Nov. 17, 2004

Grand Valley State's men's cross country team will be competing in the NCAA Division II Cross Country National Championships for the third consecutive year and fourth time in school history. The Lakers finished in ninth place in 2002 and fourth a season ago.

The men's 10K race, which will feature 24 teams and a total of 185 individual participants, will begin at noon CST time at the Southern Indiana cross country course.

The following teams will be participating:
Abilene Christian, South Central
Adams State, North Central
Cal State Chico, West
Cal Poly Pomona, West
Central Missouri State, South Central
Colorado-Colorado Springs, North Central
Edinboro, East
Florida Southern, South
Grand Valley State, Great Lakes
Harding, South
Hillsdale, Great Lakes
Kennesaw State, South
Lenoir-Rhyne, Southeast
Lock Haven, East
Mars Hill, Southeast
Massachusetts-Lowell, Northeast
Minnesota Duluth, North Central
Minnesota State Mankato, North Central
Missouri Southern State, South Central
Seattle Pacific, West
South Dakota, North Central
Stonehill, Northeast
Wayne State (Michigan), Great Lakes
Western State, North Central

"From the beginning our goal has been to better our place from last season and ultimately get on the trophy stand (top four teams). Of course, we do not have control over how the teams we are competing against do, so we are simply going to focus on racing up to our potential," said head coach Jerry Baltes. "When we do that I feel we have a great shot of accomplishing our team goals."

"The men have a bit less experienced team going to the starting line, only Blake Terhune and Chris Pasbt have raced in a national championship race," added Baltes. "Five out of the seven men who raced in the regional meet were racing their first 10K on the grass in their career here at GVSU. We feel we will only get better and stronger with that first one under our belt."