Head coach Heidi Voigt, who will enter her 16th season this fall, said that current coach Christopher Kelly has been promoted to assistant diving coach for both teams, while Lance Bergmann has been hired as an assistant coach.

The Wildcats open their seven-month-long season with a pair of meets at their home PEIF pool — the annual Green vs. Gold intrasquad scrimmage and Wildcat Alumni exhibition on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 19-20, then the regular-season opener by hosting St. Cloud State and Davenport on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 3-4.

After joining the NMU program as a diving coach almost exactly three years ago in August 2022, Kelly is being promoted after overseeing a number of Wildcat divers win both athletic and scholarly honors, including as All-Americans, NCAA tournament participants, GLIAC Championship medalists, GLIAC Diver of the Year honors, Academic All-Americans, Scholar All-Americans and Academic All-District honorees.

“I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to continue working with the amazing swim and dive community at NMU,” Kelly said in an NMU Sports Information news release about his promotion. “In the next year, I hope to build the diving community in the Upper Peninsula and push NMU diving to the top of (NCAA) Division II.”

Christopher Kelly

He dove at Grand Valley State from 2017-21, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in biology. His numerous collegiate honors included GLIAC Diver of the Year for three straight years from 2019-21 and multiple appearances at the NCAA D-II Swimming and Diving Championships, where he earned First and Second Team All-America honors.

“I am tremendously excited to have Coach Kelly advance as our assistant men’s and women’s diving coach,” Voigt said in the NMU SI release. “He is a great fit for our team and Northern Michigan University.

“His commitment and passion for our students and the sport of diving is infectious. I am looking forward to his continued success.”

Bergmann comes to Marquette from Illinois College, where he was as an assistant coach the past two seasons.

“I’m incredibly thankful to Coach Voigt for giving me an opportunity to work with such a successful program,” Bergmann said in the NMU SI release. “I’m excited to get started and continue a culture of excellence here at Northern Michigan University.”

Lance Bergmann

He joined the Illinois College staff after serving as a volunteer coach at Eastern Illinois University, where he helped with practice plans, remote video review and other daily operations.

Prior to EIU, Bergmann taught full time while also coaching with the Bloomington-Normal (Illinois) YMCA Waves swim club, where he helped restructure the dryland program and used yoga to aid in training.

“I am looking forward to Lance’s energy and enthusiasm for swimming on deck this fall,” Voigt said. “He will make a great addition to our coaching team.”

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