GLIAC -- The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) has announced its weekly awards following the opening week of competition of the 2024-25 swimming & diving season. Swimming awards were presented to Saginaw Valley State senior Benjamin Wainman and Northern Michigan sophomore Carlotta Santi while diving honors were earned by Northern Michigan junior Tobie Stiles and sophomore Kalina Ceglinski.
MEN'S SWIMMER OF THE WEEK: Benjamin Wainman, Saginaw Valley State
Saginaw Valley State University senior Benjamin Wainman helped the Cardinals to a 233-42 win over Alma College to start the season on Saturday. Wainman took first in both the 1650-yard freestyle and 500-yard freestyle with times of 15:30.21 and 4:33.59 respectively. He also took third in the 100-yard freestyle with a mark of 48.36 seconds. Lastly, Wainman was the second leg of the 400-yard freestyle relay team that took first place with a time of 3:10.51. This is the first Athlete of the Week award for Saginaw Valley swim and dive in the 2024-25 season and the first for Wainman. It is the second of his career after earning the title in the final week of the 2023-24 season.
WOMEN'S SWIMMER OF THE WEEK: Carlotta Santi, Northern Michigan
Carlotta Santi played a major role in the Wildcats' victories over St. Cloud on the weekend. In the 148-90 win on Friday, Santi placed second in the 200 free, 4th in the 100 free, and was a member of the 200 free relay team that posted the second fastest event time. In Saturday’s meet, Carlotta really stepped up, starting by shaving just under three seconds off of her 200 free time on Friday, beating second place by four seconds to finish first with her time of 1:55.22. Santi blew the rest of the field out of the water in the 500 free with her time of 5:09.14, besting second place by 12 seconds, before rounding out the event with a first-place finish with the 400 free relay team
MEN'S DIVER OF THE WEEK: Tobie Stiles, Northern Michigan
Tobie Stiles opened his 2024-25 season on a high note, starting with a second-place finish in the 1-meter diving and a fourth-place finish in the 3-meter diving on Friday. Stiles kicked it into high gear on Saturday, where he opened his meet with a first-place finish in the 3-meter diving with a score of 312.15, clearing second place by a monstrous 56 points. Tobie finished his meet with another first, posting a score of 278.75 and clearing second place by 47 points.
WOMEN'S DIVER OF THE WEEK: Kalina Ceglinski, Northern Michigan
Kalina Ceglinski had a truly dominant couple of meets for the Wildcats over the weekend, claiming first in all four events and earning an NCAA Provisional Qualifying Score on Saturday. On Friday, Kalina topped the opposition by 12 points in both of the diving events with scores of 241.20 in the 1-meter diving and 236.25 in the 3-meter diving. It was Saturday when Ceglinski was truly dominant on the board, as she started by scoring 254.80 points in the 3-meter diving and besting the next closest diver by 19 points. She capped off her final event of the weekend with her best performance yet, earning an NCAA Provisional Qualifying Score of 262.65, holding a 31-point gap between herself and second place.
