It may have been a different course than their recent races, but that did not affect the Grand Valley State University men’s and women’s cross country teams as both came away with NCAA Division II Midwest Regional titles Saturday.

The men ran a 10k, taking home the team title in the field of 22, and senior Anthony Witt claimed the individual title with a time of 31 minutes, 22.5 seconds. The men placed five athletes in the top eight, helping add to the final team score of 20 points, just five points shy of a perfect score.

“Scoring 20 points at the regional meet was definitely a step in the right direction towards our goal at nationals,” said Witt, whose individual title helped lead the men to their 10th-consecutive regional championship. “If we stay focused over the next two weeks we will hopefully be in a position to take the [national] title.”

The women’s team stayed focused as well, running away with an 11th-consecutive team title with a score of 29 points. The Lakers placed all five of their runners in the top 10 with senior Rebecca Winchester leading the way, placing third overall and finishing with a time of 21:37.3 in the 6k run.

All seven runners were named U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Region for finishing within the top-25 runners.

“Before our run, we were told to go out there and run solid and that’s what we did,” Winchester said. “We took the same focus we have had for every meet and used it in the race.”

Staying focused on the task at hand is what head coach Jerry Baltes wants the team to take away from the regional meet.

“One thing we try to do is race a controlled effort in the regional so we can come out of the meet ready to get back to training on Sunday,” Baltes said. “This will allow us to continue to progress our fitness just a little bit more over the next few weeks.”

Over the next few weeks, the Lakers will be hitting the ground running hard with the men chasing a chance to win their first national title, while the women will try and defend their title from 2010.

“With both teams coming out with a victory from the regional race there is a lot of excitement on the team to get our and race fast,” Winchester said.

Racing fast is what the Lakers hope to be doing when traveling to Spokane, Wash., for the NCAA Division II National Championship race on Nov. 19.

“We are focusing on staying focused,” Baltes said. “We will be staying positive knowing that we have a great opportunity in front of us so we are simply going to focus on making the most of it.”

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