A half-dozen members of the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams at Northern Michigan University traveled to Sarasota, Fla., for the Collegiate Open Water National Championships on Saturday. Standing near the venue, from left, are Alessandro Rosatelli, Zachary Billotte, Timothee Garin, Anika Wright, Caitlin Aarseth and Ellie Kilgard. (Photo courtesy NMU)

SARASOTA, Fla. — This was more than just a dip in the pool, even for seasoned swimmers like the ones on the teams at Northern Michigan University.

A half-dozen members of the Wildcats men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams ventured to the Gulf Coast of Florida to compete in the Collegiate Open Water National Championships on Saturday morning.

The five who did venture into the ocean, though in a rather protected area, still had to take on five kilometers (3.1 miles) of swimming in this timed event.

In the end, it was a Wildcats freshman who had the highest finish — Timothee Garin, who in his first open water nationals finished 16th overall among men swimmers and sixth among those from NCAA Division II schools in 55 minutes, 27.0 seconds.

The swimmers were scheduled to work their way around a 1.67-K course three times to come up with the 5K.

Weather was reported as “phenomenal” in a report by NMU Sports Information, with temperatures close to 80 degrees, even at 8:30 a.m. when the men started, and winds of around 5 mph.

Northern men’s teammates Zachary Billotte and Alessandro Rosatelli also swam their first open water nationals.

Billotte finished in 58:29.6 to come in 48th overall and 12th in Division II, while Rosatelli made it home in 1:02:52.0 for 78th overall and 20th in D-II.

In all, there were 89 men’s swimmers, including 21 in Division II. In fact, the winner was a D-II athlete, Mevlut Efe Guler of Lynn University, in 52:54.1.

For the women, Northern senior Caitlin Aarseth swam her second Collegiate Open Water Nationals in 1:04:05.9, good for 79th overall among women swimmers and 14th in Division II.

Teammate Ellie Kilgard was in her first open water nationals and finished right behind Aarseth in 82nd place in 1:04:10.0.

A third NMU woman, Anika Wright, went to the meet but didn’t compete.

There were 119 women swimmers, 27 from D-II. Last year’s runner-up, Ella Dyson of Rice University, won this year’s title in 56:05.7.

The top Division II swimmer was freshman Katharina Hibeln of nearby Tampa University, who was fourth overall.

The entirety of both Northern teams are now off for more than month with their next date a dual meet at Wisconsin-Stevens Point on Saturday, Jan. 17. One week later, the Wildcats host Lake Superior State at the PEIF Pool that will be also be the Wildcats Skins meet and Senior Day.

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