The Northern Michigan University swimming and diving team competed in the NCAA Championship and placed 20th, with two Wildcat athletes earning All-American titles.

The Wildcats were in Birmingham, Ala. on Wednesday, March 6 through Saturday, March 9 to compete against 35 other schools .

While NMU only earned 59 points and 20th place, sophomores Molly Kearney and Madisen Sechena both earned All-American status following this weekend’s event. Kearney earned 472.6 points in the three meter dive to get her second All-American title.

Kearney also was able to give Northern 13 points toward the team’s final score. Sechena competed in the 200-yard breaststroke and took seventh place after racing the event for a time of 2:19.78. Sechena earned 12 points for the Wildcats over the duration of the championship.

Head coach Heidi Voigt said she is happy with how the team performed and that it is always a positive thing when every athlete on the team contributes.

“Every swimmer and diver that we took to the championship this past week scored,” Voigt said. “That is a very big deal and it shows in our performance.”

In the 200-yard backstroke, senior Gaby Alzaga competed in her final event for the Wildcats. Alzaga raced for a time of 2:03.54 and placed 13th in the event while also contributing four points for the ’Cats.

In the 100-yard breaststroke, freshman Crystal Bennet raced the event in 1:05.02. That time  earned Bennet 25th place. Bennet also took part in the 100-yard butterfly and placed tenth in the preliminaries, but did not earn a spot in the finals for the event.

Sechena said she was very excited to get the chance to participate in the NCAA championships, but she was even more excited to see how well her teammates performed altogether.

“I thought the team did awesome,” Sechena said. “The team improved over ten places from last year’s nationals. It was a great way to finish up the season.”

Kearney earned her All-American title in lieu of a severe neck injury she endured at a practice session last season.

Kearney said while the injury came with a lot of people doubting her ability to return to the pool, she never gave up.

“I won’t let anyone tell me I can’t do something,” Kearney said. “When I got hurt, one doctor told me I may never be able to dive again and I wouldn’t let that happen. While I was out I realized that I have so many people that would tell me how lucky I am, that they are sending good thoughts my way, and how happy they are that I kept diving.”

At the end of the four-day event, Drury University won the NCAA championship. The Panther’s win is their ninth title in the past 16 years and all nine titles have been achieved under head coach Brian Reynolds.

As for the Wildcats, Voigt said while the team is done competing until September, that doesn’t mean their work is done.

“There were girls on the team that didn’t get to make it to nationals,” Voigt said. “Some of them have already begun training. So next year has already started for our team.”