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Feb. 12, 2010
Allendale, Mich. - The Grand Valley State men's and women's track teams hosted the first day of the GVSU Big Meet on Friday (Feb. 12) in the Laker Turf Building. The meet has over 1,600 athletes with teams competing from all over the Midwest, including Michigan, Michigan State, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, Purdue, Western Kentucky and Southern Illinois. The first day of competition included field events with the top-10 athletes and running events as invite only.
GVSU's Chanelle Caldwell automatically qualified for the NCAA Division II Indoor National Championships in the 800-meter run. She finished fourth overall, first among division II athletes with a time of 2:10.76. Lauren Bergstrom finished 10th with a time of 2:13.23, beating her previous provisional time.
In the women's 400-meter dash, Kayla Vallar beat her previous provisional mark finishing fourth with a time of 55.85 seconds. GVSU had three Lakers hit the provisional mark in the mile, with Monica Kinney finishing third (4:53.24), Karie McDonald fourth (4:54.20) and Ashley Botham 11th (5:01.56). Kinney and Botham hit the NCAA provisional mark for the first time this season, while McDonald beat her previous mark.
Megan Maceratini hit the provisional mark for the first time this season with a fourth (16:56.99) place finish in the 5000-meter run. Shaylee Vanderbaan and Julia Nowak also hit the provisional mark for the first time. Vanderbaan finished with a time of 17:15.83, while Nowak crossed at 17:25.89.
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In the field events, Liz Murphy finished eight and first among division II athletes. Her throw of 59'11.25, beat her previous provisional mark.
On the men's side of the track, Paul Zielinski and Ross Faasse hit the NCAA provisional mark for the first time this season in the men's 5000-meter run. Zielinski crossed the finish line with a time of 14:38.55, while Faasse finished with a time of 14:45.79.
In the men's field events, Nate Miller finished sixth in the high jump with a jump of 6'8.25", while Matt Armstrong placed fifth in the shot put with a throw of 56'6.75".
The Lakers will hit the track tomorrow (Feb. 13) at 10:00 a.m. with the start of the day 2. of the GVSU Big Meet.
