“This year the GLIAC teams have proven to stay with us, keeping us on our toes,” said senior Rebecca Winchester. “Knowing that all the teams are there to motivate each other has turned this conference meet into one of the best in the nation.”

Over the weekend, the teams will rely on experienced senior runners Monica Kinney and Tyler Emmorey, but up-and-coming freshmen have yet to shy away from big-time competition this season.

“I am excited to see how our team handles the competition this weekend,” said head coach Jerry Baltes. “Both teams have freshman who have never competed for a title, and this will be good experience for our young team. They will learn what it takes to fill some big shoes after our seniors graduate.”

In the past decade, the women’s team has dominated the conference while the men have not been far behind, but the Lakers take no team lightly entering the championships this weekend.

“Our biggest competition for the women will be Ferris and for the men, Ashland,” Baltes said. “Both have phenomenal teams this year, which allows us to focus on competing to the best of our ability trying to carry on the tradition.”

Ashland will have home course advantage during the race, giving the Lakers preparation for their ultimate goal when competing at nationals this year in Spokane, Wash.

“We are using this weekend to really focus on finishing out our season,” said senior Anthony Witt. “Ashland has a fast course allowing us to see how much we can push ourselves. We have a great chance of repeating last year’s success.”

While weather and mid-season injuries always have a way of working themselves into play, Witt has emphasized how important adversity has played as a role this season.

“We have to keep everyone focused on the goal while rising with the competition,” Witt said. “Doesn’t matter if we have a bad meet or practice, all that matters is we compete for the conference title and then move onto nationals. We just get back up and get back into it.”

Even with the tradition that both GVSU teams hold entering the meet this weekend, Baltes said it will come down to which teams show up to run.

“The competition we face before GLIAC has proven to prepare us for the conference,” he said. “We purposely run three big meets in a row to get our kids in the right mind set to run this weekend.”

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