The Grand Valley State men's and women's swimming & diving teams continued to excel at the 2017 NCAA DII Swimming & Diving Championships in Birmingham, Alabama Friday evening. Queens (N.C.) leads the with with 450.5 points, followed by Drury (275), Nova Southeastern (214) and Grand Valley State (207). The Laker women are 10th with 121 points, just one point behind West Florida (121). The fourth and final day will begin Saturday morning at 11:30 am ET.
Senior Leonie VanNoort got the Laker women going early, winning the NCAA National Championship in the 500 free in a school-record time of 4:46.62. VanNoort has now won three career individual National Championships (200 free, 500 free, 1650 free).
Sam Postmus touched 31st (5:01.35) and
Megan Shaughnessy 35th (5:02.84). The Lakers' 800 free relay team of Postmus,
Melina Goebel, Shaughnessy and VanNoort set a school-record with a fifth-place finish in a time of 7:24.75. Goebel added a 25th-place finish in the 200 fly (2:05.15).
Grand Valley State continued to excel in diving, placing two among the top three and three among the top nine. Sophomore
Brad Dalrymple, the defending National Champion on the 1-meter board and coming off a National Championship on the 3-meter board Wednesday, finished second on the 1-meter board with a score of 513.15.
Jared Gregory was third (501.10) and
Joe Gucwa ninth (422.65).
Freshman
Harry Shalamon touched 10th in the 100 back, hitting the wall in 48.32, while
Marius Mikalauskas was 10th in the 100 breast (54.15). The 800 free relay team of
Ben Walling, Shalamon,
Liam Little and
Danny Abbott hit the wall 23rd in a time of 6:44.35.
