Sam Postmus is a dominant force in the pool for the Grand Valley State women’s swim team. In the past season she has broken not one, not two or three, but four different records.

The first coming in the form of a pool record in the 1650-yard freestyle, touching the wall in 17:18.50.

Her second was a pool record that was broken during the same meet as the 1650-yard record. This one, though, coming in the 400-yard individual medley. She finished in an impressive 4:28.55.

Her third record came during the team’s mid-season meet at the Calvin Invitational in the 22-yard individual medley event. Postmus finished with a final time of 2:03.49.

The fourth and final record was broadcasted on ESPN3 for the whole nation to see when the Lakers took on Wayne State in their most recent meet. Postmus beat the pool record in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:51.64.

“I think Sam’s records are awesome,” said teammate Julia Suriano. “She’s always a great teammate and a great sport about it, and it couldn’t have happened to a better person.”

One might assume that in high school, Postmus was unbeatable—almost Olympian Katie Ledecky-like. Interestingly enough, she actually quit the high school swim team.

Postmus attended Wayland High School, even though her family moved to Byron Center during her senior year. She swam for Wayland for the first two years she was there, but ultimately quit the team to focus more on her academic studies.

Postmus did not stop swimming, though. She still trained on her club team which was based in Byron Center, and attracted attention from collegiate swimming programs for her ability. The school most notable to her at the time was Michigan State.

Postmus decided to attend one of MSU’s swim meets to get an idea of what their program was about, and possibly make her college decision. The meet she decided to watch was one against GVSU.

“I loved how Grand Valley was cheering the most, and how they cheered on their teammates,” Postmus said. “When I watched them I really felt like Grand Valley was more of a home-style kind of place, where people felt welcome.”

Postmus’ first two seasons at GVSU established the type of competitor she is. In both seasons, she was able to qualify for nationals and finish 8th in the 400-yard Individual Medley with a time of 4:22.46 in 2016, and also finish 8th in the 1000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:06.03 in 2015.

GVSU coach Andy Boyce spoke on what type of competitor Postmus is.

“She is always willing to step up and do an event if we need her to,” Boyce said. “She can do anything from the 100-yard freestyle to the 1650-yard freestyle. She’s extremely versatile.”

That versatility is allowing Postmus to move from more of a distance swimmer to a mid-distance swimmer, something that seems to be working for Postmus this season after breaking three records in mid-distance events.

“A personal goal for this season was to work on my mid-distance events,” Postmus said. “Andy (Boyce) and Justin (Vasquez) have been having me swim the 200-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke, and the 200-yard breaststroke to work on my individual medley strokes.”

Those events seem to be paying off as Postmus has become one of the best individual medley swimmers in the nation.

Postmus will be back to leaving other swimmers in her wake Saturday, Jan. 14 against the Findlay Oilers.