Sept. 30, 2006

Results

Grand Valley State tallied 42 points to capture the Collegiate Men's Gold Division of the 34th Annual Sean Earl Loyola Lakefront Invitational in Chicago, Ill. on Saturday. The Lakers won the race by 86 points over second place Southern Illinois. The race consisted of teams from both Division I and Division II schools. GVSU will run in the Michigan Intercollegiate in Big Rapids on Friday, Oct. 6 at 3:00 p.m.

The Lakes recorded the fastest top five time in a 8K race in school history.

Junior Nate Peck won the individual title in a time of 24:22. The time broke his previous school record by 11 seconds. Senior Ryan Holm finished in seventh place, running a 25:10. Junior James Gale placed ninth with a time of 25:10 and senior Nic Gatlin finished right behind him in a time of 25:11. Junior Grant Fall placed 15th (25:22) and Robbie Young ran a 25:23 for 16th place.

Senior Christopher Pabst finished in 31st (25:47), junior Nick Polk ran a 25:48 for 32nd place, and sophomore Chris Hammer took 35th with a time of 25:52. Junior Mark VanderMeer ran a 25:59, senior Casey Abston finished in a time of 26:06, and redshirt freshman Curtis Barclay ran a 26:30.

"This was a solid team effort for our men", said head coach Jerry Baltes. "We were hoping to race a bit faster, but all in all it was a nice step toward our overall goals for the rest of the season."

"Nate Peck raced the last 4 miles by himself and put together another great effort," added Baltes. "Ryan Holm's time of 25:06 is the second fastest time in school history over 8000 meters."

"Our pack did a nice job of establishing itself early in the race and then holding their positions over the second half of the race," said Baltes. "The top four men ran four of the fastest seven times in school history today. We have run that same course seven of the last eight years, so we feel really positive about that accomplishment."

"We still have some areas we need to improve upon and get better in order to do what we want at the end of the year," concluded Baltes.

Grand Valley State is ranked #4 in the nation and #1 in the Great Lakes Region.