GVSU swim and dive competes in NCAA Championship

The Grand Valley State men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams competed in the 2018 NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, as the top finishing GLIAC members for both the men and women. The Laker men finished 11th with 136 points, while the women finished 15th with 81 points. Queens (North Carolina) won both the men’s and women’s titles. 

The competition started Wednesday, March 14, and concluded Saturday, March 17.

The Laker men turned in an outstanding final night at the NCAA Championships with four top-10 finishes. Harry Shalamon picked up another All-America honor with his third-place finish in the 200-meter backstroke, hitting the wall in 1:44.73. Marius Mikalauskas added an All-America honor in the 200-meter breaststroke with a fourth-place finish in 1:56.63. 

GVSU’s 400-meter freestyle relay team of Shalamon, J.D. Ham, Liam Little and Ben Walling earned All-America honors with a 15th-place finish in 3:00.5, and four divers earned All-America honors on the three-meter board. Jared Gregory tallied an eighth-place finish with a score of 473.90, followed by Jared Bergerin in 10th (468.90), Christopher Kelly in 14th (438.35) and Joe Gucwa in 16th (429.50). Walling finished 23rd in the 100-meter freestyle (44.59), and Ahmed Nabih was 22nd in the 200-meter breaststroke.  

Melina Goebel earned All-America honors in the 1,650-meter freestyle when she touched the wall ninth in a time of 16:52.72, while Sam Postmus concluded her collegiate career as an All-American with a 16th-place finish in the 100-meter backstroke, hitting the wall in 2:03.00. Celia Hoag finished 25th in the 200-meter breaststroke with a time of 2:19.83. 

The men’s team finished its season with a 9-3 overall record and the 2018 GLIAC Championship, while the women finished with an 8-5 overall record and a second-place trophy from the GLIAC Championship.

GVSU quidditch club qualifies for US Quidditch Cup 11

Grand Valley State’s coed club quidditch team qualified for the US Quidditch Cup 11, the Harry Potter version of the NCAA National Championship Tournament. The team clinched its spot after a game Monday, March 12. 

GVSU’s team—also known as the Grindylows—is one of 27 teams around the country that qualified for the tournament. The top 16 eligible college teams and the top 11 community teams in the US Quidditch league have been offered bids into this year’s US Quidditch Cup 11. 

Other notable schools that made the cut include Baylor, Michigan State, Arizona State and West Virginia. 

The tournament will take place Saturday, April 14, and Sunday, April 15, in Round Rock, Texas. 

Six members of GVSU men’s DIII club hockey selected for all-star game

Although the season for the Grand Valley State Division III men’s club hockey team came to an abrupt end, six members of the team were selected to the ACHA All-Star Challenge held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

The Lakers who were selected were goalie Jack Lindsay, captain Alex Bjork, forward Alex Siroky, forward Ben Kowalske, defenseman Derek Simon and Ben Chafin. 

These six players will represent their program and university on Friday, April 13, through Sunday, April 15.