Sept. 6, 2006

Grand Valley State's men's cross country team will begin the 2006 season on Friday, Sept. 8 at the Aquinas Open. The Laker men are coming off their best season in school history as they won the GLIAC and Great Lakes Region Championship titles and finished fourth at the NCAA National Championships. GVSU is ranked #1 in the Great Lakes Region and #5 in the nation in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Preseason Poll.

GVSU has seven key runners returning this season. Junior Nate Peck, a two-time GLIAC and Great Lakes Region Champion, is also a two-time all-american honoree. His freshman year he finished 19th at the National Championships and last year he placed 16th. Senior Chris Pabst finished third at the GLIAC Championships, eighth at the Great Lakes Region Championships and 18th at the NCAA National Championships, earning all-american honors last season.

Senior Ryan Holm placed 10th at the GLIAC Championships, 17th at the Great Lakes Region, and 43rd at the National Championships. Junior Robby Young finished 46th at the NCAA Championships after battling an injury, while senior Nic Gatlin took seventh at both the GLIAC and Great Lakes Region Championships and 48th at nationals.

Sophomore Chris Hammer finished second at the GLIAC Championships, which earned him GLIAC Freshman of the Year honors. Hammer placed 23rd at the Great Lakes Region and 59th at the National Championships. Junior Grant Fall took 18th place at the GLIAC Championships and 25th at the Great Lakes Region.

Other returners for the Lakers are seniors Casey Abston, Matt Anderson, Jeffrey Fujioka, Nathan Fujioka, and junior Nick Polk, Brad Hunter, and Mark VanderMeer. The key newcomers this season for the Lakers are redshirt freshmen Curtis Barclay, Steve Derico, Ben McCune, Ross Fasse, junior transfer James Gale, and true freshmen Tim Armstrong, Jeff Kosters, Levi Lachappelle, Bryan Principe, and Mike Segal.

"We have a great group of returners with a lot of experience running in big meets over the course of their careers," said head coach Jerry Baltes. "With seven seniors and seven juniors on the roster, we feel we have outstanding leadership abilities. These men are very focused on reaching the goals they have set."

"We also have some outstanding new people stepping into the program," added Baltes. "James Gale will put on a GVSU uniform after sitting out last season after transferring from Saginaw Valley State. He will added more depth to our returning core."

"We are very excited to begin the season and see where we are at," stated Baltes. "We have had almost three weeks of great training and it is time to see where we are as a team and where we need to go from here."

"There is still a lot of work yet to be done and this opener will not indicate where we will end up in November, but it is a starting point to what we feel can be an outstanding season," said Baltes. "Coming off the best season in school history, we are eager to improve on where we are at. We feel there are about 12-14 different men that could run in our top seven spots. This creates a great training group and overall training environment."

Preseason Rankings