Skip To Main Content

Northern Michigan University

The Official Website of the Northern Michigan Wildcats Northern Michigan Wildcats
Swim and Dive

Men's Swimming and Diving Braden Golisek - Assistant Director of Sports Information

Preview: Home opening weekend for NMU swim & dive

The Wildcats welcome Saginaw Valley, Lake Superior, and Grand Valley to the PEIF pool this weekend

MARQUETTE, Mich. -- The NMU swim & dive teams are at home this weekend, welcoming a trio of foes to the PEIF Pool.

NMU opens with Saginaw Valley and Lake Superior State on Friday at 6 p.m. ET, before welcoming back the Cardinals and Lakers the next morning and adding the Grand Valley State Lakers for 11 a.m. ET on Saturday, October 24. 

"Oh, I'm really excited," said head coach Heidi Voigt during her weekly media availability. "We don't have a ton of home meets, so that home pool advantage will be great... We're doing sprint set events on Friday night, which is super fun for them, so I think the team's pretty excited...  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."

Admittance to the PEIF Pool is free for fans and family. Those unable to attend are able to stream the event on Flo College and follow along with updated coverage through nmuwildcats.com and the official NMU swim & dive social media channels.

Head coach Voigt noted a couple of things she's excited about so far this season and into the weekend: divers earning NCAA qualification scores last weekend, 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. 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 years 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 I think it'll be really fun."

A couple of those returners were honored as GLIAC Swimmers of the Week after their performances against St. Cloud State: Matteo Ballardin, Rowan Schmidt, and Grace Daly.

Ballardin earned gold in the 100 fly and 100 IM on day one and followed that up with gold in the 200 breast and 200 fly on day two. Schmidt earned gold in the 100 back, 100 fly, and 200 medley relay before golds in the 200 back, 400 free relay, and 400 medley relay. On the boards, Daly earned silver in the 1-meter before turning around with gold and silver in the 3-meter and 1-meter on day two.

After an exhibition in Marquette to open the year and most recently a road meet under their belt, head coach Voigt says that her team is ready to take on the competition at home this weekend.

"I think they're more relaxed... We have that inner squad 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."

The Wildcats will welcome a trio of conference teams to the pool this weekend. Grand Valley is a powerhouse in the nation and is the reigning GLIAC champion on the men's and women's side, Saginaw Valley continues to improve year in and year out, and Lake Superior State head coach Tim O'Neill continues to build a program after its inception for the 2024-25 season.

"There's some fast swimming coming in. Grand Valley is always really good; they're ranked pretty high this year, and they always just get better and better, and Saginaw Valley has one of their better teams. Lake State is kind of a beginning program, but they have more athletes than they have in the last couple of years. [Tim O'Neill] is doing a good job recruiting, and there's no easy race on Friday or Saturday, so it'll be good."




 
Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Matteo Ballardin

Matteo Ballardin

Sophomore
Grace Daly

Grace Daly

Sophomore
Rowan Schmidt

Rowan Schmidt

Freshman

Players Mentioned

Matteo Ballardin

Matteo Ballardin

Sophomore
Grace Daly

Grace Daly

Sophomore
Rowan Schmidt

Rowan Schmidt

Freshman