Feb. 29, 2008

Results

Findlay, Ohio - Grand Valley State University ended day one of the GLIAC Championships on top of both the men's and women's standings. The women's 65 points put them 22 ahead of second place, while the men have 48 points, which is 11 points ahead of the closest competitor. The men's distance medley relay team set a record at the Malcolm Athletic Center in Findlay, Ohio, crossing the finish line in 10:04.77, good enough for first place. The final day of competition gets underway tomorrow at 11 a.m.

Garron Lucius started Grand Valley off in the track events by qualifying for the 55-meter dash finals tomorrow. Lucius placed sixth in the preliminaries with a time of 6.60 seconds. Troy Rock followed that up by qualifying for the finals in the 200-meter dash by placing fourth in the preliminaries with a time of 22.67 seconds. Rock also qualified in the 400-meter dash by crossing the finish line second at 49.86 seconds. Craig Rumpf also qualified in the 400-meter dash. Rumpf's time of 50.96 seconds was good enough for seventh place in the preliminary event. The Lakers placed three qualifiers in the 55-meter hurdles, headlined by Lucius's second-place finish with a time of 7.78 seconds. Joey Latz followed with a fifth-place finish (7.92 seconds) and Bill Makela came in seventh (8.01 seconds).

The Laker men claimed 28 of their 48 points in the 5000-meter run. Four runners placed in the top eight in the event for GVSU, led by Nick Polk's first-place time of 14:46.20. James Gale came in second with a time of 14:50.43 and Ross Faasse crossed the tape third with a time of 14:51.63. All three of those marks provisionally qualify for the NCAA National Championships. Robbie Young also scored in the event, finishing fifth with a time of 14:55.74. The distance medley relay of Ryan Holm, Makela, Todd Schuster and Nate Peck took 10 points with their first-place finish. Their time of 10:04.77 set a fieldhouse record. Grand Valley State's other 10 points came in the men's long jump. Ryan Rademacher claimed second with a jump of 22'7". Andrew Post's jump of 22'0.25" was good enough for seventh place.

Candice Wheat got the women started with a qualifying second-place finish in the 200-meter dash with an NCAA provisionally-qualifying time of 25.37 seconds. GVSU placed two women in the finals of the 400-meter dash. Kirsten Nozime claimed sixth with a time of 58.76 seconds and Katie Mandziara followed in eighth place at 58.89 seconds. Another four Lakers qualified for the finals in the 55-meter hurdles. Wheat finished second with an NCAA automatic-qualifying time of 8.03 seconds. Ali Beach, Danielle Fonseca and Jen Tulpa all qualified for the finals, as well, claiming the fifth, sixth and seventh spots, respectively.

Megan Maceratini's provisionally-qualifying time of 17:40.35 was good enough for first place and 10 points in the 5000-meter run. Lynsey Ardingo, Amy Kolin and Sarah Kulczycki also claimed points in the event by finishing fourth, fifth and sixth respectively. The women, just like the men, took 10 points and first place in the distance medley relay. The team of Katherine McCarthy, Abbey Zandbergen, Katie Alfredson and Kelly Gibbons crossed the line in 12:03.65, which also surpasses the provisional qualifying mark for the NCAA meet. GVSU picked up another 17 points in the pole vault, led by Dianna Noonan's first-place finish. She cleared a height of 12'7.25", an automatic NCAA qualifying mark, to win 10 points. Kellie Kieren and Ashley Smith tied for fifth place, both earning 3.5 points, by clearing heights of 11'1.50". Two final scorers for GVSU came in the weight throw. Mary Bogner's throw of 58'8.75" earned her third place and was an automatic qualifying mark. Kathie Posa joined her in scoring by throwing 57'0.25" was a provisionally qualifying mark and gave her seventh place.