Northern Michigan University Women's Swimming

Voigt enters her sixth season as head coach of the Northern Michigan University swimming and diving program in 2015-16. In the 2014-15 season, Voigt helped guide three swimmers and a diver to the NCAA Championships where Molly Kearney and Debbi Lawrence would earn All-American accolades.  Kearney would earn her All-American honors in both the one and three-meter dive, while Lawrence earned All-American status in the 100-freestyle, 100-butterfly, 100-backstroke and 50-freestyle. The Wildcats also finished in the top 20 as a team placing 17th out of 39.  NMU placed third at the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship for the third consecutive season. For the second year in a row the Wildcats finished third at the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship and were also able to send six swimmers and a diver to the NCAA Championships.  Two Wildcat swimmers and a diver were able to receive All-American recognition at the NCAA Championships.  Debbi Lawrence earned All-American status in the 50 freestyle, 100 fly and 100 freestyle. She set NMU records in the 50 (23:15) and 100 freestyles (50.15). Rachel Borchardt earned hers in the 1,000 freestyle (10:07.91) with a personal best time and the 1,650 freestyle (16:58.83). Borchardt was also named the GLIAC Freshman of the Year. Molly Kearney placed sixth in the 1-meter diving event with 447.60 points, and was an honorary All-American after placing 11th in the 3-meter. The Wildcats finished third at the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship in 2012-13 and had three swimmers and a diver qualify for the NCAA Championship. Voigt was named the GLIACs Dewey Newsome Coach of the Year and the NMU Coach of the Year. Three Cats had All-America finishes at the NCAA. Molly Kearney finished third in the one-meter and sixth in the three-meter while Madisen Sechena placed seventh in the 200-yard breaststroke at nationals. NMU also won the Puerto Rico Invite to become the first Division II team two win it in a decade. The Wildcats finished fourth at the GLIAC Championship in 2011-12 and two swimmers qualified for the NCAA Championship. Gaby Alzaga finished eighth in the 200-yard backstrokes at the NCAA meet, to become an All-American. Alzaga also swam the 100 back. Emily Brennan also qualified and swam the 400IM, 200 IM and 200 breaststroke. The College Swimming Coaches Association of America has announced its Individual Scholar All-American awards for the 2012 spring semester. NMU had five swimmers named Scholar All-Americans by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America. Three freshmen entered the list with a 4.0 GPA, Emily Bourguignon, Emily Brennan and Jordan Iverson. Also honored were freshmen Deborah Lawrence and Madisen Sechena. The Cats also received the Team Scholar All-American Award by the CSCAA. In her first season (2010-11), Voigt and the Wildcats finished seventh at the GLIAC Championship. Diver Kelli Vander Baan qualified for Nationals and finished 11th in the three-meter and 13th in the one-meter. Voigt spent two seasons (2008-10) as an assistant coach at New Mexico State working with the distance freestyle group, arranging team travel and handling administration duties.  During the 2009-10 sea son she helped direct the Aggies to a program-best second place showing at  the Western Athletic Conference Championships with 494 points. The distance freestyle crew made an impact for NM State at the meet with five Aggies placing in the top 12 in the 1,650-yard freestyle. In the classroom NM State ranked ninth nationally on the CSCAA Division I Team Scholar All-America Fall 2009 list.  Voigt joined the Aggies after five seasons at Wyoming (2003-08). She spent her first two years at Wyoming as the graduate assistant with the mens and womens programs and the last three as the assistant coach. Voigt produced 25 men and 30 women to all-league honors during her time as a graduate assistant.  Prior to her stint at Wyoming she was a high school and age group coach in Seattle and Montana. Voigt was named the age group coach of the year for the state of Montana in 2002. She graduated from the University of Washington in 1996, with a bachelors degree in athletic training, where she was a team captain. While swimming for the Huskies, Voigt was voted the Most Inspirational Swimmer for three consecutive years. Voigt later went on to earn a masters degree in health and kinesiology from Wyoming in 2005.

Williams enters his third season as Northern Michigan's swimming & diving assistant coach in 2016-17. Before he joined the Wildcat staff, Williams was the Director of Competitive Swimming and Aquatics at the Marquette County YMCA for six years. While there, he created programs to train athletes ranging from YMCA national champion qualifiers to beginners.  Williams was also the head swim coach in the Marquette Area Public Schools district from 1995-2001 and 2002-2007. Williams guided the woman's team to seven-straight state championships and a cumulative win-loss record of 120-10-1. The Redettes went undefeated for six-straight seasons. On the men's side, he guided Marquette to nine state championships, three undefeated seasons and a cumulative record of 119-12.  He was named the U.P. Swim Coach of the Year in 1998, 2004 and 2007.

Braga enters his fifth year in his third stint as Northern Michigan's diving in 2016-17. He also served as the diving coach at Northern Michigan from 1993-95 and 1996-99. Braga, a native of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, is a two-time Olympian. He dove at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal and the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. He earned his highest Olympic finish in 1980, placing fifth. He also set numerous South American diving records during his career. Braga has over 20 years of experience coaching college and high school athletes. He was named the NCAA Division II Diving Coach of the Year in 1996-97 while with the Wildcats. Before coming to Northern Michigan, Braga was the head diving coach at Kentucky for three seasons. Braga was also the second head coach of the Northern Michigan women's soccer team during the 1997 and 1998 seasons. In his spare time, Braga enjoys running, listening to music, reading and being active in the outdoors. He has a bachelors degree in education. I love the opportunity to be part of the process of helping young student-athletes accomplish their academic and athletic goals. I coach with a mind to help young athletes shine in all areas.