Michigan Has Strong Showing at TEAM BE BETTER Invitational

Team Be Better Invite

• September 26, 2025
• Ann Arbor, Michigan – Canham Natatorium
• SCY (25 Yards)
• Full Meet Results

Michigan opened their season on Friday by hosting the “TEAM BE BETTER Invitational”, a meet created to honor late Michigan swimmer Ian Miskelley who died by suicide in September of 2020.

The meet is held annually to raise awareness for mental health, and Michigan was joined by Calvin, Hope, and Purdue at this year’s meet.

There was no team scoring, which is typical for this meet, but there were a few non-traditional races, including mixed relays and an underwater 50 with fins on that mixed up the traditional schedule.

Women’s Meet Recap

Michigan opened the women’s meet with a sweep of the women’s 200 medley relay. The ‘B’ team of Lexi Greenhawt (24.39), Sarah Pasquella (30.03), Leila Fack (23.81) and Ella Jo Piersma (22.54) came in almost a second ahead of the ‘A’ relay team of Lila Higgo (25.92) Cecilia Howard (28.71), Letitia Sim (24.52), and Brady Kendall (22.58).

The Michigan women went on to win all but one of the traditional events, with junior Hannah Bellard winning both of her individual events, including leading a sweep in the women’s 100 fly with her winning time of 53.92 which was more than two seconds faster than she went at last season’s Be Better Invite.

Bellard also won the 200 freestyle in 1:49.02. This was only her 5th time swimming the event in her college career so far after she swam it once her freshman year and three times last season.

Michigan also won the 100 IM with senior Letitia Sim coming in at 55.54, and the three of the seven heats of the 25 mystery shootout, including the final 25.

The Mystery Shootouts were a series of 25s where the athletes were given a different 25 to swim each time, and the lowest finisher was knocked out of the race until the final heat where just two swimmers raced. The final iteration went to Devon Kitchel in a time of 13.36.

The mixed relays both went to the Wolverines as well with the team of Tyler Ray (21.68) Luka Mladenovic (23.96), Brady Kendall (32.42), Stephanie Balduccini (22.45) taking the mixed medley in 1:31.51, and the team of Antoine Sauve (21.30), Ozan Kalafat (21.30), Rebecca Diaconescu (23.76), Ella Jo Piersma (22.86) winning the mixed free relay in 1:28.55

Finally, Michigan won the women’s 400 freestyle relay with their ‘C’ team of Christey Liang (51.36), Brady Kendall (50.10), Malia Amuan (50.21), Letitia Sim (49.93)

Purdue won two individual events, the women’s 100 backstroke with Abby Marcukaitis taking the win in 54.60, three tenths over Michigan’s Ariana Zhao.

Brinly Hardy won the 50 underwater with fins for the Boilermakers, swimming 19.45 to beat teammate Ana Rojas’ 19.67 by just over two tenths.

Hope College’s Greta Gidley won the first heat of the mystery shootouts in 13.53. She ended up swimming four of the seven races before being eliminated after finishing 5th in the 22C event.

Calvin University had three top 10 finishes on the women’s side with Emma Merkel taking 10th in the 100 backstroke at 58.50. Gracie Granger finished 9th in the 100 breast at 1:09.33, and Zoe Poe finished 9th in the 500 freestyle at 5:19.68.

Other Event Winners:

• 100 Breast: Cecilia Howard (MICH)- 1:03.63
• 50 Free: Lexi Greenhawt (MICH)- 22.87
• 1-Meter Diving: Aoi Kondo (MICH)
• 500 Free: Rebecca Diaconescu (MICH)- 4:54.88
• 3-Meter Diving: Aoi Kondo (MICH)

Men’s Recap

The Michigan men won every event, with the exception of a few heats of the mystery shootout, but they won the final heat.

They started with a win in the 200 medley relay with Tyler Ray (21.52), Ozan Kalafat (25.27), Colin Geer (20.72), and Alex Thiesing (20.24) touching in 1:27.75 to win by more than three seconds.

They also finished with a win in the 400 free relay with only Thiesing appearing on both. The team of Eitan Ben-Shitrit (45.38), Ole Mats Eidam (44.16), Antoine Sauve (44.18), and Thiesing (45.20) touched in 2:59.38 to beat Michigan’s ‘b’ team by two seconds.

Colin Geer won two individual events and one of the mystery shootout 25s. He started with a win in the 100 fly at 48.09, a little over a tenth faster than the 48.20 he opened the season with last year. He also won the 100 IM in 49.15 and the 4th 25 of shootouts in 10.78. He was ultimately eliminated in the 2nd to last round, however, finishing 3rd.

Eitan Ben-Shitrit also won two events, taking the 100 backstroke (48.97) and the 200 free (1:37.47). His 200 free was more than two seconds faster than his time from this meet last year.

Luka Mladenovic was the final two event winner for the Wolverines, taking the 100 breast in 53.53 and the final heat of the mystery shootouts in 10.92. The last of seven heats was the only heat that Mladenovic won.

Purdue did not take their whole team to the Be Better Invite as some of their men’s swimmers were at the Seminole Fall Classic in Tallahassee, Florida, but they still had some strong finishes. Pat Broderick finished 2nd in the 500 free in 4:35.67 and Chris Bartmess was 2nd in the underwater 50 with fins with his time of 18.91.

Calvin University also had a strong showing with Charles Platt taking two 2nd place finishes in the 50 freestyle (21.03) and the 25 mystery shootout, coming in behind Mladenovic in the last heat with his time of 11.11.

Hope College had a top-five finish with junior Graham Eisenmann taking 4th in the 100 fly at 50.11. This was less than a second off his lifetime best in the event of 49.20 and was almost 2 seconds faster than the 51.97 he swam at his first meet of the season last year.

Other Event Winners:

• 50 Free: Ole Mats Eidam (MICH)- 20.32
• 3-Meter Diving: Emmitt Reesor (MICH)
• 500 free: Antoine Sauve (MICH)- 4:29.15
• 1-Meter Diving: Emmitt Reesor (MICH)
• 50 Underwater with fins: Tyler Ray (MICH)- 17.28

Up Next

Michigan will next swim on October 10th against Notre Dame and Wisconsin.

Purdue’s next meet is the World Aquatics World Cup on October 10th.

Calvin will swim on October 18th against Grand Valley State and Saginaw Valley State.

Hope College has their next meet on October 10th against Grand Valley State.