North by Northwestern

It wasn't a major splash, but they stayed afloat.

From February 20-23 the Northwestern Wildcats took part in the Big Ten Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships at Bloomington, Indiana. The ’Cats placed seventh in the thirteen-team meet, won by the host Hoosiers, and set several Northwestern records in the process.

Starting off the four-day event strong were the 200-yard medley relay swimmers. Calypso Sheridan, Sophie Angus, Miriam Guevara and Malorie Han finished in sixth place and set a school-best time. The next night saw Sheridan take fifth place in the 200 individual medley (IM) and Olivia Rosendahl achieve third in the 1-meter dive, good for two Northwestern records.

On Friday, two swimmers won their B-Finals: Tara Vovk for the 100 breastroke and Guevara during the 100 butterfly, with Guevara setting another NU record and finishing with the fifth-fastest overall finals time. Sheridan had the best result out of any Wildcat swimmer in her second-place, school-best finish in the 400 IM, while Rosendahl took silver in the 3-meter dive.

Saturday saw Sheridan pick up her fourth Northwestern record with a fourth-place showing in the 200 breast, and Han won her C-Final in the 100 freestyle. Rosendahl placed second in the platform dive, an event she’ll look to retain her two-time national champion title in next month. Though the team was disqualified in the meet’s final event, the 400 free relay, the Wildcats held on to the seventh-place ranking they had at the end of each night to finish in the middle of the pack.

In addition to their school records, Sheridan and Rosendahl earned two All-Big Ten Second-Team distinctions. The two stars are the team’s most likely candidates to compete in the NCAA Championships in March at Austin, Texas.

The men’s side of the Northwestern swimming and diving team will compete at Iowa City next week in the Big Ten Championships.