The Grand Valley State University men’s and women’s track and field teams competed in the GLIAC Indoor Championship at Saginaw Valley State University on Saturday, March 1 and Sunday, March 2. The men’s and women’s teams swept the leaderboard, further extending their dominant run in the conference. The Lakers prided themselves by earning 23 individual champion titles, as well as the overall team title.
Day one of the championship held all of the running preliminary events, where the top eight in each race moved on to finals the next day. On the other hand, the field events did not have any preliminaries, as the final events were split between the two days. In day one’s field events, GVSU medaled in all events. In both men’s and women’s long jump, the Lakers finished in first and third place. GVSU also took the top three spots in men’s pole vault and both men’s and women’s weight throw.
Among these field athletes was senior weight-thrower Shelby Ulven. Ulven was one of the many Lakers who earned the title of individual conference champion.
“The only thing that goes through my mind while I’m in the ring is pushing as hard as I can,” said Ulven. “Once I’m in this mindset, competing comes a lot easier for me and (competing is) more natural. When you aren’t forcing yourself to feel relaxed, things fall into place fast.”
On day two of the competition, at least one Laker finished in the top three for all running events, and many GVSU student-athletes took all top three spots. In the one mile race, the women’s team placed first and third, while the men’s team took the top three spots. In the 60m hurdles, GVSU senior Brooke Barkocy placed second for the women, and sophomore Joshua Hurt placed first for the men by a large margin.
Later on, in the 400m run, the women’s team took the top two spots, while the men took all top three positions. Senior Myles Rhodes, who took first place in the 400m, ran a time of 47.42 seconds, which placed him first all-time in the GVSU record book. In the 60m race, both the men’s and women’s teams placed third. Increasing to the 200m, the women placed third, while the men’s runners again took the top two spots.
The Lakers also dominated the event’s longer races. In the 800m, the women’s squad took first and third, while the men placed first and second. During the 3000m run, the women’s team dominated, and took the top four positions. The men’s team, on the other hand, took first place. The running events concluded with the 4x400m relays, in which both the men’s and women’s teams placed first.
Day two of the field events started with the high jump, where the women took the top three spots, and the men finished in third place. Taking first for the women in the high jump was senior Kaylee Diamond, whose 1.80m jump set a new GVSU record. Another sweep by the women came in shot put, where the Lakers once again placed in all top three positions. The men followed closely behind, placing first and second in shot put. GVSU senior Myles Kerner took first with a throw of 19.72m. This distance broke his own record for the furthest shot put in GVSU history. In the final field event, pole vault, freshman Brooke Bowers took home her first individual championship for GVSU.
For the No. 1 ranked men’s squad, this was their 24th conference title in the last 26 seasons. For the No. 3 ranked women’s team, this was their 26th consecutive indoor conference title, making them the winningest program in GLIAC history.
The GVSU men’s and women’s track and field teams are looking ahead to the NCAA Indoor Championship. 36 individual Lakers and three relay teams will be heading to finals on Thursday, March 13 through Saturday, March 15 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. In preparation for the championship, the teams will be upping their training and practice.
“Training for the NCAA Championship will look like fast movements and lots of isometric training for our lift and lots of reps in practice,” Ulven said. “We will focus on getting our bodies prepared for bigger competition.”
Leading the way for the Lakers’ track and field teams is head coach Jerry Baltes. Since taking over the program in 1999, Baltes has led the men’s and women’s teams to all of their combined 50 conference title wins.
“The main focus is to keep doing what we are doing,” said Baltes. “It’s about being in the right frame of mind mentally and taking care of our bodies to compete.”
