Davenport Set for GLIAC Swimming & Diving Championships

Championship Central
2020 Results
2020 Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

The 2021 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Swimming & Diving Championships will take place this Wednesday (Feb. 17) through Saturday (Feb. 20) in Holland, Mich. at the Holland Community Aquatic Center and Davenport is co-hosting the four-day event with Grand Valley State.

MEN'S PREVIEW

The men's program will be competing in the GLIAC Championships for the first time in program history. This season, the Panthers have three dual meets under their belt including a pair of wins over Olivet Nazarene on Jan. 23 (107-89) and Saginaw Valley State on Jan. 30 (127-110). Davenport was last in action against nine-time league champion, Grand Valley State, on Feb. 6, but came up short, 162-65.

For the men, four names to keep an eye on will be Richard Polasek, Isaac Inman, Ronan Pleass, and Drew Hinckley. Starting with Polasek, the Czech Republic native has been Davenport's best breaststroker and owns a top 10 GLIAC time in four different events including the 200 breast (2:06.05 - second), 100 breast (57.24 - seventh), 50 breast (27.08 - eighth), and 200 IM (1:57.38 - ninth).

Polasek's fellow freshman, Pleass, out of South Africa, currently boasts the seventh-best 200 back mark in the league at 1:58.51, a time that he earned in the dual win at Saginaw last month.

As for Inman and Hinckley, both have Division II experience from their days at Saginaw Valley State and Inman even competed in last year's GLIAC Championships as a freshman. Fast forward to this season and Inman is among the conference's top 10 in a trio of events including the 500 free (4:48.13 - ninth), 200 free (1:44.65 - 10th) and 1000 free (9:55.66 - 10th).

Joining those four as names to watch out for are Matthew Monday (free/IM/breast), John Gill III (free/fly/back), Mitch Dickey (free), Gabriel Zeigler (diving), and Nick Schmid (diving).

WOMEN'S PREVIEW

Switching over to the women, this will be year three competing in the league's postseason championships, an event that Davenport placed fifth in the first time before moving up to fourth a season ago. This year, the women have also gone 2-1 in dual events including 136-97 over Olivet Nazarene, 126-115 over Saginaw Valley State and a 168-67 loss to Grand Valley State (three-time GLIAC champions).

Last season, four-time GLIAC Swimmer of the Week Emma Wallis led the way and continues to swim well as a sophomore, but now she's joined by sister, Rebecca Wallis. Combined, the Wallis sisters have nine top-10 times among the GLIAC's best.

Starting with Rebecca, she's fifth in the 500 free (5:08.97), fifth in the 1000 free (10:36.74), sixth in the 200 IM (2:11.40), eighth in the 100 free (53.27) and 10th in the 200 free (1:56.84). As for Emma, the second-year swimmer is second in the 200 IM (2:09.04), fifth in the 200 breast (2:22.19), sixth in the 100 breast (1:06.81), and seventh in the 50 breast (31.73).

Three other Panthers with top-10 times in the league are Megan Fraula, Dominyka Rapsyte and Anna Wooters. Fraula is eighth in both the 200 free (1:55.78) and 500 free (5:15.49) as well as 10th in the 1000 free (10:54.30). Rapsyte is eighth in the 50 back (28.27) and Wooters is 10th in the same event (28.29).

Up on the diving board, look out for Emily Bolt, Lacey Mirandette and Lexis Mirandette.

Each of the four days of competition will have two sessions, the first beginning at 10 a.m. and the second at 6 p.m. We'll have daily coverage for you right here at DUPanthers.com, so stay tuned.

Story by: Cooper Weidenthaler

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Players Mentioned

Emily Bolt: Diving; Sophomore

Megan Fraula: Free; Junior

Lacey Mirandette: Diving; Sophomore

Lexis Mirandette: Diving; Sophomore

Dominyka Rapsyte: Fly/Free; Junior

Emma Wallis: IM/Breast; Sophomore

Anna Wooters: Back/Free; Sophomore

Mitch Dickey: Free; Freshman

Matthew Monday: Free/IM/Breast; Freshman

Ronan Pleass: Back/IM; Freshman

John Gill III: Free/Fly/Back; Junior

Nick Schmid: Diving; Freshman