Duke Women, Northwestern Men Earn Victories in Two-Day Meet in Durham
The Duke Blue Devils welcomed Northwestern to Durham, N.C., this weekend for a two-day competition, and the host team came out on top of the women’s meet by a score of 194-137, with standout breaststroker Kaelyn Gridley leading the way. On the men’s side, Diego Nosack and Northwestern dominated on the way to a final score of 225.5-107.5.
The Blue Devil women dominated the 400 medley relay to begin the meet, with Ali Pfaff, Gridley, Aleyna Ozkan and Tatum Wall combining for a time of 3:30.46. Gridley split 57.82 on breaststroke before winning the 100-yard individual event in 59.24. A day later, the exact same team clocked 1:36.91 to win the 200 medley relay, and Gridley picked up another breaststroke win with a time of 2:09.36 over 200 yards.
Duke’s Yixuan Chang took first in the 200 freestyle (1:47.10), and Molly Donlan was the winner of the 100 backstroke (53.94). Martina Peroni topped the 200 butterfly (1:56.62), and Wall concluded day one’s individual events with a first-place result in the 50 free (22.07). Donlan returned on day two to win the 200 back (1:56.15), and Wall was victorious in the 100 free (48.70).
Audrey Portello led a Duke sweep in the 400 IM, clocking 4:14.54. In diving, Margo Omeara of the Blue Devils won 3-meter (358.58) and 1-meter (313.65).
Northwestern’s Luiza Comini Lima won the 1650 free in 16:39.95, and the 800 free relay went to the Wildcats’ team of Nikki Venema, Sydney Smith, Zoe Nordmann and Bri Deierlein in 7:13.45. Nordmann was the winner of the 500 free (4:47.61), and Venema topped the 100 fly (53.42). The team of Sophie Martin, Venema, Audrey Yu and Lindsay Ervin concluded the meet with a time of 3:16.84 in the 400 free relay to secure the win.
The Northwestern men were dominant over both days against Duke. The team of David Gerchik, Tyler Lu, Caden Duncan and Stuart Seymour won the 400 medley relay in 3:10.91, and Josh Staples began the individual slate of events with a comfortable win in the 1650 free (15:19.04). Nosack then went to work, topping the 200 free (1:38.04) and 200 fly (1:47.51), followed by Seymour winning the 100 back (47.04) and Lu taking first in the 100 breast (54.16).
Duncan won the 50 free in 20.08, and the Northwestern men’s team of Staples, Malachi Cohen, Duncan and Nosack finished almost four seconds clear of the Blue Devils in the 800 free relay, clocking 6:32.98. When the teams returned to Taishoff Aquatic Pavilion Saturday, the session began the same way as Friday’s, with Gerchik, Lu, Duncan and Seymour swimming a time of 1:26.99 to win the 200 medley relay and then Staples winning the 500 free in 4:28.03.
Northwestern then picked up additional wins from Gerchik in the 200 back (1:44.84), Lu in the 200 breast (1:57.40), Duncan in the 100 free (43.14) and Chris Leung in the 100 fly (47.34) before Nosack took first in the 400 IM in 3:51.13 for his third individual win of the meet. The team of Duncan, Seymour, Cohen and Lu dominated the 400 free relay to conclude the racing with a time of 2:55.58.
For Duke, Yannis Schattman won 1-meter (354.83) and 3-meter diving (375.38), but the Wildcats completed the sweep of all events contested in the racing pool.