Swim and dive rolls through Ball State

The Grand Valley State men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams continued their blazing start to the 2015 campaign, sweeping a dual meet on Saturday against Ball State University.

The Laker men won handily by a score of 769-530, while the women squeaked out a 679-651 victory.

The No. 5 men captured 14 events over the course of the meet. Senior Gianni Ferrero captured first place in the 200 freestyle, the 200 butterfly and the 100 butterfly, along with contributing to the 200 medley relay team, which also took first place.

Freshman Marius Mikalauskas, who was also on the 200 medley relay team, won the 100 breastsroke and the 200 breaststroke. Joseba Hidalgo-Viela and Cole Smith both snagged two individual event wins, as well.

Jared Gregory won the 1-meter dive event for GVSU, while Ian Ellis earned a victory in the 3-meter event.

The No. 6 GVSU women had a closer meet, but earned the win over the Cardinals thanks largely to nine event wins. Junior Leonie Van Noort led the way, winning the 1650 freestyle, the 200 freestyle and the 100 freestyle.

Sophomore Samantha Postmus added a pair of wins in the 500 freestyle and the 400 individual medley. Meghan Falconer, Allison Wells and Emily Gallaagher also earned event wins.

Brower named GLIAC Freshman of the Year

Grand Valley State volleyball middle blocker Staci Brower was named GLIAC Freshman of the Year in an announcement following GVSU’s 3-0 loss to Ferris State on Saturday afternoon. Brower, a Byron Center, Michigan native, is just the fifth player in Laker volleyball history to be named GLIAC Freshman of the Year.

Entering GVSU’s match against FSU on Saturday, Brower led the Lakers in kills and total blocks. She was also named to the All-GLIAC First Team, becoming just the second Laker ever to accomplish that, along with now-senior Betsy Ronda.

In addition to Brower’s awards, Ronda earned Second Team All-GLIAC, and senior libero Taylor Shomin was an All-GLIAC Honorable Mention.

Men’s rugby season ends

The Grand Valley State men’s rugby club dropped a tough decision 24-3 to national powerhouse Minnesota – Duluth in the Sweet 16 of the USA Rugby Men’s Division II College National Tournament.

The Lakers topped Northern Iowa in the first round, but were unable to pull off the upset against MN – Duluth, knocking GVSU out of national championship contention