Grand Valley State University hosted the Big Meet, a two-day track and field competition with over 3,000 athletes from multiple divisions across the Midwest.
Throughout the event, GVSU’s No. 2-ranked men’s team and No. 3-ranked women’s team made their mark through some impressive performances. The Lakers produced 47 personal bests on the first day of the event, with another 19 on day two.
Head coach Jerry Baltes noted how the atmosphere of such a big event, hosted at the Allendale Campus, played a role in the Lakers’ success.
“The atmosphere was great over the course of the two days, which produced many great results for our squad,” said Baltes.
Headlining a handful of noteworthy performances was redshirt senior Erika Beistle, landing a personal best in shot put with an 18.26-meter throw. This crater broke her previous Division II record and placed her 18th in the world for the sport.
The men’s teams in the 4×400 relay and the distance medley relay broke school records. On top of the school record, the DMR team, consisting of redshirt sophomore Sam Allen, redshirt senior Joshua Page, junior Flynn Pumpa and redshirt sophomore Owen Westerkamp, posted an all-division best of 9:38:59.
The women’s DMR team made its debut at the event, comprised of senior Alaina Diaz, sophomore Claire Neumann, redshirt sophomore Megan Postma and freshman Daisy Speet. The team effectively secured a spot in the indoor championships with a time of 11:27.88, which put them fourth in Division II and No. 10 in program history.
Another personal best came from redshirt senior Shelby Ulven, who posted a 20.21m throw in the weight throw. Ulven, who was recently named Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Field Athlete of the Week, detailed how much training and motivation it took to post her personal best.
“It took a lot of determination, as well as relentless hard work and training,” said Ulven. “I’ve been working on getting a better mark on my first throw to set me up for nationals, and that’s how I was able to get my personal best on the first throw.”
Ulven noted that despite posting yet another personal best and moving to fifth all-time in GVSU history in weight throw, she is always striving to improve at every meet.
“Moving up means a lot to me with all the hard work I put into it,” said Ulven. “No matter how much I (set) private records, I always expect more from myself, so I can keep going up.”
Baltes recognized the effort exerted by students like Ulven, as well as the staff who helped run the event, giving “a big shout out to coaching staff, officials, support staff and all student-athletes who made it a great weekend.”
With many personal bests and incredible performances from both the men’s and women’s squads, the Big Meet did not disappoint, serving as a great space for competition and a building block for the rest of the Lakers’ season.
GVSU will finish off the indoor season by hosting another event, the GVSU Tune-Up, on Friday.
