March 8, 2006

Allendale, Mich. - The Grand Valley State men's and women's indoor track & field teams will head to Boston, Mass., to compete in the 2006 NCAA DII Indoor Track & Field National Championships. The championships will be held March 10-11 in Boston at the Reggie Lewis Center at Roxbury Community College.

22 student-athletes will represent Grand Valley State at the NCAA Championships in various events on both men's and women's side.

"Our squads are excited and focused about the opportunity to compete in the NCAA championships this weekend in Boston," said head coach Jerry Baltes.

"We feel our men and women both have an opportunity to record their best finish in terms of team place atthe NCAA championships," added Baltes.

The women placed 7th in 2003,and the men finsihed 12th in 2002 for the best team finishes to date for Grand Valley State.

GVSU has one indoor national champion in the school's history, current GVSU Throws coach,Jason VanElst, won the 35# wieght throw at the 2002 Championships.In 2003,Steph Kuhlman set a National record in the 800 prelims before finsihing second the following day in the final.

"The one thing we bring to this championship is experience.Ten out of our 11 men have competed in an NCAA Championship before, and nine out of our 11 women have competedat an NCAA Championship in their career at GVSU," said Baltes.

"This should be a great advantage heading into this weeks competition. Our athletes are physically and mentally readyt ocompete at a high level," concluded Baltes.

The following is a list of men and women that have qualified for the NCAA Championships. The student-athletes are listed by NCAA DII rank, name, year, event and performance.

rank name yr event entry mark

5 Dan Jackson So 55H 8.03

13 Garron Lucius So 55H 8.15

2 Bryan Boeve Jr 800 1:51.59

8 John Collins Jr 800 1:52.08

2 Nate Peck So mile 4:06.94

2 Nate Peck So 5000 14:07.29

8 Brian Beach Sr PV 16-02.00

10 Bryant Wilson Fr PV 16-01.25

7 Nick Natale Jr SP 56-01.25

4 Charles Smith Jr WT 62-04.00

12 Nick Natale Jr WT 58-11.50

9 Grand Valley State Distance Medley Relay 9:57.53

1) John Collins Jr 2)KennyColeman Sr

3)B ryan Boeve Jr 4)Nate Peck So

Women

1 Mandi Zemba Jr Mile 4:45.40

5 Mandi Zemba Jr 50001 6:51.49

7 Karlie Singleton Jr 5000 16:56.93

11 Laura Aderman So 5000 17:11.61

17 Stacey Kandas Jr 5000 17:23.91

3 Rachel Duthler Jr PV 12-07.00

7 Lindsey Jones So PV 12-03.50

11 Dianna Noonan Fr PV 12-02.00

5 Morgan Acre Jr Wt 57-10.50

2 Grand Valley State Distance Medley Relay 11:45.47

1) Lauren Bader Jr 2) Stacey Kandas Jr

3) Suzie Rivard So 4)Mandi Zemba Jr