Complete Results
 
CHARLESTON, Ill. – Grand Valley State track & field had a fine week of action at the 2016 EIU Big Blue Classic, with a combined 15 NCAA qualifying standards met by the Lakers. Hosted by Eastern Illinois University, the Grand Valley State women nabbed eight provisional marks, while on the men's side there were six provisional marks and one automatic mark hit during the three-day competition.
 
Of the eight women's provisional qualifiers, five came from the field events while three came from runners. Dajsha Avery scored two provisional marks this weekend, hitting 14.22m (46' 8'') in the shot put and 45.87m (150' 6'') in the discus throw. Sarah Talbott hit a distance of 5.80m (19' 0.5'') in the long jump, while Kyra Hull nabbed a provisional mark in the hammer throw by hitting a mark of 52.80m (173' 3''). Jaime Roberts also hit a provisional mark in the pole vault, but the senior indoor national champion has already automatically qualified for the outdoor national championships.
 
The three Laker runners to earn Provisional times were Angela Ritter, Tiara Wiggins, and Beatriz Indurain. Ritter finished the 100m dash with a time of 11.89, while Wiggins scored a time of 14.22 and Indurain a time of 14.27 in the 100m hurdles.
 
Denzel Graham scored the automatic qualifying mark for Grand Valley State, doing so in the discus throw with a mark of 56.03m (183' 10''). He's the second Laker to hit an NCAA automatic mark during the outdoor season, after Roberts did so in the pole vault at the UCF Black & Gold Challenge.
 
Along with Graham's auto mark, six male Lakers hit Provisional qualifying marks, with two coming in the running events and four in field events. Tor'i Brooks scored a mark of 7.22m (23' 8.25'') in the long jump, while Mike Moon hit 56.11m (184' 1'') in the hammer throw, Chris Saikalis hit 17.11m (56' 1.75'') in the shot put, and Mike Prestigiacomo hit 55.12m (180' 10'') in the discus throw. The two runners to nail qualifying times were Lawson Bright-Mitchell and TJ Burnett. Bright-Mitchell ran the 100m dash in 10.48, while Burnett finished the 400m hurdles in 53.19. Bright-Mitchell's time in the dash set a new school record, narrowly beating out the previous time of 10.50 set by Robert Eubanks in 1978 and tied by Courtney Hill in 1998.
 
Grand Valley State is back in action this coming weekend when they travel for a pair of Division I meets. The Lakers will split to travel to the Tennessee Relays in Knoxville, Tennessee from Thursday (Apr. 7) through Saturday (Apr. 9), while another set of athletes will compete Friday through Saturday at the Western Kentucky Hilltopper Relays in Bowling Green, Kentucky.