The Grand Valley State University track team traveled far and wide in search of fast times and high marks this past weekend, and it found them.

GVSU traveled to locations in Alabama, Oklahoma and California seeking as many national qualifiers as possible. GVSU head coach Jerry Baltes, who traveled with the running events to California, expanded on the team’s success.

“It was a very good weekend for us,” he said. “We got a lot of stuff accomplished out here in California. We set some records and got a lot of automatic qualifiers, which is always good. There were a lot of positives from our trip.”

Four GVSU school records were broken. Leading the list was junior Tyler Emmorey, who ran a time of 8:56.62 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

“Emmorey had an incredible race,” said GVSU distance coach Joe Lynn. “He is about 11 seconds away from a time that would qualify for the U.S. National Championships. He’s one of the best steeple chasers in not only Division II but in the nation now.”

Senior Danielle Fonseca broke the 400-meter hurdle record with a time of 1 minute, 0.69 seconds at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif.

“Having the school record is something that’s always been on my mind since my freshman year,” Fonseca said. “Right before the race, the last thing I told myself was, ‘I can do this.’”

Rounding out the record breakers was sophomore Karie McDonald in the steeplechase.

The women’s 4×400-meter relay team of sophomore Chanelle Caldwell, junior Kayla Vallar, Fonseca and senior Candice Wheat also broke a school record in California with a time of 3:45.02.

Breaking up the team and sending it all across the country was something Baltes said he was willing to do in order to see his team compete the way it did during the weekend.

“It’s just one of the challenges of track and field that we place on ourselves to chase marks and put our athletes in the best conditions and environments,” Baltes said. “At this point in time, it’s what we have to do to put our kids in the best situation to be successful.”

Fonseca noted the high level of talent, which included top Division I schools, at all of the meets during the weekend was helpful.

“A lot of us can run on our own, but it helps us to run with people that are going to be pushing us to make sure we end up ahead by the finish line,” she said. “Even though we are Division II, we can still compete with the Division I schools and beat them.”

The whole purpose of the trip was to find the best weather and competition so the team could send as many athletes as possible to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Charlotte, N.C., on May 5.

“The weather was perfect (in California),” Baltes said. “It was warm during the day for the sprinters, and at night (the temperature) went down to the 50s with no wind for perfect conditions. There was also lot of talent and competition to push us.”

With the nice weather, great competition and positive results, Lynn said he was pleased the team made the journey all across the country to compete.

“We came out here to get things done on the national scene and get kids qualified for the national meet and we definitely came out here and took care of business this weekend,” he said. “Going up and down the results, everyone either had a personal best or season best, so everyone really did have a great meet across the board.”

[email protected]