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Nov. 8, 2008
Big Rapids, Mich. - The Grand Valley State men's cross country team continued their dominance at the NCAA Regional Championships, as the Lakers finished first for the seventh straight year on Saturday (Nov. 8) in Big Rapids, Mich. GVSU placed five runners in the top-15 and had three runners finish in the top-10, led by senior GLIAC Runner of the Year Chris Hammer, who notched the individual title with a time of 31:52.
Grand Valley State totaled 45 points in the 10K meet, finishing well ahead of Wayne State and Southern Indiana, as both teams tied for second place with 102 points. Ashland finished fourth with 108 points, while Drury rounded out the top-five with a score of 120.
GVSU, Wayne State, Southern Indiana, and Ashland all advance to the NCAA Division II National Championships on Nov. 22 at Slippery Rock, Pa.
Hammer, who also finished first at the GLIAC Championships, used his time of 31:52 to finish less than a second faster than Jaime Villa Zapatero of Drury (31:53). Freshman Tyler Emmorey finished eighth with a time of 32:21, while freshman Ryan Toth came in 10th place at 32:28.
Paul Zielinski crossed the line at 32:30 for an 11th place finish, while fellow freshman Nathan Knisely was 15th with a time of 32:42. Although they did not score points for the Lakers, freshmen Anthony Witt (17th place, 32:45) and Jeff Nordquist (21st, 32:50) also ran well for GVSU.
Grand Valley State had an average time of 32:23, which was 25 seconds faster than Wayne State and Southern Indiana.
Head coach Jerry Baltes was proud of how his team ran at Big Rapids. "We're very excited for Chris to win the regional championship in his final season as a Laker," Baltes said. "I thought we ran pretty solid from top to bottom and we're excited to keep the streak going. We're looking forward to seeing how we run at the national championships."
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