Wildcat Swim & Dive Kicks Off 2020-21 With CSCAA Virtual Cup
MARQUETTE, Mich. (NMU/WBUP) – The Northern Michigan University swim and dive team dove into their 2020-21 season Saturday morning in the first of six CSCAA Virtual Cup meets. Each Saturday, the Wildcats will race each other and submit their times to the CSCAA for the virtual meet, along with 30 other teams, with updated rankings posted early the following week.
Through the first week of the virtual cup, the Wildcat men boast 505.7 points, including four gold finishes for second overall while the women rank eighth with 500.7 points. With 503.2 points as a combined team, NMU sits fourth overall.
Sophomore Roberto Camera highlighted week one for the Wildcats as he tied the pool record men’s 50-yd. breaststroke, touching the wall in 25.77 seconds. His finish was also the best among all 83 competitors in the virtual race.
WOMEN
In the 200-yd. freestyle, Michaela Nelson ranked first among all divisions with her 1:59.58 finish.
Txell Font-Cantarerro and Sage Gettings went sixth and seventh overall in the 50-yd. butterfly with times of 25.95 and 26.26 seconds, respectively. Out of all division II competitors the Wildcat pair went one-two.
Out of 108 total competitors in the 50-yd. backstroke, Skye Pineda (28.24) and Jenna Joerger (28.34) took sixth and seventh overall, as well as the top two spots among all division II swimmers.
155 swimmers partook in the 100-yd. freestyle where Nelson’s 55.35 second finish was good for 11th overall and second against D-II student-athletes.
The women’s 200-yd. freestyle relay took third overall and finished first among all D-II squads when Nelson (25.26), Gettings (24.35), Font-Cantarero (24.01) and Maggie Vaitkus (24.31) combined for a 1:37.93 finish.
MEN
Felipe Lemas, who finished first in the Wildcat’s meet, took third overall in the 200-yd. freestyle when he finished in 1:47.13.
Out of nearly 100 swimmers, Ryan Lund took third overall and was the top division II qualifier in the 50-yd. butterfly with a time of 23.82.
Thibault Auger highlighted the 50-yd. backstroke with a first place finish among all 73 competitors with a final time of 24.80.
The Wildcat duo of Ivan Amillo-Escobedo and Amir Saman-Khajegi swept the top spots in the 100-yd. freestyle, touching the wall in 48.34 and 48.36, respectively.
The team also took three of the top-four spots in the 400-yd. Individual medley when Lemos finished first in 4:17.21. Erikas Kapocious (4:19.26) and Auger (4:19.41) then took third and fourth, respectively.
UP NEXT
The Wildcats will continue their quest for the CSCAA Cup against the 30 other schools across all three NCAA divisions for the next five weeks.