The NMU women’s swim team finished its season on an exciting note last weekend, as the team finished ahead of Findlay in the last event of the meet to clinch an eighth place finish at the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) championships this past weekend.

The team entered the last event of the meet, the 400-meter relay trailing Findlay by three points and needing to place higher than the Findlay Oilers to finish in eighth. Findlay was disqualified in the event, and the ‘Cats placed eighth in the event – ahead of the Oilers.

“It came down to the last relay,” head coach Bob Laughna said. “It was exciting.”

The Wildcats finished the meet with 179 points, narrowly besting the Oilers who finished with 178. Wayne State won the meet with a score of 800.

Hillsdale finished in seventh place, 71.5 points ahead of Northern. NMU had beaten Hillsdale twice in dual meets this season, but fell to them in last weekend’s GLIAC meet.

Senior Mimi Marschall took advantage of the last GLIAC championships of her collegiate career and led the Wildcats with a fourth place finish in the 400-meter individual medley and a sixth place finish in the 200-meter individual medley. She was also a part of the 200-meter freestyle and 400-meter freestyle relay teams which finished in seventh and eigth. Marschall’s time of 4:40.21 in the 400-meter individual medley was under the cut-off time for the NCAA II championship, meaning her time qualified her for the national meet.

Also placing well for the ‘Cats was freshman diver Kelli Vander Baan who finished in third place in the 3-meter diving event and fifth place in the 1-meter event.

Also finishing in the top 10 for the Wildcats were senior Sarah Dobratz, who finished sixth in the 200-meter backstroke with a time of 2:13.27, and sophomore Sarah Cempel, who finished 10th in the 200-meter breast stroke with a time of 2:32.52.

“I was really pleased with how it went,” Laughna said. “I’m happy about how it ended up and I’m really proud of the team.”