Bella Sims Shines in Michigan Debut with 1:41.4 200 FR, 49.8 100 BK Against UCLA and NU

Michigan vs UCLA vs Northwestern

• Saturday, October 25, 2025
• Canham Natatorium, Ann Arbor, MI
• SCY (25 Yards)
• RESULTS

TEAM SCORES

WOMEN

• Michigan def. Northwestern 205-92
• Michigan def. UCLA 193-103
• UCLA def. Northwestern 165.5-134.5

MEN

1. Michigan – 186
2. Northwestern – 114

Michigan hosted Northwestern and UCLA for a Big Ten double dual meet today at Canham Natatorium in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines were perfect on the day, beating both Northwestern and UCLA handily in the women’s scoring, while the Michigan men defeated Northwestern in a 186-114 decision.

WOMEN’S RECAP

This was a notable meet for Michigan, as their biggest off-season addition, Bella Sims, made her debut as a Wolverine. Sims, who spent her first two collegiate seasons at Florida, has been with Michigan all fall, but she was honoring National Team obligations and competing at the World Cup during Michigan’s first few meets of the season.

The wait was well worth it, as Sims was as good as Michigan could have hoped for today, putting up an NCAA-leading time. She began the meet by leading off the Michigan women’s ‘A’ 400 medley relay in 49.87, making her the first woman in the NCAA to go under 50 seconds in the 100 back this season. That’s a terrific October swim for Sims, coming within a second off her career best of 48.97.

Sims then went on to rip a 1:41.43 in the women’s 200 free, winning the event by almost 2 seconds. That’s one of the fastest times in the NCAA this season, continuing a larger trend of exceptional 200 free times this fall. As we’ve reported recently, prior to this fall, no one had ever gone sub-1:43 in the women’s 200 free in October. That streak broke when Virginia’s Anna Moesch clocked a 1:41.42 on October 10th, which is the fastest time in the NCAA this season and leads Sims’ time from today by 0.01 seconds. Since Moesch broke through, 5 more swimmers, including Sims today, have also gone under 1:43 in the 200 free this month.

For Sims, that’s another exceptional race. Her career best stands at 1:40.78, which she swam back in December of 2022. Moreover, she swam the race really well today, splitting 23.76 on the opening 50, then splitting 25.85, 25.83, and 25.99 respectively the rest of the way. Teammate Stephanie Balduccini, the reigning Big Ten champion and 3rd place finisher at NCAAs in the 200 free, came in 2nd today with a 1:43.18, marking her season best. Fellow Wolverine Hannah Bellard popped a career best to finish 3rd, stopping the clock in 1:44.03.

Sims then went on to win the women’s 200 back in 1:51.26, touching first by nearly 3 seconds. Her meet concluded with the 200 free relay, where she led off Michigan’s ‘B’ team in 22.25.

Outside of Sims, Michigan was very impressive today, especially in the relays. Moving back to the 400 medley relay, the Wolverines’ ‘A’ team dominated the race, winning by 6 seconds, while their ‘B’ team came in 2nd. Of course, Sims led off in 49.87, then Letitia Sim split 58.19 on breast, Brady Kendall put up a 51.40 on fly, and Balduccini anchored in 47.36, stopping the clock in 3:26.82. That performance marks a program record, taking down the previous mark of 3:27.17, which was set by Taylor Garcia, Miranda Tucker, Maggie MacNeil, and Siobhan Haughey back in 2019. Notably, both Sim and Kendall were faster than they were at NCAAs last year, where Sim split 58.70 and Kendall 51.40.

Michigan swam their 200 free relays exhibition (not for points), but their ‘A’ relay put up the fastest time with a 1:28.61, while their ‘B’ was 2nd fastest in 1:29.13. Balduccini (22.71), Kendall (21.36), Leila Fack (22.14), and Ella Jo Piersma (22.40) made up the ‘A’ relay, while Sims (22.25), Lexi Greenhawt (21.99), Malia Amuan (22.25), and Lila Higgo (22.64) were on the ‘B’. Their fastest combination of Sims, Kendall, Greenhawt, and Fack would have added up to 1:27.72.

After taking 2nd in the 200 free, Balduccini won the 100 free in a new season best of 48.20. That was a strong performance out of Balduccini, who hold a career best of 47.04.

Hannah Bellard went a career best in the 200 free, then went on to post a pair of excellent performances afterwards. She won the 200 fly decisively, swimming a 1:54.07. The 200 fly was a great race for Michigan as a whole, seeing Devon Kitchel take 2nd in 1:57.18, Montse Spielmann, a freshman, take 3rd in 1:58.37, and Ella Jo Piersma take 4th in 1:59.77.  Following the 200 fly, Bellard popped a 4:07.88 in the 400 IM, touching just 0.01 seconds off her career best of 4:07.87.

Following her 58.19 breaststroke split on the medley relay, Letitia Sim went on to sweep the breaststroke events individually. Sim first took the 100 breast in 58.58, which is just off her career best of 58.34. She then went on to win the 200 breast decisively with a 2:08.02, which is within a second of her career best 2:07.28.

Michigan sophomore Rebecca Diaconescu was great on the day as well, sweeping the women’s distance events. Diaconescu took the 1000 free in 9:40.72, while teammate Marian Ploeger came in 2nd with a 9:44.43. She then went on to win the 500 free in 4:45.32.

Brady Kendall also had a big individual swim, taking the 50 free in 21.74. That’s a huge swim for Kendall, coming in less than a quarter-of-a-second off her career best of 21.53.

OTHER EVENT WINNERS

• 100 back: Claudia Yovanovich (UCLA) – 52.87
• 100 fly: Leila Fack (Michigan) – 52.22
• 200 free relay: UCLA (Bennetts, Wetteland, Yovanovich, Duncan) – 1:30.28
• 1-meter diving: Kiarra Milligan (Michigan) – 296.30
• 3-meter diving: Eden Cheng (UCLA) – 299.80

MEN’S RECAP

While they didn’t break a program record, the Michigan men were just as dominate as the Wolverine women, beating Northwestern 186-114. Michigan freshman Luka Mladenovic was exceptional, sweeping the breaststroke events. Mladenovic first took the men’s 100 breast in 51.86, touching 1st by nearly 2 seconds. That performance marks a new career best for Mladenovic, and ranks him 4th in the NCAA this season. He then went on to win the 200 breast by almost 8 seconds, swimming a 1:53.88. That swim is also a career best and ranks 4th in the NCAA this season.

Mladenovic also helped the Michigan ‘A’ 400 medley relay to victory. Eitan Ben Shitrit led the team off in 47.35 on backstroke, then Mladenovic clocked a 51.32 breast split, Tyler Ray was 44.54 on fly, and Ole Eidam anchored in 42.97, putting the Wolverines into the finish in 3:06.18.

Michigan also won the 200 free relay, seeing Eidam (19.97), Ray (19.12), Colin Geer (19.54), and Mladenovic (19.46) team up for a 1:18.09.

Tyler Ray, a senior for Michigan, went on from the medley relay to win the 200 fly, swimming a 1:42.59. He later took the 100 fly in 45.75, while Geer came in 2nd with a 46.29.

Another Michigan freshman, Antoine Sauve, had a fantastic meet as well. Sauve first raced the 200 free, which he won in a speedy 1:34.12. That time marks a new career best for Sauve, who came to Michigan from Canada. Notably, Sauve is the Canadian Record holder in the LCM 200 free. After winning the 200 free, Sauve went on to take the 500 free in 4:20.74, marking another career best.

In addition to helping the relays to victory, Ole Eidam had a big day for Michigan individually. Eidam won the 50 free and 100 free in new career bests. He started with the 50 free, which he won in 19.77, clipping his previous best of 19.85. Eidam then won the 100 free in 43.14, taking about a quarter-of-a-second off his previous best of 43.48, which was set at Big Tens back in February.

Northwestern’s Joshua Staples was excellent in the 1000 free, winning the race in 8:58.35. It was quite a race, as Michigan’s Josh Brown was leading Staples slightly at the 500 turn, flipping in 4:27.32 to Staples’ 4:27.76. Brown continued leading Staples by a hair through the 800, but Staples closed faster and wound up winning the race by 2 seconds. Brown finished in 9:00.11.

OTHER EVENT WINNERS

• 100 back: David Gerchik (Northwestern) – 47.51
• 200 back: Eitan Ben Shitrit (Michigan) – 1:42.92
• 400 IM: Diego Nosack (Northwestern) – 3:49.99
• 1-meter diving: Kyle Ly (Northwestern) – 320.25
• 3-meter diving: Adam Cohen (Northwestern) – 375.90