Ryan Brem can be a bit of a rebel sometimes.

Because of it, he’s now a record-setting diver for the Cal Lutheran Kingsmen.

Brem, a 2011 Baldwin graduate, got into the sport for reasons involving both his mother and father.

His dad watched his son doing flips on a trampoline at a friend’s house and thought he might be able to use that skill in a more productive manner.

When his father suggested diving, Ryan Brem was all for it.

His mother wasn’t so sure.

"My mom is afraid of heights, so when I was a kid, she never let me go near a balcony," Brem said. "I see these high ledges I can jump off of and thought, ‘OK, I (can) go near these high ledges now.’

"I guess you can look at it as a little bit of a rebellion in that way."

Brem finished third at states as a senior and went to Cal Lutheran strictly because of diving.

There aren’t a lot of high school divers on Maui, and the ones who do compete in it generally practice together.

Brem knew a diver from Maui High, Sheyenne Machida, who was a freshman on the diving team at Cal Lutheran when he visited the school. She helped get him to come to CLU.

"Well, my mom had a friend who went to Cal Lutheran way back in the day, so that’s why I applied," Brem said. "I wasn’t too interested in the school, but when I visited, everyone was nice and the coach said (there was) a spot for me on the team. I wouldn’t have gone if it wasn’t for diving."

Still unsure exactly how he would fit in, Brem went to his first practice hoping he could do well enough to stick around. After a couple of weeks with the team, he learned a new technique that has helped him nearly double his height off the board from when he was a freshman.

"In high school I always launched in close to the board, and when I first went to practice, my coach showed me some things in a new light that helped change everything I was doing," Brem said. "I knew (Machida) had a really, really good first year on the team and she kind of told me how competitive it would be, so I was ready for a lot of it going in."

Brem has transformed himself into the school’s record-holder in three of the four diving events, including the six-dive and 11-dive 3-meter events as well as the six-dive 1-meter event.

He earned All-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honors in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events for the second year in a row as a junior and qualified for the NCAA West Regionals.

Eleven days ago, he broke his own 1-meter diving record with a score of 274.75, topping his previous mark of 255.60.

It also helped Cal Lutheran beat Redlands in a dual meet for the first time in school history.

"I knew I was going to break the record with the way I was diving in warmups," Brem said. "The diving boards felt really well. I was jumping much higher than I normally do, so I knew I was going to be able to finish all of my dives."

Brem continues to challenge himself and is hoping to break out a new dive for the SCIAC Championships next month.

Despite breaking his own school record less than two weeks ago, Brem still hasn’t achieved that NCAA qualifying mark in order to get into regionals.

"My main concern is getting to regionals first and then I will focus on trying to qualify for nationals," he said. "I would like to make it — I don’t know if I’m at that level — so I’m trying to do what I can to add to what I’ve been able to do."

Brem will dive for the final time in competition in the Cal Lutheran pool on Saturday in a tri-meet against Pomona-Pitzer and Occidental. The Kingsmen finish the regular season with a meet at Caltech before the conference championships run Feb. 19-22.

Brem’s toughest dives involve 21⁄2 rotations. He said he’ll wait until the season is over before trying out dives that include a full three rotations.

"Those (dives) are kind of iffy," he said. "I knew that I wanted to do some big stuff by the end of my senior year, so once it’s over, I’ll probably sneak into the end of the pool during practice and do something that I wouldn’t normally compete.

"I’ll definitely give those triples a try."

AROUND THE NATION

MEN’S BASKETBALL

» Nick Demusis, Mililani ’09
The Whittier (Calif.) senior scored a game-high 33 points on 10-for-23 shooting and added 14 rebounds in a 93-90 triple-overtime win over Redlands last Thursday. Demusis added 26 points, eight rebounds and two assists in a 91-86 overtime win over Occidental (Calif.) two days later.

» Josiah Sukumaran, ‘Iolani ’11
The La Verne forward had six points, eight rebounds, an assist and a steal in a 59-57 win over Caltech on Saturday.

» Ikaika Phillip, ‘Iolani ’14
The Grinnell (Iowa) College freshman guard hit three 3-pointers and finished with 10 points in a 128-110 win over Beloit College.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

» Lia Galdeira, Konawaena ’12
The Washington State guard matched a career high with seven steals and added 27 points and five rebounds in a 73-68 win over Colorado on Sunday. Galdeira was also 12-for-14 from the three-throw line.

» Alex Masaquel, ‘Iolani ’13
The William & Mary sophomore forward totaled 12 points, eight rebounds, three blocks, three steals and three assists in a 57-56 win over Hofstra on Sunday.

» Julia Brand, Punahou ’11
The Willamette (Ore.) senior had a team-high nine points, seven rebounds and two assists in a 60-39 loss to Pacific (Ore.) on Friday.

MEN’S GYMNASTICS

» Josh Yee, Thompson Academy ’12
The Oklahoma junior finished in a first-place tie on the vault with a career-best score of 15.400 in a quad meet win over California, Stanford and Nebraska on Saturday. Yee also scored a 13.350 on the pommel and a 13.700 on high bar.

WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS

» Tiana Montell, St. Joseph’s ’11
The UC Davis senior finished in first place on the vault with a score of 9.80 and second in the all-around with a 38.95 in a loss to Sacramento State on Friday. Montell also scored a 9.675 on bars, a 9.750 on beam and a 9.750 on the floor exercise.

» Tracie Villanueva, Moanalua ’13
The Seattle Pacific sophomore was named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation specialist of the week on Tuesday. Villanueva finished first on the bars with a 9.725 and eighth on the beam with a 9.60 in a win over Air Force on Saturday.

» Kristi Hayashida, Home schooled ’13
The SPU sophomore finished first on the beam with a 9.775 and second on the floor exercise with a 9.775 against Air Force.

» Joey Ching, Punahou ’12
The Air Force junior scored a 9.575 on vault and finished in eighth place against SPU.

» Jenna Frowein, Punahou ’12
The Stanford junior finished seventh on the floor exercise with a 9.750 in a win over Oregon State on Monday.

MEN’S SWIMMING

» Kale Ai, Kamehameha ’13
The Pacific (Calif.) sophomore finished second in the men’s 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 9:39.46, fifth in the 500-yard freestyle (4:47.84) and sixth in the 100-yard freestyle (47.42) in a dual-meet loss to UC Santa Barbara on Friday.

WOMEN’S SWIMMING

» Jasmine Mau, Punahou ’14
The California freshman finished third in the women’s 200-yard butterfly in a time of 2:02.26 and fourth in the 100-yard butterfly (55.04) in a dual-meet victory over Arizona on Saturday.

» Madeline Jamora, Kapolei ’11
The Utah senior won the women’s 50-yard freestyle in a time of 23.82 seconds and took fifth in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 52.87 in a dual-meet win over Denver on Friday.

WOMEN’S TENNIS

» Alyssa Tobita, Mililani ’14
The Oregon freshman clinched a 6-1 win over UNLV on Saturday with a win at No. 3 singles, and improved to 13-4 overall at No. 1 doubles in the victory over the Rebels.

MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD

» Devin Jenkins, Kapolei ’12
The Texas A&M junior, who transferred from Southern University, finished first in the men’s 200-meter run with a time of 20.89 seconds and second in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.71 seconds at the Texas A&M Quadrangular on Saturday. The Aggies defeated Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Arizona State.

» Pierce Murphy, Island School ’11
The Colorado junior won the men’s 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:38.92 at the Air Force Invitational on Saturday.

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

» Micah Christenson, Kamehameha ’11
The Southern California senior setter had a match-high 52 assists, 15 digs, five block assists, three kills and two aces in a five-set win over UC Irvine on Friday.

» Larry Tuileta, Punahou ’14
The USC freshman had six kills, two digs and a block assist against UC Irvine.

» Evan Enriques, Kamehameha-Hawaii ’14
The Stanford freshman had 12 kills, six digs and four assists in a four-set loss to Long Beach State on Jan. 21.

» Gabriel Vega, ‘Iolani ’12
The Stanford junior had three kills and six digs against the 49ers.

» Josh Taylor, Punahou ’11
The Pepperdine senior hit .375 with 14 kills, four digs and two block assists in a four-set victory over Long Beach State on Saturday.

» Jaylen Reyes, Kamehameha ’10
The Brigham Young senior had a team-high 11 digs and four assists in a five-set win over UC Santa Barbara on Saturday.

» Matt Heirakuji, Kamehameha ’11
The Hope International senior had a match-high 17 digs and three assists in a five-set win over UC Santa Cruz on Sunday.

» Mason Ohta, Kaiser ’13
The Lindenwood defensive specialist had six digs, a kill and an assist in a four-set loss to Missouri Baptist on Jan. 21.

MEN’S WRESTLING

» Zack Hernandez, Punahou ’12
The Columbia University junior won a 6-0 decision at 184 pounds to help the Lions defeat Hofstra 27-7 on Sunday.

» David Terao, Mid-Pacific ’11
The American University junior, ranked 16th at 125 pounds, won both of his matches on Sunday in losses to Columbia and Hofstra.

WOMEN’S WRESTLING

» Bree Rapoza, Kamehameha ’13
The Missouri Baptist sophomore recorded both of her wins by pinfall and finished in second place at 123 pounds with a 2-1 record at the McKendree University Bearcat Open on Saturday.

Compiled by the Star-Advertiser’s Billy Hull. To submit an athlete for publication, email bhull@staradvertiser.com.