Track and Field teams break three school records 

Last week the men’s and women’s track and field teams sent athletes to three different meets happening in Texas and North Carolina. 22 athletes on the men’s team and seven on the women’s team returned with provisional marks for the NCAA DII National Championships.

From March 23-26, the Texas Relays took place in Austin, TX where graduate student Caelon Harkey, senior Jackson Blanchard, freshman Brandon Miller and sophomore Myles Rhodes broke the 4x400m school-record with a time of 3:09.65. In the field events, sophomore Myles Kerner placed ninth in the shot-put with 18.43m to close out the Texas Relays.

March 24-26, at the Raleigh Relays event in North Carolina, there was another broken record from sophomore Issac Harding in the 10,000m with a time of 28:25.98, along side senior Dennis Mbuta placing fourth out of 150 athletes in the 800m with a time of 1:51.20. On the women’s team, freshman Taryn Chapko placed 19th in the 800m with a time of 2:09.46, earning her a second place ranking in DII.

In San Marcos, TX on March 24-26, the Bobcat Invitational concluded the busy week with a record-breaking 4x100m relay from Miller, Harkley, Rhodes and senior Jalen Kyles with a time of 40.71. Miller also placed fifth in the 100m with the second-best time in school history, 10.43. Senior Makiyah Smallwood finished up the invitational with a 14.34 in the 110m hurdles for the tenth spot in the nation.

Coming off of their Cross Country Championship and Indoor Track and Field Championship, the men’s team looks to win the NCAA DII Triple Crown if they can win the Outdoor Championships in eight weeks.

Tennis teams take down Lake Superior State

The Grand Valley State University men’s and women’s tennis teams both walked away from this past weekend’s meets with two wins, defeating Lake Superior State on March 25 and Michigan Tech on March 27.

On Friday, the women’s team took on LSS, claiming the doubles wins, starting with senior Vera Griva and sophomore Vasileia Griva’s 6-2 win and junior Taylor Barrett and freshman Estefania Hernandez’s 6-2 win. For the singles wins, Vaselia won hers 6-0 and 6-1, Barrett’s 7-5 and 6-2, and Hernandez’s 6-4 and 6-2. Their overall score was 4-1, moving their GLIAC record up to 3-0.

On the men’s side, all three doubles points were secured by Josep Canyadell and Thomas Oliveira’s 6-4 win, Sebastian Arce and Fredy Cossio’s 6-1 win and Martin Matov and Sean Miller’s 6-3 win. For singles, Canyadell went 2-0 for his matches, 6-1 and 6-4, Arce’s 6-1 and 6-4 wins and Oliviera’s 6-3 and 6-1 wins.

Both teams were successful again on Sunday with the women’s team scoring 6-0 and the men’s 6-1. The men’s team advances to a 2-1 GLIAC record and both teams return to play this weekend April 1-2.