Heidi Voigt took over as head coach for men's and women's swim and dive ahead of the 2010-11 season.
Voigt is a repeat GLIAC Coach of the Year winner, taking the men's honors in 2016 and 2018, the women's in 2020 and 2022, and co-honors in 2021. She has served as both the Men's and Women's D2 representative on the Collegiate Swim Coaches Association Board from 2017-2023.
In the 2023-24 season, Voigt led the men to a second place finish and the women to third at the GLIAC Championships, with three gold medals being awarded to the women and two for the men. At the NCAA Championships, five women and eight men's events earned All-American honors, with the men finishing 15th and women finishing 19th as a team. Camilla Carbone, Zoe DeKievit, and Will LaCount were named CSC Academic All-American's, four women and four men earned CSC Academic All-District honors, and Carbone earned a GLIAC Commissioners Award.
In the 2022-23 season, Voigt coached the NMU swim and dive team to a successful run in the GLIAC Championships, with the men claiming second and the women claiming third, along with eight individual gold medalists. Under Voigt, freshman Tobie Stiles was named GLIAC Diver of the Year. At the NCAA Championships, the women claimed 16th and the men claimed 25th, a championship that saw seven All-Americans honored for their performance. The teams excelled in the classroom with a combined 32 student-athletes earning GLIAC All-Academic Honors.
The men’s program has had great success since being reinstated in 2015, with Voigt quickly turning the program into a rising competitor. They have finished either second or third at the GLIAC Championships each season since the reinstation, and earned 12th, a modern era high-point finish, at the NCAA Championships in 2020-21. In 2021-22, Ondrej Zach was a National Champion in the 1650 Freestyle, the first men's national champion since 1980. The team had the third highest GPA among DII programs, earning Scholar All-America honors.
The women also earned the Scholar All-America team award in 2021-22. The highlight of the season was being crowned team GLIAC Champions for the second time in three seasons (2019-20). The women have also had established success within the conference under Voigt, as they have finished in the top-3 in every season since 2012-13, highlights by the pair of recent championships. Voigt also recently coached a National Champion on the women’s side, as Rachel Helm took gold in the 100 Backstroke in 2017 and the 200 Backstroke in 2018 on the national stage.
In 2014-15, the final season of only coaching the women, Voigt helped guide three swimmers and a diver to the NCAA Championships where Molly Kearney and Debbi Lawrence would earn All-American accolades. Kearney would earn her All-American honors in both the one and three-meter dive, while Lawrence earned All-American status in the 100-freestyle, 100-butterfly, 100-backstroke and 50-freestyle. The Wildcats also finished in the top 20 as a team placing 17th out of 39. NMU placed third at the GLIAC Championships for the third consecutive season.
In 2013-14, the Wildcats finished third at the GLIAC Championships and were also able to send six swimmers and a diver to the NCAA Championships. Two Wildcat swimmers and a diver received All-American recognition at the NCAA Championships. Debbi Lawrence earned All-America status in the 50 freestyle, 100 fly and 100 freestyle. She set NMU records in the 50 (23:15) and 100 freestyles (50.15). Rachel Borchardt earned hers in the 1,000 freestyle (10:07.91) with a personal best time and the 1,650 freestyle (16:58.83). Borchardt was also named the GLIAC Freshman of the Year. Molly Kearney placed sixth in the 1-meter diving event with 447.60 points, and was an honorary All-American after placing 11th in the 3-meter.
The Wildcats finished third at the GLIAC Championships in 2012-13 and had three swimmers and a diver qualify for the NCAA Championships. Voigt was named the GLIAC's “Dewey Newsome” Coach of the Year and the NMU Coach of the Year. Three ‘Cats had All-America finishes at NCAA's. Molly Kearney finished third in the one-meter and sixth in the three-meter while Madisen Sechena placed seventh in the 200-yard breaststroke on the national stage. NMU also won the Puerto Rico Invite to become the first Division II team two win it in a decade.
The Wildcats took a big step in 2011-12, finishing fourth at the GLIAC Championships. Two swimmers qualified for the NCAA Championships. Gaby Alzaga finished eighth in the 200-yard backstrokes at the NCAA meet, to become the first All-American under Voigt's leadership. Alzaga also swam in the 100 Backstroke. Emily Brennan also qualified and swam the 400IM, 200 IM and 200 Breaststroke. NMU had five swimmers named Scholar All-Americans by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America.
In her first season (2010-11), Voigt and the Wildcats finished seventh at the GLIAC Championships.
Before NMU, Voigt spent two seasons (2008-10) as an assistant coach at New Mexico State working with the distance freestyle group, arranging team travel and handling administration duties.
During the 2009-10 season she helped direct the Aggies to a program-best second place showing at the Western Athletic Conference Championships with 494 points. The distance freestyle crew made an impact for NM State at the meet with five Aggies placing in the top 12 in the 1,650-yard freestyle. In the classroom NM State ranked ninth nationally on the CSCAA Division I Team Scholar All-America Fall 2009 list.
Voigt joined the Aggies after five seasons at Wyoming (2003-08). She spent her first two years at Wyoming as the graduate assistant with the men’s and women’s programs and the last three as the assistant coach. Voigt produced 25 men and 30 women to all-league honors during her time as a graduate assistant.
Prior to her stint at Wyoming she was a high school and age group coach in Seattle and Montana. Voigt was named the age group coach of the year for the state of Montana in 2002.
She graduated from the University of Washington in 1996, with a bachelor’s degree in athletic training, where she was a team captain. While swimming for the Huskies, Voigt was voted the Most Inspirational Swimmer for three consecutive years. Voigt later went on to earn a Master’s degree in health and kinesiology from Wyoming in 2005.
