Northern Michigan University men, women each in 3rd place after 1st day of GLIAC swim finals

Rachel Helm

CLEVELAND — The Northern Michigan University swimming and diving teams are both in third place after the first day of the GLIAC Championships.

The Wildcats’ women won two events and the men earned one individual title.

Rachel Helm won the women’s 200-yard individual medley for the third straight season and also broke her GLIAC and school record with a time of 2 minutes, 0.79 of a second. She also finished more than two seconds ahead of the competition.

Teammate Lena Soulas was the other woman’s winner as she took first in the 50 freestyle in 23.57 seconds.

In another event, Helm, Maggie Vaitkus, Regan Kilburn and Madelyn Irelan finished second in the 200 medley relay.

Lena Soulas

The NMU men’s champion was Ryan Leonard, who won the 200 IM for the fourth time as a Wildcat in 1:47.10.

The team of Renars Bundzis, Lajos Budai, Arnoldo Herrera and Maksim Kapustin took third in the 200 medley relay, while in three-meter diving, Ryan Glover, Nathan Rotundo and Curran Moffitt all finished in the top 10.

The meet continues today with the 400 IM, 100 butterfly, 200 free, 200 free relay and 400 medley relay set to take place. The women’s one-meter diving competition will also take place.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Writer Ryan Stieg. His email address is rstieg@miningjournal.net.

Ryan Leonard