NCAA Championships Day 1 Results
The Grand Valley State men's and women's swimming and diving team completed day 1 at the 2017 NCAA Championships in Birmingham, Alabama. The GVSU men are second with 77 points, while the Laker women are 15th with 22 points. Queens University (NC) is first in the men's race with 142 points, followed by GVSU and Drury (74). Competition will run through Saturday, March 11.
Sophomore
Brad Dalrymple (St. Joseph's, Mich.) highlighted day 1 for the Lakers as he claimed his second career diving National Championship. Dalrymple followed the 1-meter title he won as a freshman in 2016 with a 3-meter title in 2017. He tallied an 11-dive final score of 513.70 points, while junior
Joe Gucwa finished third with a score of 472.10. Junior
Jared Gregory finished 10th with 424.30 points.
Following his National Championship Dalrymple stated - "I feel overwhelmed. Very overwhelmed. It's been a rough season, but I have been working hard to keep improving. I did feel the pressure, but I pulled it out so I am happy. There is always room to improve, bigger dives I can do, there is bigger everything so I am going to keep working and training hard."
He then commented on the support of his teammates, "That's one thing I will never forget and it is the best feeling to have all of your teammates and your friends cheering you on."
The Lakers' 200 medley relay team of
Harry Shalamon,
Marius Mikalauskas,
Gabriel Souza and
Ben Walling set a school record with a second-place finish in a time of 1:27.24. Souza finished 24th in the 50 free (20.49), followed by Walling in 34th (20.82) and J.D. Ham in 36th (20.91).
Senior Leonie VanNoort continued her stellar career for the Lakers. VanNoort, who claimed two individual titles and two second-place finishes in 2016, opened the 2017 NCAA Championship with a second-place finish in the 1000 freestyle in a school-record time of 9:49.18. Freshman
Melina Goebel finished 12th with a time of 10:09.46, followed by Meghan Shaunessy in 22nd (10:12.23). Junior
Sam Postmus finished 18th in the 200 free (2:04.60) and
Emily Gallagher was 34th in the 50 free (23.89).
The Lakers' 200 medley relay team of Megan Falconer, Gallagher,
Mercedes Martinez and
Kathryn Culver finished 20th with a time of 1:44.70.
