The GVSU women’s indoor track and field team set two individual school records and the men took home four first-place finishes while hosting the Bob Eubanks Invitational. Although the meet was a non-scoring competition, athletes used the opportunity to gauge their skills against high-level competition.

Roughly 700 athletes from more than a dozen schools including Eastern Michigan University, Calvin College, and the University of Notre Dame were on-hand to compete in the two-day meet. The men’s heptathlon began on Thursday night, while running and field events began on Friday afternoon.

On the women’s team, sophomore thrower Liz Murphy took home first place while setting a new school record in the weight throw with a distance of 62 feet, 11 inches. Sophomore thrower Sam Lockhart improved on the school record she set last week and took home first place in shot put with a record throw of 49-10 1/2.

Freshmen high jumper Alisha Weaver finished first for the Lakers in the high jump with a mark of 5-3 3/4.

Junior middle distance runner Chanelle Caldwell hit the provisional mark for nationals in the 800-meter run with a finish of 2 minutes, 15.68 seconds. Caldwell also contributed to the women’s first-place finish in the 4×400 relay that notched another provisional time of 3:51.24.

Caldwell said students attending the meets to cheer on the indoor track teams are a key motivating factor for her and the other athletes.

“It’s a good opportunity (for students) to see what other sports do,” she said. “The spectators are really important because if they’re not here, then there’s no motivation to run because that’s who I run for.”

On the men’s side, sophomore middle distance runner Eric Phillips got to the finish line first in the 800 with a time of 1:54.89. Freshmen sprinter Nathaniel Hammersmith captured a first-place finish for the Lakers in the 200 at 22.11. GVSU also took first in the long jump with freshmen Aaron Dewberry’s mark of 22-10 1/2.

Junior thrower Matt Armstrong took first place in the shot put with a throw of 58-6. He said he felt the throwers on the team were poised to perform well this season and were excited to compete against Division I competition.

“It’s always fun having the big boys come in here and throw,” Armstrong said. “You’ve just got to get up and get ready to throw every week.”

GVSU head coach Jerry Baltes said although it is early in the season, the men’s and women’s teams have already seen notable performances, such as Murphy’s and Lockhart’s record-setting throws.

“It’s early on, so we’re just looking to grow and get better and learn from each step, but no doubt we had some positive things across the board,” Baltes said.

Baltes also noted the importance of developing the younger athletes during early competitions.

“At this point, it’s all about learning and just getting a little better each week, and hopefully coming out of each meet healthy so you can continue to train,” Baltes said. “We’ve got a lot of youngsters out here that are going to have to grow up fast. We’ve got a lot of freshmen that we’re putting in uniform and throwing at the fire, and we’re probably going to rely on a lot of those kids.”

The Lakers will next compete when they host the Mike Lints Open on Friday.

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