Track and Field hosts Big Meet Friday and Saturday 

Just one more tune-up away from the GLIAC Championship competition, the Grand Valley State University men’s and women’s track and field teams continued their success this season, including another broken record.

The highlight of the events was the distance medley relay races on both teams, starting with the women’s finish earning them first place in the nation. Senior Hannah Becker, sophomore Cameron Cleveland, freshman Taryn Chapko and sophomore Klaudia O’Malley stole the show on their team with a time of 11:31.14. The men’s team’s junior John Groendyk, senior Jackson Blanchard, senior Dennis Mbuta and sophomore Caleb Futter stole their own show, breaking the record with a first-place finish at 9:43.69, which is a repeat record for Mbuta and Groendyk who set it last year at 9:46.51.

Among the field athletes, sophomore Corrina Courser took first in the women’s 60m hurdles with a time of 8.87 with a few more second, third and fourth place finishes for teammates on both the men’s and women’s teams.

This week, GVSU will host one final meet before the GLIAC Championships on Feb. 26-27 and then the NCAA DII National Championships March 11-12 in Pittsburgh, Kansas.

GV Tennis defeats Hillsdale on both men’s and women’s teams

Starting their season back up, the women’s tennis team is on a three-game win streak since the beginning of February. This past weekend, the Grand Valley State University (3-2) women defeated Hillsdale College (3-2) 5-2 on Feb. 12 after a shutout win against Indiana Wesleyan University (24-1) 7-0 and a near shutout 6-1 over the University of Findlay (3-3) two weeks ago on Feb. 6.

The Lakers swept the doubles matches, highlighted by senior duo Marily Canellopoulos and Marija Leko with a 7-6 win, sophomore Vasileia Griva and senior Vera Griva with a 6-1 win and freshman Estefania Hernandez and junior Taylor Barrett with 6-3.

Leko, Vasileia Griva, Barrett and Hernandez all took single wins while Vera Griva dropped hers with scores of 6-4, 6-7 and 8-10.

On the men’s team, the Lakers won all three doubles as well led by grad student Joseph Canyadell and senior Sebastian Arce with a 6-2 win, senior Martin Matov and junior Sean Miller with 6-3 and sophomore Freddy Cossio and grad student Thomas Oliveira with a shutout 6-0 win.

For singles, Canyadell, Miller, Oliveira, Matov, Cossio and senior Jack Dausman all earned wins for the overall 7-0 shutout for GVSU. The men’s team increased their overall record to 4-1.

This week, the Lakers will host Walsh University (6-1 men’s, 4-1 women’s) on Saturday, Feb. 19 before they take another short break in their season, starting back up again the first week of March.