May 4, 2007

Midland, Mich. - The Grand Valley State men's track & field team continued its dominance in day two of the 2007 GLIAC Championships and went on to claim its fifth straight GLIAC outdoor team title by scoring 271.50 points. Ashland was a distant second with 179.50 points, while Hillsdale finished third with 94 points. GVSU has won six of the last seven outdoor titles and the Laker seniors captured every GLIAC Championship they competed in during their careers. GVSU will now focus on the NCAA DII National Championships set for May 24-26 in Charlotte, N.C.

After a dominating start on the first day of competition, the Lakers kept the pressure on the field in day two. GVSU had multiple individuals score points in eight different events during the second day of competition.

Nate Peck led four Lakers among the top six in the the 5000 as he crossed in 14:42.50. Chris Hammer finished third (14:56.79), Robbie Young fifth (15:12.62) and Grant Fall sixth (15:13.03). Four more Lakers finished among the top eight in the 110 high hurdles, led Garron Lucius' first-place finish (14.36). Joe LeFevre crossed in second (14.42), Mike Stowe in fourth (15.15) and Joey Letz in eighth (17.55). The 400 meter hurdles was closely contested as a pair of Lakers battled the entire way. Bill Makela (53.30) just edged out Peter Antor (53.31) for the GLIAC title. Joe LeFevre crossed in fourth (54.53). Jaquon Morrison finished third in the 100 with a time of 10.54, while Garron Lucius finished eighth (11.07). Jake Hendrickson was fourth in the 200 (21.65), while John Collins claim the GLIAC Championship in the 800 with a time of 1:53.65. Nate Peck won his second GLIAC title of the day and broke his own school record when he crossed the finish line in 3:50.87 in the 1500. Nick Polk was seventh with a time of 3:59.02. The 4x400 relay team of Joe LeFevre, Troy Rock, Peter Antor and Justil Wiles claimed top honors with a time of 3:14.88, while the 4x100 relay squad of Jake Hendrickson, Jaquon Morrison, Troy Rock and Garron Lucius crossed in second place (41.30), but broke the school record previously set in 2001.

Bryant Wilson led three Laker scorers in the pole vault with his GLIAC title vault of 16-07.25. Scott Levering was fifth (14-08.75) and Matt Gordeneer seventh (14-07.50). Nate Miller won the high jump (6-08.00) for GVSU. Ryan Rademacher led the way for three Laker scorers in the long jump with a leap of 23-06.25 which was good for second. Joe LeFevre was third (22-11.00) and Mitch VanPortfleet fifth (21-10.25). Nick Natale finished second in the shot put (54-01.00), while Robert Mettellus finished turned in a fourth place finish in the triple jump (44-08.25). Ahmed Mahr finished fourth (163-06.00), Mitch Bosch sixth (144-10.00) and Charles Smith eighth (140.03.00) in the discus.

"I am really proud of how we competed in every event," said head coach Jerry Baltes. "Our kids battled for every second and inch for two days and the hard work they put in during the outdoor season really paid off. I also want to thank our seniors (Casey Abston, John Collins, Casey Fecther, Jeffrey Fujioka, Nathan Fujioka, Kevin Kimple, Joe LeFevre, Nick Natale, Chris Pabst, and Charles Smith) who gave so much to our program and got the job done when it counted," added Baltes.