Veteran head coach Heidi Voigt’s water-borne athletes have just about the longest season of any Wildcats teams — mid-September through mid-April, with intercollegiate competition lasting from early October to mid-March.

Hockey — also played on water, just that it’s frozen — has around the same range of game dates, with track and field both starting and ending about two months later and staying on dry land — except when steeplechase runners have to jump into ankle-deep water in their races.

Back in the pool, though, the NMU men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams have identical schedules, which include a pair of home meets to open the season this fall.

The Green vs. Gold and Wildcat Alumni combined exhibition meet for past and present NMU swimmers and divers takes place at the PEIF pool at 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 19, and 10 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20. Actually those are a couple of the final days of summer, technically making this schedule last over all four seasons.

Northern Michigan University men’s diver Ryan Foucault performs a dive during a college swimming and diving meet held last season at the PEIF Pool in Marquette. (Photo courtesy NMU)

Two weeks later on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 3-4, Northern remains at home to host St. Cloud State and Davenport. This meet starts at 10 a.m. each day, along with a 4 p.m. session on the first day.

While Davenport, like NMU, is a full conference member in these and other GLIAC sports, St. Cloud’s men are associate members of the league, while its women are part of the Huskies’ regular conference, the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, which apparently doesn’t offer men’s swimming.

Three weeks later, the Wildcats hit the road for the first time, taking part in a triangular — or it may be a triple dual of three separate two-team matchups — at GLIAC member Saginaw Valley State in University Center between Bay City and Saginaw on Friday, Oct. 24. Former conference member Findlay from Ohio rounds out the field.

A day later on Saturday, Oct. 25, Northern travels west to Allendale to take on another GLIAC foe, Grand Valley State, for a more traditional two-team meet.

Two weeks after that, NMU returns to the PEIF pool to host another GLIAC member, Wayne State, on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 7-8. The 5 p.m. Friday meet will be in a “skins” format, with the 10 a.m. Saturday encounter a traditional meet.

The Wildcats then go just about a month before heading downstate again to Grand Rapids to take part in one of the Midwest’s biggest meets, the Calvin College Invitational from Thursday through Saturday, Dec. 4-6.

NMU Sports Information regards this as similar to a conference or national meet format with six teams involved — the Wildcats, host Calvin, nearby Grand Valley, Findlay, Grove City (Pennsylvania) and Indiana Wesleyan.

While most members of the Northern men’s and women’s teams will then enjoy a six-week-long holiday break, a select group will delay the start of their break when they travel south to Sarasota along Florida’s Gulf coast on Dec. 13 for the Open Water Collegiate Nationals sponsored by the College Swimming & Diving Coaches Association.

Just a few years ago, NMU All-American Ondrej Zach won the all-division men’s title in Kansas in 2021, then returned in 2022 when it was held in Miami and he was runner-up, losing the top spot by less than 3 1/2 seconds on the five-kilometer (3.1-mile) course where swimmers spend more than 50 minutes in the water.

Once everyone catches their breath and the calendar turns to 2026, Northern heads to Wisconsin-Stevens Point for a dual meet on Saturday, Jan. 17, then finishes the regular season at home against GLIAC foe Lake Superior State on Saturday, Jan. 24.

No starting time has been announced for the LSSU meet, though that final meet will also serve as the Wildcats Skins meet along with Senior Day for NMU.

A couple weeks later, from Friday through Monday, Feb. 6-9, is the GLIAC Championship to be held in downstate Holland, with sessions scheduled at 10 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. each day.

There is also a tentative meet set for Saturday, Feb. 21, or at least around that day, with the entry “Last Chance Meet,” a catch-all for any meet that might be hosted in the Midwest as a last chance to qualify for the NCAA Division II nationals.

The NCAA Championships meet is scheduled over five days from Tuesday through Saturday, March 10-14, in Evansville, Indiana.

Sessions of the regular meet are scheduled for 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. each day, while March 10 will also be the NCAA Diving Qualification Meet at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Though most Wildcats’ teams wrap up their seasons with the NCAA nationals, the NMU swimmers and divers will have their own finale, a spring scrimmage set for 4 p.m. on Friday, April 17.

Schedules for these teams are also available online at the NMU athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and looking under women’s swimming and men’s swimming.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release previewing the schedule. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.