EAST LANSING, MI - It was a successful day for 30 students on the GVSU Swim Club team who traveled to Michigan State University on October 5th, 2024 to attend the Spooky Spartan Invitational where they placed 5th overall against 9 different teams from Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio. 

The women's had ended up placing 6th overall. Their top swims include the Women's A 200 free relay (Julia Dennof, Emma Buckler, and Tilly Oppett) and the Women's A 200 medley relay (Tilly Oppett, Molly Smith, Kaley Vansuch, and Emily Almas) which placed 7th. Molly Smith placed 7th in the 50 breast and 8th in the 100 IM (individual medley). Placing 4th in the 100 fly would be Kaley Vansuch. Victoria Weeden placed 7th in the 500 free and 5th in the 100 free.

The men placed 4th overall. The top swims for the men include the Men's A 200 free relay (Caden Sauve, Riley Greene, Nicholas Carlson, and Nick Klug) and the Men's A 200 medley relay (Mason Harding, Brandon Gardner, Nick Klug, and Caden Sauve) where they placed 2nd. Hunter Converse placed 5th in the 100 back, Matt Robinson placed 5th in the 500 free, Caden Suave placed 3rd in the 400 IM, and Chalmer Young placed 3rd in the 500 free. Not only did Brandon Gardner get nationals cut in the 50 breast (placed 3rd) and 200 IM (placed 3rd), but also got 5th in the 100 IM, and 4th in the 100 breast. Mason Harding, who got the national cut in the 50 back (placed 2nd), also placed 3rd in the 200 back and 4th in the 100 IM. The last nationals cut would be Nick Klug for the 50 free (placed 2nd) and ended up placing 2nd in the 100 IM.

During each event GVSU students were cheering each other on at the end of the lanes, helping to bring up the motivation for each participant! The Spooky Spartan Invitational was also a great opportunity for swimmers to reconnect with previous teammates and friends.

We look forward to seeing those in the GVSU Swim Club excel at the next meet! 

CONKLIN, MICHIGAN - GVSU's Waterski and Wakeboard Club had recently finished 1st place at this year's Allentucky Waterbowl on September 7th-8th. Grand Valley was joined by 5 other teams, such as Michigan State University and Ferris State University, but became victorious as a team and individually.

The Allentucky Waterbowl consists of 3 events; slalom, tricks, and jumps. Slalom is an event that takes 3 separate factors and implements them into the event. First is the amount of buoys that the competitor skis around, the speed at which you are taking these turns, and the rope length. The goal of this event is for one to ski around as many buoys as they possibly can while increasing their speed and shortening the amount of rope that you ski behind. For the tricks event, each participant is given 20 seconds to show off their skills by performing eligible tricks in front of the judges, but if one ends up falling, then your time is cut short. Lastly, the jump event is considered to be the most intriguing event. You are given specially designed skis, a helmet, and a padded jumpsuit. To start the event, one prepares themselves to jump over a 5ft ramp, with a speed between 24 mph-32 mph depending on your skill level, and then the participant that ends up with the most distance is the winner of this event.

The Waterski and Wakeboard Club had multiple participants who placed in these events and developed a new personal best jump distance, tricks, and more. Firstly, Megan Fischette placed in all 3 events; 1st in Slalom, 3rd in women's jumps, and 3 in women's tricks, which became a new personal best. Matt Freitag was another big winner placing 3rd in men's jumps with a new personal best of 95ft. Sydnie Lipski was another participant who had placed in all 3 events, those being 2nd in women's tricks, 4th in women's slalom, and 4th in women's jumps, all of these becoming a new personal best for her to top performances off! Placing 4th in women's trick and developing 2 new personal bests with slalom and tricks is Bri Baughman. Jackie Karemh also had a night with placing 5th in women's jumps, which had also become a jump personal best with a distance of 39ft. Lastly, Delaney Novach had placed 5th in women's slalom. 

Not only was it a great 2 days for those Lakers, but we cannot forget about these Lakers who had gained new personal bests to beat in the next tournament! Caroline De Roo and Joe Brock with their 1st jumps landed, Lex Bontemps with a new jump PB, Alex Underhill with slalom 1.5 at 28/trick 290, and Mario Dannunzio with trick 280 and 56ft in jumps!

Congratulations to the Lakers who showed up to their first tournament of this season and made anyone watching proud! We look forward to seeing what the next tournaments bring!