Behind 2010 National Coach of the Year Jerry Baltes, the Grand Valley State University men’s and women’s teams reached new heights last season. The women brought home their first NCAA National Championship, and the men finished third in the nation.

Looking ahead to the 2011 season, Baltes said last year’s success has given the Lakers confidence and experience to build on their winning ways.

“The expectation for both teams is to focus on the day-to-day process and work hard,” he said. “If we can do that, the rest will take care itself, and hopefully we’ll be competing for national titles on Nov. 19.”

Despite ending the season on top of the proverbial mountain, the women’s team was ranked No. 2 in the Division II preseason poll, trailing Western State College. The men’s team, however, starts out the season right where they finished last year.

The women’s team graduated some key contributors from last season’s national championship team, but has plenty of athletes who are ready to step up. Most notably, the team returns four runners who finished in the Top 32 at the national meet.

“Anytime you lose seniors it’s hard, but we’re not going to dwell on what we lost,” Baltes said. “We have ladies who did not finish in the top seven last year, but now they’re right there. They’re hungry to win.”

As defending national champions, the girls know their opponents will come at them hard, but that’s just added motivation to keep improving.

“I hope our team can expand on what we did last year,” said senior Monica Kinney. “We have a target on our back, that’s hard, but we have experience and confidence in each other. We know we have what it takes to win.”

The men are coming off of their best finish in program history, and hope to improve on that mark in 2011. With virtually the entire team returning from last year, and a roster loaded with fifth-year seniors, expectations are high. Leading the way will be 2010 Midwest Region Player of the Year, Tyler Emmorey and fellow senior Anthony Witt.

“This team’s strength is definitely our depth and experience,” Baltes said. “Hopefully we can use both to help compete for a national championship.”

However, the men know that experience and depth alone are not going to be enough to win a national title.

“My goals and everyone else’s goals are to improve individually and as a team each day,” said senior Paul Zielinski. “If we put in the work we can reach our goal to bring home a national championship.”

Not only do both teams have the goal to make noise on the national scene by competing at the national championships, but they also want bring home conference championships. Laker cross-country teams have exhibited dominance over the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) in recent years. The men and women have won nine and ten GLIAC titles, respectively.

“Every year it’s our goal to compete and win conference, regional and national titles, but it’s important to remember we can’t focus on the end result,” Baltes said.

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