Wildcat swimmers, divers at home for 1st time
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MARQUETTE -- The men's and women's swimming and diving teams at Northern Michigan University are in the midst of their first home weekend of the season.
On Friday, these Wildcats faced Saginaw Valley State and Lake Superior State, while today, they face those two conference opponents plus Grand Valley State. Action was set to begin at 11 a.m. at the PEIF pool.
"Oh, I'm really excited," Northern head coach Heidi Voigt said in an NMU Sports Information news release previewing the meets. "We don't have a ton of home meets, so that home pool advantage will be great.
"It's going to be a crowded pool deck with three other teams, but (it will be) lively and loud, so that's always great."
Admission to the PEIF Pool is free. Those unable to attend can stream it on Flo College, or follow along with updated coverage through nmuwildcats.com and the official NMU swim and dive social media channels.
Voigt noted a couple of things she's excited about so far this season -- divers earning NCAA Division II national meet qualification scores at their most recent meet, a strong group of returners, and the first-year student-athletes settling into the college environment.
"I'm really excited about our divers who've had several get their first qualifying score for the NCAA championship," she said. "This weekend will be another shot, so hopefully we can get (more) qualified and then they don't have to worry about the rest of the season.
"A lot of our returners have been looking really strong, and I think the first-year (athletes) are now kind of settled and figured out (what) a college meet (looks like). A couple of them were kind of 'deer in the headlights' in St. Cloud … now that they know what to expect, I think it'll be really fun."
A couple of returnees were honored as GLIAC Swimmers of the Week after their performances against St. Cloud -- Matteo Ballardin on the men's team and Rowan Schmidt and Grace Daly on the women's.
Ballardin earned gold in the 100-yard butterfly and 100 individual medley on Oct. 2, following it up with gold in the 200 breaststroke and 200 fly on Oct. 3.
Schmidt earned gold in the 100 backstroke, 100 fly and as a member of the 200 medley relay before golds in the 200 back, 400 free relay and 400 medley relay.
On the diving boards, Daly earned silver in the one-meter the first day before turning around with gold and silver in the three-meter and one-meter on day 2.
After an exhibition in Marquette to open the year and the recent road meet under their belts, Voigt says her teams are ready to take on competition at home in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
"I think they're more relaxed," she said. "We have that intrasquad meet at the beginning of the year at homecoming weekend, and so they kind of know the process of what we want to do and where we want to be, and I think that being somewhere else, they don't know where to sit, they don't know where to warm up, and even finding the locker room sometimes is tricky.
"So, just having that weight off and they can just focus on their events, I think that's big."
Grand Valley is a Division II national powerhouse and is the reigning GLIAC champion for both men and women, Saginaw Valley continues to improve year to year, and LSSU head coach Tim O'Neill continues to build a program in its third season.
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Northern Michigan University's Mateo Ballardin holds his hands up after an event during a Wildcat men's meet at St. Cloud State the first weekend of October. (Photo courtesy NMU)