Local Sports

GLIAC honorees Ballardin, Pierce lead NMU swimmers, divers

MARQUETTE -- Led by a pair of conference honorees, the men's and women's swimming and diving teams at Northern Michigan University had plenty of success in their home PEIF pool last weekend during a pair of meets hosting multiple foes from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Sophomore Matteo Ballardin was named GLIAC Men's Swimmer of the Week, while fellow sophomore Evangeline Pierce earned GLIAC Women's Swimmer of the Week.

The Wildcats hosted a sprints meet on Friday night against Saginaw Valley State, no event running more than 175 yards, then held the more traditional NMU Quad Meet that included SVSU, Lake Superior State and Grand Valley State on Saturday.

"Matteo and Evangeline had breakout meets last weekend," Northern head coach Heidi Voigt said in an NMU Sports Information news release detailing the results. "Matteo is always fun to watch; he loves to race and really steps up when the competition gets intense.

"I was so happy with Evangeline's swims; she raced how I knew she could and didn't hold anything back physically or mentally."

Ballardin shone in the sprints, winning all three of his events Friday, then taking another trio of victories on Saturday.

The first day, he won the 75-yard butterfly in 35.07 seconds, 125 individual medley in 1:03.59, and swam on the 5-by-25 medley relay that also was victorious.

On Saturday, he edged out reigning GLIAC Championships titlist Andrew Goh of GVSU in the 200 breaststroke in 2:01.32, following it up with triumphs in the 200 fly in 1:46.86 and 200 IM in 1:47.31. Additionally, he swam with NMU's runner-up 200 medley relay.

As of last weekend, his 200 fly and 200 IM times are each second fastest in NCAA Division II for the young season.

Pierce also dominated, again tripling up the wins on Friday -- the 25 backstroke in 12.84 seconds, 75 back in 41.14, and swimming with the 5-by-25 medley relay victors.

On Saturday, she set personal and season bests in each of her races, taking second in the 100 back in 55.78 seconds to miss the pool record by 0.24 of a second. She won the 200 back in 2:00.98, just 0.22 of a second from that pool record, then hit a season-best 2:11.16 in the 200 IM. She also led off the runner-up 200 medley relay, posting a personal best 26.50 seconds in her 50 back leg.

She's ranked as the No. 4 swimmer in the GLIAC, with her backstroke times each in the top 10 in the nation.

You could call this pair of swimmers' achievements just the tip of the iceberg, even though cold-plunge activities were the furthest thing from the Wildcats' minds.

On Friday, Northern's men defeated Saginaw Valley 146-110, while the women won 183-77.

While all four combatants swam together Saturday, scores were kept as separate dual meets. The Wildcat men defeated LSSU 231-46 while falling to SVSU 155-142 and to Grand Valley 206-91.

The NMU women were 201-98 winners over the Cardinals and 249-39 over Lake State, while losing 180.5-118.5 to GVSU.

On Friday for the men, Matteo Gomez Ravecca joined Ballardin as having an excellent meet. Ravecca won the 75 free and 25 fly as he swam on the runner-up 125-yard free relay.

Men's teammate Charlie Prince was also on the 125 medley relay as he won the 25 breast and was second in the 75 breast. Alessandro Rosatelli won the 175 free and was second in the 125 IM and 125 free relay, while Youssef Nahali won the 25 free, was third in the 75 free and swam in the runner-up 125 free relay.

For the Northern women on Friday, joining Pierce with success was Rowan Schmidt taking the 75 fly and placing second in the 75 back, while Laura Stockinger won the 75 free and was runner-up in the 25 back.

Then on Saturday, the NMU men were second in the 200 medley relay with Ballardin, Nahali, Gabriel Fulconi and Mosley Patzke. Benaiah Schnurstein was runner-up in one-meter diving and third in three-meter.

For the Wildcat women, Schmidt won the 100 back, was second in the 100 fly, and third in the 200 back while also joining the 200 medley relay.

Stockinger won the 100 free and was second in the 50 free, while Kalina Ceglinski was third in the three-meter diving and fifth in one-meter.

The Northern women's 200 medley relay was second with Pierce, Ludovica Bonini, Wiktoria Michaluk and Victoria Burda, while the 400 free relay was fourth with Stockinger, Abigail Keen, Sydney Matheny and Ellie Kilgard.

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