This wasn’t just any old meet for the Grand Valley State swim and dive team. This time, it was just the dive team at the GVSU Diving Invitational Friday, Jan. 27 and Saturday Jan. 28 in the Fieldhouse Pool.

Teams represented included GVSU, Saginaw Valley State, Hope College and Lindenwood University.

GVSU competed extremely well with help in part to Brad Dalrymple and Joe Gucwa on the men’s side, as well as Kayla Marquardt and Mikayla Karasek on the women’s side.

The meet was not scored team-by-team, but scored individually. GVSU took the first place spot in every event.

Dalrymple, the former national champion, finished first in the 1-meter dive with a final score of 488.55, and first in the 3-meter dive with a score of 519.20. He was the only diver all weekend to break 500 points per 11 dives.

Asked about his performance in the 1-meter dive, Dalrymple wasn’t impressed with his score.

“I could do a lot better,” Dalrymple said. “At (the Calvin Invitational) I got 540-something, so I sort of declined. I tried to throw some harder dives in there today.”

Marquardt also did well after finishing first in the 3-meter, but second in the 1-meter behind teammate Mikayla Karasek. In the 3-meter dive she finished with a score of 426.50, and capped off her 1-meter dive with a score of 406.65.

Gucwa ended the weekend coming in second place on both boards. On the 1-meter he finished with a score of 456.80, and on the 3-meter he ended with a score of 494.35.

Karasek started the weekend well on Friday, but had a shaky day on Saturday. She finished first in the 1-meter dive with a score of 418.25. Saturday, Karasek did not have her best day, as she finished fifth out of six competitors with a score of 358.60 on the 3-meter dive.

The Laker dive team was the only team to have the luxury of having a meet between their final season meet versus Indianapolis (Saturday, Jan. 21) and the GLIAC Championship meet—something the swim team doesn’t have.

“This is a very important meet for us,” said GVSU diving coach Steve Burciaga. “We don’t get to do 11 dives very often and this gives us a good opportunity to make some confidence.”

As for the swim team, they will be training this week in an attempt to bring home some hardware from the GLIAC Championship meet. The men won the title last season, and the women have been in close contention for the past few seasons, and they hope this year is their year.

“I think these teams have great depth,” said GVSU coach Andy Boyce. “All the way down to the 18th person can score points for our team. The top eight is where the points are and if we can put people there, we’ll be in good shape.”

The men’s team is a young, well-rounded squad with solid veteran leadership. The women’s team is more seasoned and hungry for a GLIAC trophy.

The championship meet will take place from Wednesday, Feb. 8 to Saturday, Feb. 11.