May 15, 2006

Results

Grand Valley State's track and field teams took advantage of its last weekend to qualify its student-athletes for the NCAA National Championships. The Lakers qualified 14 athletes and a relay team as the throwers competed at Aquinas College and the sprinters, jumpers, and distance runners were at North Central College in Naperville, Ill. GVSU will compete at the NCAA National Championships in Emporia, Kansas May 25-27.

Junior Morgan Acre posted a mark of 183-00 in the hammer throw, while freshman Laura Aderman ran a qualifying time of 10:49.7 in the steeplechase. Freshman Dianna Noonan recorded a mark of 3.75m in the pole vault.

For the men, freshman Ahmed Mahr set a school record in the discus with a mark of 169-07.5, which broke Jason VanElst previous record. Junior Casey Fechter (187-02), junior Nick Natale (183-06), and senior Josh Harris (180-11) all posted qualifying marks in the hammer throw. In the steeplechase, redshirt freshman Chris Hammer broke his teammate, Robbie Young's previous record, as he ran a time of 9:08.2. Young set a qualifying mark in the steeplechase with a time of 9:10.0.

Junior Bryan Boeve also broke a teammate's record (John Collins) as he ran the 800m in 1:51.42. Collins finished the event in a time of 1:51.75. Junior Ryan Holm ran a qualifying time of 14:34.10 in the 5000, while sophomore Grant Fall ran 14:35.87. Freshman Bryant Wilson posted a qualifying mark of 16'4.75" in the pole vault.

The men's 4x400 team of senior Kenny Coleman, freshman Mackenzie Lucius, senior Joe LeFevre, and sophomore Kris Oglesbee recorded a qualifying time of 3:11.95.

"This was a great opportunity to improve on any needed marks to move up the NCAA list to better each athlete's shot to compete at the NCAA Championships," said head coach Jerry Baltes. "We had a great week between the throwers here in town and the rest of the squads at North Central."

"We had 15 marks achieved to move our student-athletes up the NCAA list," Baltes added. "We are very pleased to see how our student-athletes came off the emotional high of the GLIAC Championships and really focused on competing to better their marks."