The No. 8 Wildcat men host No. 11 Wayne State, while the No. 10 NMU women entertain the No. 13 Warriors at a pair of sessions this weekend.

The teams begins competition with a special “skins meet” at 5 p.m. today, then hold a more traditional dual meet at 10 a.m. Saturday. Admission is free throughout, with streaming coverage available on Flo Sports. Fans can also visit the NMU athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and look under the men’s swimming or women’s swimming schedules for links to a meet preview and meet history.

A skins meet has what is touted as an exciting series of back-to-back sprint races operating on a knockout basis. After whittling the field in any given event to the final two, they swim head to head in a final race for the title. Swimmers must not only sprint, but be able to recover quickly for the next round.

Both NMU teams boast some top times in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference through the Wildcats’ four meets.

Northern Michigan University swimmer Anika Wright shakes hands with a St. Cloud State swimmer at a previous meet held at the PEIF Pool on the NMU campus in Marquette. (Photo courtesy NMU)

Here is a rundown on each Northern team:

Wildcat men

Freshman Timothee Garin and All-American and Uruguay Olympian Leon Nolles lead the NMU men in the early going.

A distance specialist, Garin has the third-fastest time in the 500-yard freestyle and fourth-fastest in the 1,000 free among GLIAC swimmers, both his best times already NCAA Division II “B” standard provisional qualifying times for the end-of-season nationals. In fact, his time of 9 minutes, 21.12 seconds in the 1,000 is 12th fastest nationally.

Nolles holds the top conference time in the 50 butterfly, also posting a D2 “B” standard and second-fastest time in the GLIAC in both 50 free and 100 fly. His 50 fly and 100 fly times are both seventh in the country, while his 20.00-second clocking in the 50 free is No. 2 nationally.

Teammate William LaCount’s 20.38 in the same 50 free is No. 3 in the conference and 12th in the nation.

Northern freshman Matteo Ballardin joins Garin in tasting early success, with the GLIAC No. 2 times in the 200 free, 200 fly, 200 breaststroke and 200 individual medley. The 200 free and 200 IM time also meet D2 “B” standards, while nationally, his 200 breast time of 2:01.14 is sixth, his 200 IM time eighth and 200 fly time of 1:49.54 is 13th.

Also for the Wildcats, Jef Leroux, already a GLIAC Men’s Swimmer of the Week, is eighth fastest in the GLIAC with a D2 “B” time in the 100 free, while diver Tobie Stiles has the top score in the nation in one-meter with 489.25 points and No. 2 nationally in three-meter with 305.94.

In relays, NMU has several top conference and national times.

NMU women

Anika Wright, an early-season GLIAC Women’s Swimmer of the Week, is a leader among GLIAC distance swimmers with D2 “B” times in the 500 and 1,000 free, holding the third-fastest 1,000 and fourth-fastest 500 in the conference. She also ranks No. 8 in the nation in the 1,000 and No. 13 in the 500. And she’s sixth fastest in the 100 fly in the GLIAC.

Teammate Annika Geyer is third in the league in the 200 fly, fifth in both the 200 and 500 free, sixth in the 100 fly, and ninth in the 50 fly.

Kalina Ceglinski, a recent GLIAC Women’s Diver of the Week, leads the league in the one-meter for a six-dive score and is third in three-meter scoring, again for six dives.

Evie DeCarlo is fourth in the conference in the 100 free and 100 breast, along with fifth in the 200 IM, with the pair of 100 races each ranking her 23rd nationally.

NMU’s Julia Zimpel is third-fastest in the conference in the 50 breast, sixth in the 200 and seventh in the 100.

In backstroke, Northern not only leads, but is 1-2-3 in the GLIAC with Laura Stockinger leading with a time of 26.13 seconds, Emma Casas second with 26.30 and Evangeline Pierce third with 26.58, each of those coming in relay leadoff legs.

In the 100 back, Casas is first, Pierce third and Stockinger fifth in the GLIAC, while Pierce is third in the 200 back.

Nationally, Stockinger is 10th in the 50 back, Casas 10th in the 100 back and 14th in the 50 back, and Pierce 18th in the 200 back.

And in relays, the Wildcats’ 400 medley relay time of 3:51.81 is No. 2 in the GLIAC and No. 10 nationally.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release previewing the

meet. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.