Final Results

ALLENDALE, Mich. – The Grand Valley State track and field teams concluded the GVSU Big Meet Saturday to wrap up the annual two-day meet.  In the span of two days more than 3000 student-athletes from 300 different institutions took part in the action at the Kelly Family Sports Center.
 
The women's distance medley relay team of Klaudia O'Malley, Sarah Buella, Molly McLaughlin and Allie Ludge made a strong statement in their first outing of the year as they automatically qualified with a first place finish of 11:30.59.  In the 200m dash, Angelica Floyd took sixth place in 25:34, followed by Asia Smith with a finish of 26:74.
 
With more than 100 participants in the women's 800m, freshman Katherine Westfall showed a solid outing as she finished claimed 24^th place in 2:20.88.  Junior Jenna Sica earned a personal record in the 3000m with a 10:25.39 time. 
 
Multiple GVSU top-three finishes were claimed in the women's field events.  Floyd (long jump; 5.72m) and Erika Lechner (shot put; 14.06m) each defeated their respective competition, while Rachel Dolan (pole vault; 3.71m) and Judith Essemiah (weight throw; 17.99m) earned runner-up spots. 
 
For the second consecutive night, Dennis Mbuta broke a school record.  John Groendyk, Daniel Walker, Tyler Walters and Mbuta earned an automatic qualification in the DMR while breaking the school and Kelly Family Sports Center record after posting an impressive finish of 9:46.51. The 4x400 relay team of Emmanuel Arop, Max Darling, Clint Barnett and David Alberdi earned fourth place in 3:25.94. 
 
Alexander Porter (400m; 49.77) and Tyler Kirkwood (60H; 8.33) earned second place finishes in their respective events while Brendan Parr (5^th; 4:19.74) and Bennett Peterson (13^th; 4:22.53) represented the Lakers in the mile run. 
 
In the high jump, Ryan Mount defeated the competition with a clear of 2.06m, good for a provisional qualification.  Also earning a provisional qualification was Leon White (19.04m) in the weight throw.  GLIAC Field Athlete of the Week, Justin Scavarda, took second place with a launch of 16.67m in the shot put.
 
The Lakers return to action next Friday, Feb. 21 in the GVSU Tune-Up before hosting the GLIAC Championships the following weekend (Feb. 29-March 1).