Swim & Dive Opens 2020-21 Season With Ring Ceremony at Green/Gold Meet
MARQUETTE, Mich. (Press Release/WBUP) – The Northern Michigan University Swim & Dive teams hosted their annual Green and Gold Meet, and also celebrated the 2020 Women’s Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship with a ring ceremony, Saturday.
In the meet, the Gold team came away with victory over the Green squad by a score of 217-205.
To open the meet, the Green team’s Women’s 200-yard Medley Relay of Skye Pineda, Michaela Nelson, Sage Gettings and Emilia Morris took first. On the men’s side, the squad of Thibault Auger, Roberto Camera, Ryan Lund and Amir Saman Khajegi even things out for the Gold team with a a first place finish.
Vanessa Steigauf gave Gold a lead with a first place time of 5:25.05 in the 500-yard Freestyle, but Green tied it back up when Ondrej Zach took first in the men’s race in 4:39.36. Green then took the top three spots in the women’s 50-yard Freestyle behind Morris’s first place time of 25.39.
Gold followed with the top two spots in the men’s 50 free as Camera touched first in 21.77. In the 200-yard Individual Medley, Meritxell Font Cantarero won the women’s race in 2:15.78 to get points for the Gold squad, with Erikas Kapocius scoring for Green with a time of 2:00.35.
In diving action, Mandy Baird captured first with a score of 198.25 on the women’s 1-meter to score for gold and Ryan Leach led the men’s 1-meter dive for Green, tallying 152.45 points.
The 100-yard Butterfly saw Gold win both the women’s and men’s race as Font-Cantarero timed in at 57.89 and Felipe Lemos touched the wall at 53.53. Green inched closer with Nelson’s victory in the Women’s 100-yard Freestyle, 54.79, but Saman Khajegi gave Gold first on the men’s side, with a time of 48.08.
The team’s split the 100-yard Backstroke as Pineda won for Green in 59.75 and Auger’s time of 53.79 provided Gold more points. Green followed with two wins in the 200-yard Freestyle with Francesca Gastrow, 2:09.00, and Zach both winning for Green.
The 3-meter dive saw the same winners as Baird scored 216.55 points for Gold while Leach reached 245.95 points for Green.
Katharina Springhetti captured first in the 100-yard Breaststroke, 1:08.08 for the Green team, but Camera won the men’s race to give Gold more points with a time of 59.51.
The final races saw the teams trade victories in 400-yard Freestyle Relay. Pilar Perello Ferrer, Gettings, Pineda and Morris finished in 3:43.16 for Green. The men’s race saw Kapocius, Conor Graydon, Levi Lewis, and Ivan Amillo Escobedo win for Gold.
As part of the meet, the team celebrated their GLIAC Championship from last season by distributing championship rings to those members still on the team. Those no longer on the team will also receive rings.