The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC Championships) kicks off this week and is the NCAA Division II Meet of the Week.
There are several teams that will be in contention for the meet, led by rivals Grand Valley State and Wayne State. The meet runs Feb. 19-22 at Saginaw Valley State University and Northern Michigan University, in Saginaw, Michigan.
The GLIAC Championships have gone through these two rivals for more than a decade. On the men’s side, GVSU and Wayne State have won the conference title for every year since 2002 between them. Wayne State has nine titles and GVSU has eight.
Last year, the GVSU men scored 853.5 points to hold off Northern Michigan (818) and Wayne State (814.5), which had a battle for second place. The GVSU Lakers have won the past five conference titles.
Last year, GVSU’s Harry Shalamon, of Great Britain, set the GLIAC record in both backstroke events. He won the 100 backstroke in 46.59 and the 200 backstroke in 1:42.46.
Wayne State set the GLIAC marks in the 200 free relay and the 200 medley relay last year, but some of those participants have graduated.
On the women’s side at the GLIAC Championships, the rivals have claimed every team title since 2005 with Wayne State having 11 and GVSU claiming three.
The GVSU Lakers won the women’s meet last year as well, scoring 944.5 points to hold off Wayne State (851). Wayne State won in 2018.
Melina Goebel leads the Lakers. She was an All-American in all four distance events last year, winning the GLIAC title in all four as well.
But the star of the GLIAC Championships is Northern Michigan’s Rachel Helm, from Great Britain. She set GLIAC records in 200 back, 200 IM and 200 fly last year. She won the NCAA championship in the 200 backstroke and is looking to close her collegiate career with some more hardware.
Go Wayne State Warriers. Thank you, Dan, for covering this great rivalry! ( Proud WSU grad.)