The NMU Men’s and Women’s Swim teams took second place at the Calvin Winter Invitational hosted by Calvin College and set several records and qualified for numerous NCAA B-cuts.

Thursday Nov. 30 began the Invitational with the men’s team taking first place and making the NCAA B-cut in the 800-yard freestyle relay with an NMU record-breaking time of 6:36.60. The B-cuts are time limits that will allow swimmers to qualify to join in the NCAA championship races, but only after those making A-cuts are verified into the race.

The women’s team also succeeded with the 800-yard free-style relay, as well as breaking an NMU record with a time of 7:29.91, which met the NCAA qualification. Freshman Gabby Spajic achieved a first-place finish in the 1650-yard freestyle at 17:08.56 and earned an NCAA B-cut.

The next day, on Dec. 1, the men’s swimming team led the six other teams by 52 points. Sophomore Jonas Reinhold won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:40.27. Junior Grantas Dapkus achieved second place and both he and Reinhold qualified for an NCAA B-cut.

The women’s team led the way with 998.5 points against eight other schools. Freshman Lena Soulas, junior Regan Kilburn, sophomore Victoria Reese and sophomore Rachel Helm set a team record, tied a pool record and made an NCAA B-cut with the time of 1:34.07 during the 200-yard freestyle relay. Spajic set a school and pool record in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:02.27.

The last day of the invitational the teams fell to second place but qualified for several NCAA B-cuts. The men’s team took first in the 400 yard-freestyle relay with a time of 3:01.10. Dapkus set a school record with a time of 4:29.90 in the 500-yard freestyle and qualified for an NCAA B-cut. Junior Janne Roovers finished second and also qualified for the cut. Junior Renars Bundzis set a school and pool record and even qualified for an NCAA A-cut by winning the 200-yard backstroke in the time of 1:44.41.