HOLLAND, Mich. – The men's and women's swim & dive squads competed in the GLIAC Championships this week where they went up against Augustana, Davenport, Grand Valley State, Saginaw Valley State, St. Cloud State, and Wayne State University. 

Jenna Joerger earned herself the GLIAC Champion title for the 200-yard Individual Medley on day one with her time of 2:02.97. 

Another first place title was given to Michaela Nelson for the 50-yard Freestyle. Nelson dropped her time in this event by .19 seconds when she came out of the water at 23.46.

Day three had two more Wildcats coming out victoriously, Jenna Joerger and Roberto Camera.

Joerger took home her second title of the championship, the 100-yard Backstroke. Compared to her entry time, she improved by 2.95 seconds and came in with a final time of 55.60. 

Camera found himself taking the top spot for the 100-yard Breaststroke, ultimately dropping 1.05 seconds off from his preliminary time. 

The women prevailed on the last day of the meet when Faith Sill was crowned champion of the 200-yard Backstroke and Zoe Dekievit for the 200-yard Breaststroke. 

The men's Diver of the Year Award was given to Tobie Stiles for his excellent achievements this year. On day two, Stiles prevailed in the Men's 3-Meter Diving event with 442.50 points, improving 1.05 points from his preliminary score the same morning. In the 1-meter diving event on the final day, he placed second with a score of 432.05. 



Day One
The championship meet began with the women starting in the pool for the  200-yard Medley. Camilla Carbone, DeKievit, Txell Font-Cantarero, and Olivia Haerr claimed second place with a time of 1:42.82.

The men's team placed fourth in the event, with Thibault Auger, Roberto Camera, Ryan Lund, and William LaCount. The team dropped .27 seconds from their entry time of 1:29.29.

The 1000-yard freestyle seemed to shake the Wildcats, only allowing Ondrej Zach to earn a spot in the top 10 at sixth place.

Events five and six were dedicated to the 200-yard Individual Medley where we saw Pilar Perello-Ferrer coming in seventh behind Joerger's first place title, and DeKievit taking eighth. Erikas Kapocius claimed second place with his time of 1:48.11, a 1.23 second drop from his entry time of 1:49.34

Haerr and Becca Burrows placed in the top ten, third and seventh respectively, for the 50-yard Freestyle. Leo Nolles tied for fifth place with a time of 20.28, with LaCount trailing behind in eighth.

The only diving event of the day was the women's 1-meter. The competition was fierce putting Abbie Harned and Lauren Plockmeyer low on the totem pole with 11th and 15th places.

To mark the end of the first day of the competition was the 200-yard Freestyle Relay. Nelson, Haerr, Burrows, and Perello-Ferrer came through for the women's squad with a fourth place finish. Whereas the men's Group A squad earned themselves third place, this included Nolles, LaCount, Camera, and Lund.

The Wildcats persevered through the events of day one, earning both teams top five placements. The women claimed third place with 201 points while the men took fourth with 137.5 points. The 'Cats combined score of 338.5 put them in third place.


Day Two
To kick off the second day of the event was the 100-yard Butterfly. Font-Cantarero and Joerger took second and third places while Lund claimed fourth.

Daniel Lopez-Aponte and Kapocius earned second and third for the 400-yard Individual Medley with their times of 3:55.36 and 3:55.67. 

The 200-Yard Freestyle seemed to be the event of the day that the 'Cats struggled in. Nelson, Helm, and Perello-Ferrer took sixth through eighth place for the women's squad and Khmara marked 15th for the men. 

With a 400-yard Medley Relay to finalize the events of the day, both squads had their Group A's claiming spots in the top three. For the women, Carbone, DeKievit, Font-Cantarero, and Haerr claimed second. Ian Rocheleau, Camera, Lund, and Nolles, made their mark with their third place finish. 

The final scores of day two came to an all-around third place finish. The combined team score was 595.5 points, the women with 329 points, and the men at 266.5.


Day Three
The 500-yard Freestyle began the third day of the meet. An eighth place finish was made by Nelson with a time of 5:04.71 while Zach came in fifth for the men at 4:32.11. 

Coming in right behind Joerger's win in the 100-yard Backstroke was Carbone and Strazny with times in the 56 second range. Kapocius and Auger found themselves in fourth and fifth who hit the wall within .17 seconds of each other. 

A third place tie for the 100-yard Breaststroke was made by DeKievit at 1:04.18 while DeCarlo finished .33 seconds behind her. 

The 200-yard Butterfly had a member in each squad finish in the top ten. Font-Cantarero placed fifth with 2:05.22 and Lund in seventh at 1:53.68.

The only diving event of the day was the 3-Meter dive where Harned placed 10th with 374.25 points.

One of the longest events ended the day, the 800-yard Freestyle Relay. Nelson, Helm, Joerger, and Perello-Ferrer were a part of the women's Group A team which placed second. The men's Group A squad placed fourth, which included Khmara, Kapocius, Jasper Pullinen, and Lopez-Aponte

The final scores of day three consisted of the women taking third with a score of 506.5 points, the men coming in second with 410.5 points, and both squads had a total of 917 points marking their placement of third. 


Day Four
The start to the final day of the championship was marked by the longest event yet, the 1650-yard Freestyle. In this event, Aarseth placed 11th with a time of 18:01.31 while Zach and Pullinen earned third and eighth for the men's squad. 

Haerr, Nelson, and Perello-Ferrer earned top five spots for the 100-yard Freestyle, coming second, fourth, and fifth respectively. As for Nolles and LaCount, they took second and sixth with times of 44.50 and 45.39.

Following Sill's win in the 200-yard Backstroke was Strazny, Joerger, and Carbone with their second through fourth place finishes. The men's team has Kapocius claiming sixth while Auger took eighth at 1:51.37,

The 200-yard Backstroke had another lady Wildcat coming in the top five, Ella Houwers, who had a final time of 2:22.58. Camera and Tease made it into the top ten for the men with their placements of sixth and seventh. 

A 400-yard Freestyle Relay was the final event of the GLIAC Championships. The women's Group A team took the second place title, this consisted of Nelson, Perello-Ferrer, Helm, and Haerr. The men's Group A came in sixth with LaCount, Camera, Kapocius, and Nolles making up the team.


Final Scores
With the Championships coming to an end, the final scores were released. The Wildcats had a combined score of 1,310 points and earned third place. The women made up 731.5 of those points where they also took third and the men had the remaining 578.5 points, which put them in second place.