North Michigan News

The Northern Michigan University men's swim and dive team, ranked eighth nationally, was defeated by fourth-ranked Grand Valley State University with a score of 63-178 in Allendale, Michigan.

The Wildcats achieved 11 podium finishes during the meet. Freshman Matteo Ballardin secured two first-place finishes in the 200 IM and 200 fly events and later earned a silver medal in the 200 breaststroke. Gabriel Fulconi contributed with a silver in the 200 free, a silver in the 200 free relay, and a bronze in the 100 free. Diego Carrillo reached the podium twice, earning silver in the 1-meter dive and bronze in the 3-meter event. Both the 400 medley relay and 200 free relay teams finished second.

"The Wildcats got a first-place swim out of Matteo Ballardin, claiming gold in his first event of the afternoon, as he posted a time of 1:49.38 in the 200 IM, outing Jan Matejczuk of GVSU by 0.12 seconds," according to the team report.

The meet began with the 400 medley relay, where Northern Michigan's A team—composed of Ian Rocheleau (backstroke), Andrew Tease (breaststroke), Will LaCount (butterfly), and Daniel Khmara (freestyle)—finished third with a time of 3:21.73, narrowly missing second place by less than half a second.

In individual events, Timothee Garin took silver in the 1000 freestyle with a time of 9:26.07. In the 200 freestyle, Fulconi finished second at 1:40.00, while Bazil Massotte placed eighth.

Will LaCount led Northern Michigan in the 50 freestyle by finishing third with a time of 20.75 seconds.

Ballardin continued his strong performance by winning both the 200 IM and the 200 fly before securing silver in his final event, the 200 breaststroke.

On the diving boards, Carrillo earned silver in the one-meter dive and bronze in the three-meter event.

The Wildcats' A team—LaCount, Khmara, Massotte, and Fulconi—claimed silver in the concluding 200 free relay with a time of 1:23.28.

The full list of results is available on the team's website.