Northwestern’s men’s and women’s swim and dive teams started their 2026-27 seasons with commanding wins over Miami (OH) at the Norris Aquatics Center on Saturday night. The men secured a 187-130 victory while the women dominated 230-87, repeating last year’s season opener success against the Redhawks.
Stuart Seymour led the men’s team, taking first place in both the 50-yard freestyle (20.10) and 100-yard backstroke (45.74). His performances helped Northwestern claim 11 of the 17 events, including clean sweeps in the relays and diving. The men’s relay squads took the 200-yard freestyle (1:20.51), 400-yard freestyle (2:53.23), and 200-yard medley (1:25.42). Kyle Ly, a third-year diver from California, won both the one-meter and three-meter diving events, contributing significant points.
Miami (OH)’s Owen Hoban won three individual events—the 200-yard breaststroke (2:00.23), 200-yard butterfly (1:46.44), and 100-yard individual medley (49.84)—earning the meet’s high point award on the men’s side. Seymour ranked second in high point scoring, while Ly finished third. The teams split the individual swimming events evenly at six apiece, in part because some Northwestern swimmers competed in less familiar races, a common strategy early in the season.
The women’s team overwhelmed Miami (OH), winning 14 of 17 events with a 143-point margin. Freshman Flawia Kamzol made an immediate impact, winning the 100-yard backstroke (53.71) and 100-yard butterfly (52.76). Ranked 28th nationally in the Class of 2026, Kamzol’s debut earned her the meet’s high point honors. Other multiple winners included Maggie Papanicholas, who took the 100-yard breaststroke (1:01.61) and 200-yard breaststroke (2:14.05), Zoe Nordmann, victorious in the 500-yard freestyle (4:51.05) and 200-yard butterfly (2:00.49), and Chloe Sharp, who swept the diving events with scores of 261.10 on the one-meter and 280.05 on the three-meter boards.
Northwestern’s women also swept the relays. The 200-yard medley relay team of Davis, Papanicholas, Kamzol, and Pan finished in 1:39.81. The 200-yard freestyle relay, featuring Pan, Davis, Kamzol, and Martin, won in 1:32.10, while the 400-yard freestyle relay team of Bleakney, Smith, Teply, and Chow took first place in 3:22.65 by more than five seconds.
Kamzol’s strong start was supported by other freshmen recruits ranked in the top 150 nationally. Sprinter Aya Ferguson claimed the 50-yard freestyle in 22.92 seconds and placed sixth in high point scoring. Iris Kim finished second in the 800-yard freestyle (8:03.63) and third in the 500-yard freestyle (4:58.41).
After these wins, Northwestern faces a step up in competition. The teams travel to Bloomington on Friday to face Indiana, the reigning Big Ten men’s champions and ranked second nationally by SwimSwam in preseason polls. Indiana’s women finished second in the Big Ten last year and are ranked fifth nationally. Two weeks later, Northwestern returns to Indiana to take on Notre Dame on October 23 before competing at the Short Course World Trials in Westmont, Illinois, from October 28 to 31.
According to Yahoo Sports.
