Five wrestlers earn All-America honors at national meet

The Grand Valley women’s wrestling team wrapped up its first season of competition by placing fourth at the National Collegiate Women’s Wrestling Championships over the weekend in Iowa.

Two Lakers — Sage Mortimer (110 pounds) and Katerina Lange (138 pounds) — won national titles in their respective weight classes while Sabrina Nauss (180 pounds) placed second, finishing as a national runner-up. In all, five Lakers — Mortimer, Lange, Nauss, Aspen Blasko (124 pounds) and Elleni Johnson (160 pounds) received All-America honors following the meet. 

Head coach Jake Short was also selected as the Women’s National Coach of the Year by the National Wrestling Coaches Association . In their inaugural season, the Lakers were 7-2 in dual meets and qualified 11 wrestlers for the NCWWC meet. 

Women's basketball

The Lakers won their third straight GLIAC Tournament title, beating rival Ferris State on March 9. Grand Valley claimed the No. 1 seed and will host the Division II Midwest Regional, beginning on March 14. 

The Lakers open the tournament against No. 8 seed Quincy at 5 p.m. on March 14 at the Fieldhouse Arena. Grand Valley enters the tournament with a 32-2 record and on a seven-game winning streak. 

Men's wrestling

Five Lakers will head to the NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships on March 14-15 in Indianapolis. Chris Donathan (149 pounds), Joshua Kenny (174 pounds), Brayden Mirjavadi (184 pounds), Wyatt Miller (197 pounds) and Carter Blough (285 pounds) will represent Grand Valley. 

Kenny is the defending national champion in the 174-pound class. 

Swimming & diving

Thirty student athletes will represent Grand Valley at the Division II National Meet, beginning on March 11, at Indianapolis. Maddie Kooistra, Macy Polask, Olivia Kutsche, Emi Goto, Matthew Blommel, Cory Shade and Carter Wood will compete in the diving competition. Kooistra is the defending national women’s champion in the 1-meter dive. 

On the men’s side, Matt Bosch, Raul Briceno, Aaron Dies, Andrew Goh, Jon Kantzenbach, Esteban Nuñez Del Prado, Evan Scotto DiVetta and Thomas Zoldowski will compete in individual events, while Carsyn Christoffel, Austin Millard, Anton Rauch and Brennan Neitzel will swim in their respective relays.

On the women’s side, Sara Alvarez, Vittoria Proietti, Katie O'Connell, Lucy Hedley, Alysa Wager, Kelly Shortall and Alice Persson will compete in individual events, while Angelica Angilletta, Kiersten Harmon, Linda Frick and Annabelle Nixon will swim in their respective relays. 

Track & field

Grand Valley will bring a large contingent of student athletes to the Division II Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track & Field Championships. Thirty-six Lakers will compete in the national meet, starting on March 13 in Indianapolis.

Several Lakers are seeded in the top-five of their respective events for the national meet. Lauren Kiley and Natalie Graber are the No. 2 and No. 4 seeds in the 3000-meter while the women’s distance medley group of Kiley, Catherine Guckenberger, Maria Mitchell and Graber is the No. 3 seed. 

Kaylee Diamond (high jump) and Erika Beistle (shot put) are the top seeds in their respective events. And, the top-five seeds in the men’s high jump are dominated by Lakers: Eli Kosiba (No. 1 seed), Marcus Gelpi (No. 2), Jaivon Harrison (No. 4)  and Jonathan Rankins-James (No. 5) 

Myles Kerner is the top seed and the only Laker competing in the men’s shot put while James MacKey Jr. is the fifth seed in the weight throw.