The postseason stage is set for Northwestern University men’s swimming and diving, as the Wildcats travel to their northern Wisconsin neighbors for the Big Ten Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships. While there’s only one true juggernaut — No. 3 Indiana — in the conference this year, Northwestern will still be up against tough competition, with six of the nine teams competing ranked in the CSCAA’s top 25.
However, head coach Rachel Stratton-Mills has her squad on a heater as of late, and the ‘Cats have a chance to make some real noise. Unlike the women’s team, Northwestern’s men’s swim and dive team has some heavy hitters, with Stuart Seymour, Joshua Staples and David Gerchik slated as true podium contenders in multiple individual events.
These ‘Cats are legit… here’s a preview of all the action set to take place in Madison:
Meet information
- Location/Date
The meet will be taking place Feb. 25-28 at the Soderholm Family Aquatic Center at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. The meet is a 25-yard short-course meet.
- Event schedule
Wednesday finals (Feb. 25, 4 p.m.): 200-yard medley relay, 800-yard freestyle relay
Thursday finals (Feb. 26, 5:30 p.m.): 100-yard butterfly, 400-yard individual medley, 200-yard freestyle, 100-yard breaststroke, 1-meter diving, 200-yard freestyle relay
Friday finals (Feb. 27, 5:30 p.m.): 100-yard backstroke, 200-yard breaststroke, 500-yard freestyle, 50-yard freestyle, 3-meter diving, 400-yard medley relay
Saturday finals (Feb. 28, 5:30 p.m.): 200-yard individual medley, 1650-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard butterfly, 200-yard backstroke, platform diving, 400-yard freestyle relay
** Note: All individual swimming and diving events will have prelims the morning of the finals session for the event.
- Broadcast information
The meet will be broadcast on Big Ten Plus for all four days of competition.
- Big Ten schools in the national rankings
No. 3 Indiana Hoosiers
No. 11 Ohio State Buckeyes
No. 12 Michigan Wolverines
No. 15 USC Trojans
No. 19 Northwestern Wildcats
No. 24 Wisconsin Badgers
Not receiving votes: Minnesota, Purdue, Penn State
The College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) full top-25 February rankings can be found HERE.
- 2025 results
1. Indiana (1579 points)
2. Michigan (1148 points)
3. Ohio State (1100 points)
4. USC (878 points)
5. Minnesota (794.5 points)
- Additional information
More in-depth meet information such as heat sheets and live results can be found on the Big Ten conference’s website page for the event or Wisconsin Athletic’s website page for the event. Live results can also be found on the Meet Mobile app. Additionally, SwimSwam, the world’s leader in specialized swimming coverage, will be releasing live results, analysis and storylines from the meet at their central page for the competition.
Event previews
Note: Individual swimmers are only allowed to swim a maximum of three individual events at Big Ten Championships. Meet entries aren’t due until the end of the day, so some assumptions were made about what events top swimmers will swim.
- 200-yard medley relay
Winner: Indiana
Top Northwestern finisher: 7th (Seymour-Staples-Schuster-Kos)
Beating any Hoosier relay at these Big Ten Championships will be a tall task. Penn State is not out of this one, seeded just over a second behind Ray Looze’s team. However, the Knedla-Gulledge-McDonald-Lee relay should prevail in this one.
- 800-yard freestyle relay
Winner: Indiana
Top Northwestern finisher: 4th (Staples-Seymour-Kos-Nosack)
The Buckeyes are the top qualifier in this event, but I have a hard time believing that the Hoosiers put out their three best swimmers — Owen McDonald, Aaron Shackell and Zalán Sárkány —- and don’t walk away with the victory.
Meanwhile, this is set to be one of Northwestern’s stronger relays. The ‘Cats are over three seconds outside of a podium finish, but should be a lock for fourth.
- 100-yard butterfly
Winner: Tyler Ray (Michigan)
Top Northwestern finisher: Stuart Seymour
This will be one of the best events of the meet, with seeds one through nine entering the meet separated by less than a second. It’ll be a dash to the finish, but I trust the experience of Ray, the event’s reigning champion.
Seymour is in the mix for the ‘Cats with his 45.43 from November. Last year he placed tenth, just missing out on finals. This year, he should place firmly in the top eight, with a chance to finish top five with a good swim.
- 400-yard individual medley
Winner: Tristan Jankovics (Ohio State)
Top Northwestern finisher: Joshua Staples
Indiana’s star Hungarian, Sárkány, should swim this event, but Ohio State’s Jankovics is the Big Ten conference record holder. The Canadian should win, repeating his gold from last year.
However, Northwestern’s Staples can make some real noise in this event, seeded third with a 3:40.05. The Australian will need to go 3:39 to be on the podium — a new personal best — but I think he has it in the tank.
- 200-yard freestyle
Winner: Tomas Navikonis (Ohio State)
Top Northwestern finisher: Oli Kos
Navikonis’ 1:31.60 is the top time entering the meet. He won last year, and should defend his title this time around in Madison.
- 100-yard breaststroke
Winner: Luka Mladenovic (Michigan)
Top Northwestern finisher: Joshua Staples
My pick to win this event would be Indiana’s Owen McDonald, but I don’t think he’ll swim it. Instead, Michigan’s Mladenovic should just out-touch Penn State’s Mariano Lazzerini, who will be better in the 200-yard distance.
Staples should finish fourth for Northwestern, punctuating his stunning rise to prominence in breaststroke events just this season.
- 1-meter diving
Winner: Max Miller (Purdue)
Top Northwestern finisher: Kyle Ly
After finishing fourth at Big Tens last year, Miller seems to be inevitable in the 1-meter diving competition this season. The Boilermakers have built a world-class diving program in West Lafayette, and Miller should represent that with a gold medal victory on Thursday.
- 200-yard freestyle relay
Winner: Ohio State
Top Northwestern finisher: 5th (Schuster-Seymour-Duncan-Kos)
This will be one of the most exciting relays, with the Buckeyes and Hoosiers separated by just 0.19 seconds entering the meet. However, I give Ohio State the edge coming home, with soon to be 50-yard freestyle champion Matthew Klinge as its relay anchor.
- 100-yard backstroke
Winner: Owen McDonald (Indiana)
Top Northwestern finisher: Stuart Seymour
Northwestern’s Stuart Seymour is seeded second entering this event with a 44.64, but is still a long shot to win with Owen McDonald, the reigning champion sitting as top seed. McDonald has a chance to go sub-43, and is a sure bet to win, but Seymour can hang on and grab second for Northwestern if he executes.
- 200-yard breaststroke
Winner: Mariano Lazzerini (Penn State)
Top Northwestern finisher: Tona Zinn
Lazzerini won’t get it done in the 100-yard breaststroke, but should have enough endurance to outlast Indiana’s Noah Cakir and Michigan’s Mladenovic in the 200. A gold for the Nittany Lions!
- 500-yard freestyle
Winner: Zalán Sárkány (Indiana)
Top Northwestern finisher: Alexander Rousseau
Hoosier dominance. Indiana should go 1-2-3 in the 500-yard freestyle, with Sárkány, Shackell and Whitlock — two of the conference’s top three swimmers, and an Olympian — all slated to swim the event. It should be Sárkány, the Hungarian, who gets the victory.
- 50-yard freestyle
Winner: Matthew Klinge (Ohio State)
Top Northwestern finisher: Connor Schuster
Klinge is set to dual with Michigan’s Ray for a second-straight year. In 2025, Ray missed out on gold by just 0.05, and, per my forecast, should lose by a small margin to the Buckeye yet again. Look out for Indiana’s Mikkel Lee and Drew Smiley, however. Both of them are under 0.4 seconds outside of Klinge’s top regular season time and could steal the top spot.
- 3-meter diving
Winner: Joshua Sollenberger (Indiana)
Top Northwestern finisher: Adam Cohen
A good ol’ Indiana-Purdue rivalry matchup in the 3-meter diving competition. Sollenberger and Purdue’s Tyler Willis will go head-to-head, though I’m picking the Hoosier to get the job done.
- 400-yard medley relay
Winner: Indiana
Top Northwestern finisher: 6th (Seymour-Staples-Schuster-Kos)
Another Hoosier relay win. The McDonald-Avakov-Noel-Smiley team should cruise to victory, with the Wolverines nabbing second.
- 200-yard individual medley
Winner: Owen McDonald (Indiana)
Top Northwestern finisher: Joshua Staples
Owen McDonald is the conference record holder in this event and should win by close to a second. Northwestern’s Joshua Staples is seeded second, but I think he’ll actually finish fourth, barring a major breakout swim. Michigan’s Mladenovic and Ohio State’s Jankovics are bound to swim significantly faster than their 1:43 entry times, making the dash to the podium in this event must-watch action.
- 1650-yard freestyle
Winner: Zalán Sárkány (Indiana)
Top Northwestern finisher: Alexander Rousseau
Sárkány is seeded 14 SECONDS faster than the second seed in this event. The conference’s top swimmer will dominate this race, though the Hoosiers have a good chance to go 1-2-3 in a second distance freestyle event, with Whitlock and Luke Ellis seeded second and third, respectively.
- 100-yard freestyle
Winner: Mikkel Lee (Indiana)
Top Northwestern finisher: Cade Duncan
A bit of a shocker in the 100-yard freestyle. Lee takes down Smiley, who has been seemingly inevitable in this event all season long. Lee has improved by 0.4 since last year’s Big Tens and has the speed to pull off the upset.
The ‘Cats have two competitive sprint freestylers in Duncan and Seymour. A low-42 swim from either of them would put Northwestern into medal contention in this event.
- 200-yard butterfly
Winner: Krzysztof Chmielewski (USC)
Top Northwestern finisher: Diego Nosack
Don’t bet against European butterfly. Michigan’s Ray placed third last year, almost a second faster than USC’s Chmielewski, but I like the pounding Pole to swim a best time and grab the gold.
- 200-yard backstroke
Winner: Miroslav Knedla (Indiana)
Top Northwestern finisher: David Gerchik
This event has three contenders: Indiana’s Knedla, Penn State’s Cooper Morley and Northwestern’s David Gerchik. Though I like Gerchik to beat out Morley for second, Knedla has been the most consistent in this event historically and should collect yet another gold for the Hoosiers.
- Platform diving
Winner: Joshua Hedberg (Indiana)
Top Northwestern finisher: Adam Cohen
Hedberg is the top seed by 40 points in platform diving. Indiana is set to go 1-2, with Hedberg and Max Weinrich clearly the strongest divers in the competition.
Northwestern’s Cohen should finish fourth. It’s a bit of a long shot for him to get into the top three, though there is a chance.
- 400-yard freestyle relay
Winner: Indiana
Top Northwestern finisher: 2nd (Schuster-Seymour-Duncan-Kos)
The Hoosiers win another gold to end the meet… boring! The exciting part about the meet’s final event is it’s Northwestern’s most competitive relay team. Every leg of this Wildcat relay is strong and I actually like the ‘Cats to leapfrog the second seeded Wolverines and grab silver.
Team predictions
- Podium: 1. Indiana, 2. Ohio State, 3. Michigan
Looze has built a juggernaut in Bloomington. The Hoosiers have won four straight Big Ten titles, and are set to win their fifth this weekend by winning 10 of the meet’s 21 events. Really, Indiana does it all. They not only have the conference’s top ranked swimmers on SwimCloud — Sárkány, McDonald and Whitlock — but have 11 of the top 25. No matter how you slice it, Indiana rules the Big Ten conference, and no team has come particularly close to chipping away at its rule since 2022.
- Northwestern will place fifth
This should be a glorious showing for Stratton-Mills’ Wildcats, who have really put together a great season in Evanston. Last year, Northwestern finished seventh of nine teams. This year, I believe the ‘Cats can finish fifth, beating out USC and Penn State, its closest challengers. This is a team built with real star power, something that a Northwestern swim team hasn’t had for a long time. Staples, Seymour and Gerchik should all secure podium finishes in individual events, while the Schuster-Seymour-Duncan-Kos tandem can grab silver in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a powerful swim. What a year for Northwestern.
