Grand Valley State University opened its cross-country season this past Saturday with second-place finishes in both the men’s and women’s races at the Knight Invitational at Calvin College.

The men scored 109 points in the race, out-pacing Calvin College by 30 points. The women’s race was tighter, with GVSU scoring 64 points and finishing 30 points behind winner Calvin.

Redshirt freshman Chad Cini lead the men with a time of 25 mintues and 28 seconds, earning an 11th place finish for the men. Casey Routledge and Bryce Pulley followed behind with times of 25:37 and 25:43, respectively.

Kelcie Severson lead the women in the five kilometer race, placing sixth with a time of 18:12. One second behind Severson was seventh-place finisher Cuortney Brewis at 18:12.

“It was great to lead the team,” Cini said. ”I couldn’t have done it without my team though.”

That mentality earned GVSU’s younger runners a second-place finish in a race at Calvin’s house.

Cini trailed Pulley in four of the race’s five miles, but ended the race scoring first for GVSU.

“It was a mission of mine to catch up to Bryce,” Cini said,” after the fourth mile I just took off.”

Cini was so focused on Pulley that he didn’t even notice Routledge who was also very close behind.

The redshirt freshman said that coach Jerry Baltes was very pleased with the effort the young group displayed on Saturday.

“Coach was happy about the times but more importantly the team effort,” he said.

Junior Brent Showerman, who did not race Saturday said that the meet went well despite missing some key members.

“We opted to not extend the season longer that we had to,” said Showerman.

Showerman and junior Larry Julson will re-join the team on the course in East Lansing Friday Sept. 14. Showerman looks to improve on last year’s campaign in which he finished fifth at the GLIAC Championship and 42nd at the national championship race.

“These early races help us get into form for the rest of the year,” he said.

The men’s and women’s teams head to East Lansing to race in the Spartan Invitational at 10:45 a.m. Friday Sept. 14.

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