SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Grand Valley State men's and women's cross country teams finished the season at the NCAA Division II National Championships in Sacramento, Calif. The women's team placed second with a total of 87 points while the men claimed fourth place with 177 points.
Women's 6K
The Laker women were led by the pack of
Allie Ludge (12
th; 20:34.1),
Hanna Groeber (14; 20:38.2) and
Jessica Gockley (18
th; 20:41.4). Freshmen
Klaudia O'Malley (21
st; 20:50.7) and
Natalie Graber (28
th; 20:54.8) rounded out the Laker scoring.
"I am extremely proud of our girls, we really do have an incredible team," said Ludge. "Today we put it all out there and did everything we could. We raced well and we're all proud of what we accomplished."
All five scoring runners received U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-American honors for finishing in the top-40 competitors. GVSU boasts 19 top-10 finishes, including six National Championship titles under head coach
Jerry Baltes.
Men's 10K
The men were led by sophomore All-Americans
Tanner Chada (24
th; 30:20.8),
Noah Steffen (27
th; 30:28.7) and
Ben Zaremba (34
th; 30:38.6).
Andrew Hylen (51
st; 31:00.6) and
Jesse Becker (76
th; 31:19.0) also scored for the Lakers.
"We're a young team and we laid it all out there today, for each other," said Chada. "There are three amazing teams that finished ahead of us, but we're all proud of what we accomplished and we're ready to get back to work."
The Laker men were named 2018 National Champions and own an additional 12 top-10 finishes at the NCAA National Championships in Baltes' 21 seasons as head coach.
In addition to a second and fourth place national finish, GVSU swept the Lewis Conference Crossover (10/12), Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Championships (10/26) and NCAA DII Midwest Regionals (11/9).
