in a distance event at this point in the season.
It was Carli Cronk, a sophomore at Notre Dame, who put a stop to Northwestern’s early momentum. She registered a time of 1:46.06 in the 200 free, winning the event for the Fighting Irish and coming within thirteen one-hundredths of her lifetime best. The Wildcats, however, finished 2nd and 3rd in the event and prevented Notre Dame from taking a larger chunk out of their lead.
That changed in the next event, the 100 backstroke. Freshman Emily Hamill and senior Lente Geelen registered the first 1-2 finish of the meet for the Fighting Irish. Hamill led Geelen into the wall, clocking a time of 53.70, which is nearly a second-and-a-half faster than she was in the event around this time last year.
After the 100 back, the two teams proceeded to trade event wins until the second-to-last event. Junior Margaret Papanicholas took the 100 breaststroke for the Wildcats, clocking a time of 1:01.63 and going almost three seconds faster than she did in mid-October last year. Carli Cronk returned to the top step of the podium in the next event, the 200 butterfly, registering a winning time of 1:57.27 for Notre Dame. Cronk was 2:00.57 at this point last season.
Next came the 50 freestyle, which was won by Northwestern senior Lindsay Ervin. She stopped the clock in a time of 22.49, four-tenths of a second faster than she was last October and only fifteen one-hundredths away from her time at last season’s NCAA Championships. Notre Dame sophomore Hollie Widdows then responded in the 100 freestyle, which came immediately after the 50, stopping the clock in a personal best of 48.76.
The next couple of events saw race winners who set significant personal bests. Northwestern freshman Gretchen Braun sped to a three-second improvement in the 200 back, producing a time of 1:56.78. Freshman Gracie Lanning then registered a whopping five-second time drop in the 200 breast, clocking 2:12.85 and winning the event for Notre Dame.
Zoe Nordmann swept the distance events, winning the 500 free for Northwestern in a time of 4:46.88. She complemented her personal best in the 1000 by coming within five seconds of her lifetime best in the 500.
It was Hollie Widdows who finally broke the stalemate between the two teams. She swam in back-to-back events, the 100 fly and the 100 IM, and heroically delivered victory for the Fighting Irish in both. She clocked 53.23 in the 100 fly, only three one-hundredths off her personal best, and managed a best time of 55.07 in the 100 IM.
Widdows ended the meet with three individual victories, two lifetime bests, and one in-season best, undoubtedly making her the swimmer of the meet for the Fighting Irish.
The Wildcats took victory in the final event, the 400 free relay, with Lindsay Ervin (50.71), Ekaterina Nikonova (48.83), Audrey Yu (48.42), and Amy Pan (49.19) stopping the clock in 3:17.15. Notably, Notre Dame relays filled out the podium positions, taking second and third, and that is what pushed the Fighting Irish’s point total just out of reach for the Wildcats. In the end, Notre Dame finished the meet with a minuscule two-point advantage over the Northwestern.
Men’s Meet
The men’s meet, while not as close as the women’s, was still competitive, with both teams earning the same number of event wins.
Northwestern led off the meet with a win in the 200 medley relay, with the team of David Gerchik (22.18), Joshua Staples (24.02), Gal Shlegel (21.04), and Stuart Seymour (18.93) touching the wall in a time of 1:26.17. Sean Atkinson, however, immediately responded for Notre Dame. The sophomore won the 1000 free in a time of 9:12.66. While unable to approach his best time, Atkinson has improved sharply over the month of October: his first registered time in October was 9:29.46, nearly eighteen seconds slower.
Patrick Branon, a sophomore, followed up Atkinson with another win for Notre Dame. He took first in the 200 with a time of 1:36.04, a personal best by two-tenths of a second, before sophomore Stuart Seymour registered Northwestern’s first individual victory, clocking 45.92 in the 100 back.
Joshua Staples earned the Wildcat’s second consecutive victory, with the sophomore touching the wall in a time of 53.09 to win the 100 breast. The time was a half-second personal best for Staples. Diego Nosack then strung together the longest consecutive win streak for either team on both the men’s and women’s sides by winning the 200 fly. The Northwestern junior stopped the clock in 1:44.50, two seconds faster than he was last October.
The next two events were the 50 and 100 freestyle, held back-to-back at this meet, and sophomore Shane Eckler stepped up to the plate for Notre Dame. The sprinter competed in both events, won both, and even more impressively, clocked personal bests in both. He produced 19.58 in the 50, dropping a little over three-tenths of a second, and 43.19 in the 100, improving by just under four-tenths of a second.
Oliver Kos, the younger brother of Hubert Kos, put Northwestern back on track. The sophomore won the 200 back in a time of 1:44.08, a full four seconds faster than he was at this point last season. Joshua Staples then collected his second individual win and second personal best of the meet for the Wildcats by winning the 200 breast in a time of 1:55.46.
Patrick Branon turned the tide back in Notre Dame’s favor, clocking 4:21.38 to win the 500 free and completing his sweep of the distance events. While his 1000 free was nowhere near his personal best, he crushed his lifetime best in the 500, improving by nearly ten seconds.
Dillon Edge, a senior, produced a half-second personal best of 47.27 to take victory for the Fighting Irish in the 100 fly, and was followed up by junior Chris Leung, who registered a race-winning personal best of 48.47 in the 100 IM for the Wildcats.
The most exciting race of the meet by far was the final one. After 400 meters of freestyle relay racing, the Fighting Irish and Wildcats touched the wall in a dead heat, clocking identical times of 2:53.18.
For the tie, each team received seven-and-a-half points, but even a victory in the last event would not have been enough to pull the Wildcats even with the Fighting Irish. Over the course of the meet, Notre Dame’s depth proved to be too much to overcome.
Looking Forward
Notre Dame’s next meet comes on the road against Louisville on November 7th. Northwestern also swims next on November 7th, when they will take on Duke in a home meet in Evanston, Illinois.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Notre Dame Men and Women Beat Northwestern in Tight Battles
