The Grand Valley State track and field team was back in action this weekend when they hosted the Bob Eubanks Open on Friday, Jan. 12, at the Kelly Family Sports Center. This is the first meet since the winter break, and the first of three straight home meets. 

Both the women’s and men’s teams turned in strong performances on Friday. The women ran away with the victory, finishing first with 177.75 total points as a team, while the second-place finisher had 56. The men also won handily with a total score of 150 points, and the second-place team had 74. 

The first meet back from winter break is always a tough one because the team goes from not training very hard to training hard again, so they are already dealing with fatigue. 

“I think our student athletes did a pretty good job handling the fatigue from training, and we had some really bright performances,” said head coach Jerry Baltes. 

Several GVSU runners performed very well and hit their marks on Friday. On the women’s side, Angela Ritter finished first in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.60, and Nicole Sreenan finished second with a time of 7.63, a personal best. Willow Stuedemann finished third in the 60-meter with a time of 7.76. In the women’s weight throw, Bobbie Goodwin placed first in the event with a throw of 19.03 meters. Brianna DeSappio finished third in the event with a throw of 17.09 meters. Both of these distances were personal bests for them.

Other standout performers on the women’s side included the top three finishers in the 60-meter hurdles race. Tiara Wiggins led the way with a time of 8.99. Finishing right behind her was Breanna Luba at 9.06, and coming in third was Victoria Patton at 9.17. The 4X400-meter relay team of Heather Johnson, Sreenan and Jessica Eby finished in first with a time of 3:51.63.

On the men’s side, in the 60-meter dash, GVSU had four of the top five finishers. Emmanuel Arop finished the race first with a time of 6.88. Ethan Noble finished third at 6.94, and finishing right behind him were Kenny Jones and Jeremiah Davis with times of 6.97 and 7.04, respectively. Noble also finished first in the 200-meter dash, running a 22.28. Jaylin Golson won the 400-meter dash, coming in with the time 49.05. Two GVSU hurdlers finished first and second in the 60-meter hurdles: Gary Hickman and Tyler Kirkwood, finishing with times of 8.08 and 8.24.

Other standout performances were turned in by the men’s 4X400-meter relay team, consisting of Tyler Pavliga, Wanya Sanders, Jaylin Golson and David Alberdi, who finished first at 3:22.61. Isaiah Thomas finished first in the long jump with a distance of 7.15 meters. The standout from the field events for GVSU was Justin Scavarda, who finished first in the shot put with a throw of 17.76 meters and second in the weight throw with a throw of 18.24 meters.

It is also important to note that about 50 percent of the team competed in Friday’s meet. None of the distance runners ran, and none of the pole vaulters were in action either. 

Coach Baltes expects around 95 percent of the team to race when the team is back in action on Friday, Jan. 19, in the GVSU Open.