The Grand Valley State University’s men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational, which saw over 25 Lakers earn their personal bests.
Oct 4. marked the first time GVSU’s cross country teams have attended Notre Dame’s invitational in over a decade. The teams ran in four of the six races– the Women’s Blue 5k, the Men’s Blue 8k, the Women’s Open 5k and the Men’s Open 8k. The teams saw success in all four of these races.
Of the nine total Lakers who ran in the Women’s Blue 5k, each of them finished with a personal record, with senior Abby Olson placing first for the women’s team. Olson finished with a time of 16:59.2, landing in forty-ninth place of 191 racers.
The Lakers saw similar success in the Men’s Blue 8k. The top five racers for GVSU all earned personal bests. Leading the pack was senior Caleb Futter who placed seventeenth out of 166 runners. He finished the race with 22:58.6 as his new record.
Building off their first two races, all four of Grand Valley’s racers in the Women’s Open 5k earned their personal records. The top finisher for the Lakers in this race was junior Madison Ebright with a time of 17:57.8. Having four women all run their best times meant that every single runner from the GVSU women’s cross country team earned a PR at the invitational.
The men followed this up with all seven of GVSU’s racers earning their personal records in the Men’s Open 8k. Senior Patrick Lyell led the Lakers in this race, with a time of 24:21.1. The impressive run earned him twenty-second place.
Among the racers who achieved their personal bests was redshirt junior Colin Hanson, who shared the mentality needed to earn a PR.
“I just try to make sure my mind is in a calm place, so I’ll listen to some chill music,” said Hanson. “I just remind myself that all the hard work is done at that point, I just have to be mentally ready to put it together in the race.”
Hanson admitted to having some nervousness right before the race.
“The pre-race nerves are always going to be there, but you learn to use that as an advantage rather than a detriment,” Hanson said. “You have to acknowledge that it’s going to hurt pretty bad at some point in the race, and just be mentally ready to embrace that.”
Although Hanson was able to maintain this mindset and achieve a PR of 25:10.0 in the Men’s Open 8k, he took little time to revel in his success, and remains focused on the future.
“(I) just enjoy it for a little bit, and move onto the next race,” said Hanson.”Really, the end goal is preparing for nationals and seeing how good we can be both individually and as a team.”
The teams hope to build onto their momentum when they compete in the Lewis Crossover Invite in Romeoville, Illinois and the Muskegon Jayhawk Invite, both on Saturday, Oct. 12.
