MARQUETTE – The Saginaw Valley State University swimming & diving team dropped its first competition of the season on Saturday (11/8) at Northern Michigan University.  The Wildcats defeated the Cardinals by a final score of 190-86.

The Cards were led by Rebeca Martinez, who posted two victories in the 200 Yard Butterfly (2:10.96) and the 200 Yard Backstroke (2:07.70).  Martinez finished both events with season-best times.  The freshman competed in the 400 Yard IM as well.

The 200 Yard Medley Relay team of Shaked Bachar, Carley Buechner, Martinez and Breanne Bell finished the event with a time of 1:56.61.  The 200 Yard Freestyle Relay team of Bell, Chelsea Harmon, Melanie Soenksen and Tyara Green posted a time of 1:43.54 in the race.

Katelynn Franczak posted season-high times in the 200 Yard Butterfly (2:51.93) and the 100 Yard Butterfly (1:14.40).

The divers competed in the one-meter and three-meter events as well.  Kathleen Murphy took second in both events and posted her best finish of the year in the one-meter event with a score of 222.80.  Erica Wysocki recorded season-highs in the one-meter (219.20) and three-meter (214.45) as she finished in third place in both events.  Fellow diver Wilhelmina Francisco posted fourth-place finishes in both events and tallied a season-high 214.30 points in the three-meter event.

Saginaw Valley will return to action when it travels to Cleveland, Ohio for the Cleveland State Invitational on November 21st-23rd.