They didn’t get the famed Sunshine-State weather, but the rain did stop long enough for four Grand Valley State University track athletes to run at the Stanford Invitational in California on Friday. The unscored meet marked the beginning of the outdoor track and field season for the Lakers.

Junior Tyler Emmorey competed in the 5,000-meter run while fellow junior Anthony Witt, as well as seniors Eileen Creutz and Kylen Cieslak, raced in the 10,000-meter run. All athletes earned provisional marks in their respective events.

“In indoor, we like to compete at home because we have a good track to run on,” Emmorey said. “We know we can bring the competition to us, but in outdoor we have to travel and go to these meets if we want to run fast because the level of competition is higher.”

On the women’s side, Creutz set a new GVSU record in the 10,000-meter with a time of 35:15.96, finishing in 20th place. Cieslak was not far behind, finishing in 26th with a time of 35:46.36.

For Creutz and Cieslak, it was the first time either had run a competitive 10K in college.

“I am probably going to run the 5K at the Mt. SAC Relays in a couple weeks,” Creutz said. “I will then work from there and see how my training is going and see if I want to try a 1,500-meter race, or do another 10K, or 5K.”

On the men’s side, Emmorey finished sixth in the 5K with a time of 14 minutes and 19.18 seconds.

“The race didn’t go out as fast as I would have liked to, but I set a personal record so I can’t really complain with running my best time,” he said.

Meanwhile, Witt finished 34th in the 10,000-meter with a time of 30:34.85.

The travel and time difference figured in to each competitor’s preparation, but they were able to arrive early enough to adjust.

“I like traveling because I feel I am more in the mindset for a big race,” Creutz said. “The only thing that was a bit different was that we raced at 10:10 p.m., which was 1:10 a.m., Michigan time. We got out to California early enough, though, that we were able to adjust to it.”

The team had no time off with such a quick transition from indoor to outdoor season. With such a prestigious event, the Stanford Invitational, as the first outdoor meet for competition, taking time off was not a choice.

“We didn’t really take any time off because we knew this meet came pretty quick after indoor season,” Cieslak said. “We trained right through. I think we trained smart through indoor and that we will be prepared to peak at outdoor nationals.”

The Lakers next meet is at the Spartan Invite in East Lansing on Saturday.

[email protected]