Courtesy: Whitley Williams, Northwestern MEDILL
Northwestern has flown under the radar since the early 2000s, but that may be changing. While Six-time Olympic Medalist Matt Grevers put Northwestern on the map, continuous team success has been elusive in Evanston. Northwestern men made significant improvements last season, cracking the top echelon of Big Ten programs including the likes of Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio State. The Wildcats enter the 2026-27 season with a true opportunity to be the Big Ten’s most alluring sleeper teams.
Northwestern Wildcats Head Coach Rachel Stratton-Mills turned heads in only her third season by picking up wins against Minnesota and Purdue while upsetting #19 Wisconsin.
“In life, the best thing we can do is learn from everybody — good and bad. I’ve been exposed to so much on my journey. I’m trying to bring it all together with the approach that every student athlete is an individual. There is no one set of coaching tools that can help everyone,” said Stratton-Mills (Northwestern Now).
The momentum carried into the post season, where Northwestern finished fourth at the 2026 Big Ten Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships (their highest finish since 2006), and garnered new respect in the highly competitive conference. For context, the Wildcats finished seventh out of nine teams in the 2025 Big Ten Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships.
Notable performances include a third-place finish in the 200-yd medley relay (1:22.95). Stuart Seymour and Caden Duncan finished second and third, respectively, in the 100-yd free (41.87 and 41.89). Joshua Staples led off the 800-yd free relay in a blistering 1:33.37, securing his place in the ‘Cats record books.
After not scoring a single point at the previous NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships, the Wildcats finished 26th at the 2026 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships. Staples broke the 400-yd IM school record with a blazing 3:36.58 in prelims and finished eighth on the podium with All-American Honors. Seymour broke two school records, finishing 11th in the 100-yd back (44.55) and 21st in the 100-yd free (41.76). This significant jump signals a firm trajectory upward toward national relevance.
Great news for the Wildcats, the speedy ensemble of juniors Seymour and Connor Schuster, and sophomores Staples and Oliver Kós, will be returning for the 2026-27 season with NCAA scoring experience.
As for the incoming 2026 class, Northwestern has plug and play talent that will add depth to events such as the distance free, fly and breast events. Headlining this class is Brandon Ha from Fairfield, California. The 14th ranked recruit in the 2026 class is a California High School State Champion in the 100-yd fly. Ha’s best times would have translated to a 12th-place finish in the 200-yd fly (1:43.53) and 13th in the 100-yd fly (46.06) at the Big Ten Championships this year. New Jersey native Zack Kusch is another instant impact swimmer who specializes in breast and fly. He is a U.S. Open Qualifier and boasts All-American Honors. Ha and Kusch join Ben Whiteford, Caleb Romero Serrano, Cooper Zakorchemny, Jack Chiappetta, and Mike Marder in the Wildcats’ 2026 recruiting class.
It takes a generational talent or a breakthrough season to turn the tide of a program. Northwestern may have found that with an experienced quartet, promising newcomers and momentum from a historic conference finish. Do not be surprised if Head Coach Stratton-Mills will cement Chicago’s Big Ten team in the top tier of the conference for years to come.
ABOUT WHITLEY WILLIAMS
Whitley Williams is an accomplished competitive open water swimmer having won the Southern Zone Open Water Championships with Team Florida and competed in Cayman Islands 10K events. She graduated Summa Cum Laude as a University of Colorado Boulder student-athlete. Whitley began her early broadcasting career when invited by Gold Medalist Rowdy Gaines to join him in the U.S. Summer National Championships booth at Stanford. She continues her academic journey at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications.
