Nov. 22, 2008

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Slippery Rock, Pa. - Grand Valley State was led by two freshmen at the Division II Men's Cross Country Championships, as Tyler Emmorey and Ryan Toth both crossed the finish line in the top 30. The Lakers finished in fifth place and had four runners finish in the top 50.

"To come back and finish fifth, one spot off last year's finish, after losing six of our top eight runners to graduation is truly remarkable," said head coach Jerry Baltes. "It says a lot about not only the talent of our young men, but their overall preparation and commitment to keeping the program at a high level."

Adams State took the team championship with a score of 67, while Scott Bauhs of Chico State was the individual champion, finishing the course in a time of 30:23.

Emmorey's time of 32:03 was good enough for 24th place and was just three seconds ahead of Toth, who crossed the tape in 32:06 and earned a 27th place finish. The elder statesmen of the team, Ross Faasse and Chris Hammer, finished in 39th and 44th, respectively. Faasse, a junior, ran the race in 32:23, while senior Hammer crossed in 32:31.

"We are proud of Chris Hammer and all that he did in his career," Baltes said. "He did a lot for our program in the last five years and he will be missed as a competitor and as a leader."

Paul Zielinski was the fifth Laker runner to score, taking 56th place with a time of 32:42. That gave GVSU 190 points, eight points ahead of sixth place Harding. Two other freshmen rounded out the seven runner for Grand Valley State. Anthony Witt and Jeff Nordquist were within three seconds of one another at 32:58 and 33:01. Witt was 72nd and Nodquist was 73rd.