One of the top rivalries in NCAA Division II renews this week as Grand Valley State and Wayne State lock horns for the Division II meet of the week.
The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) championship has 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.
On the women’s side, the rivals have claimed every team title since 2005 with Wayne State having 11 and GVSU claiming three.
The Grand Valley State Lakers are ranked No. 7 in the latest CSCAA poll, while the Wayne State Warriors are no. 11. The GVSU women are No. 15, one spot ahead of No. 16 Wayne State.
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.
The GVSU Lakers had their senior-day meet cancelled by a winter storm, but the team held an intrasquad meet and honored the seniors.
Grand Valley State freshman Delayney Wihebrink was the GLIAC Women’s Swimmer of the Week last week in a tri-meet against nationally ranked Indianapolis and Lindenwood. Wihebrink finished second in the 100 breast (1:05.72), sixth in the 200 breast (2:28.09) and was a part of the 400 medley and 200 free relay teams.
The Wayne State women are led by diver Amanda Hurchalla, who is coming off of a dominant 1-meter performance against Findlay last week, scoring 276.88 to earn an NCAA provisional mark.
Freshman Jordan Fox of Australia claimed victories in the 200 free (1:59.25) and in the 500 free (5:17.94).
Grand Valley State junior Oscar Saura Armengol has been named the GLIAC Men’s Swimmer of the Week it was announced by the league office. Armengol captured three individual events and was part of a second-place finishing relay as the Lakers split a pair of dual meets. Saura Armengol touched the wall first in the 200 fly (1:50.06), 100 free (45.97) and 100 fly (48.67), while also swimming the fly portion of the 400 medley relay.
The Wayne State men are led by senior Ryan Katulski, who is coming off wins in both the 50 free (21.26) and the 100 free (47.04) against Findlay and senior Ahmed Ahmed of Egypt, who earned the top spot in the 1000 free, finishing the event in 9:49.22.
The GVSU-Wayne State meets have come down to the final relay many times, it is shaping up to be another epic Division II meet of the week.