Quick Hits 11/7

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Anthony Clark Jr., Sports Editor

XC teams crown themselves as conference champs

Grand Valley State University men’s and women’s cross country finished in first place in the 2022 GLIAC Championships with scores of 15 points (Women’s 6k) and 28 points (Men’s 8k).

On the men’s side, five Lakers dominated the top-10 positions of the individual leaderboard; senior Tanner Chada first overall (23:56), sophomore Caleb Futter third place (24:30), redshirt freshman Brock Wooderson (24:38), sophomore Scott Spaanstra (24:48), junior Andrew Hylen (24:53) and sophomore Daniel Lambert (24:55) in seventh through 10th place respectively.

For the women’s team, seven individual runners finished in the top-10 leaderboard; junior Natalie Graber (21:04), freshman Lauren Kiley (21:25), junior Klaudia O’Malley (21:27), freshman Abby Vanderkooi (21:39) and sophomore Taryn Chapko (21:44) followed one another for first through fifth place respectively – with Kayce Rympa (21:45) in seventh and redshirt freshman Madison Ebright (21:54) finishing 10th.

Both teams haven’t lost the conference title since the 2001 season (with the exception of the 2020-21 season canceled).

The Lakers will now prepare themselves for the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship in Kenosha, WI on Saturday, Nov. 19. with a yet to be determined start time.

DIII men’s hockey faces two opponents as women’s hockey club gains first win

After a rough start to their season, the GVSU women’s hockey club gained some confidence in a road win against Maryville University and won the matchup 5-3.

The win was one of two games against Maryville as the first one was taken by the opponent, 1-3.

Snapping their ice-cold five-game losing streak with their first win of the season (1-5), the Lakers will hope to continue to expand on the newfound momentum as they play in their own arena for the first time this season against Aquinas College.

The two-game series will be played on Nov. 12-13 at the Griff’s Georgetown Ice Arena, with puck drops being at 7:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. on the respective dates.

In other arenas, DIII men’s hockey club defeated Calvin University in a two-match series (3-2 Nov. 3, 3-0 Nov. 5) that was split by a match against the University of Notre Dame (2-4) on Nov. 4.

The loss against the Fighting Irish was the first of the season for the Lakers as their record now stands at 7-1. 

GVSU’s next two matches will be this week against Ferris State (Nov. 8) and Adrian College (Nov. 11). The first match will begin at 9:30 p.m., with the second puck drop at 8 p.m.

Swim and dive teams on the road this week

The men’s and women’s swim and dive teams are traveling to Oakland University this weekend as they have yet to lose a matchup this season.

GVSU’s regular-season record sits at 3-0 as their last win was against both Northern Michigan (men’s 187-101, women’s 175-143) and Saginaw Valley State (women’s 248-52, men’s 179-115).

This week’s meet is on Friday, Nov. 11 at 5 p.m.