EAST LANSING, MICH. – The Grand Valley State Lakers opened their 2023 cross country season at the Spartan Invitational in East Lansing, Michigan on September 15^th. Both Laker men and women claimed a second-place finish on the day, with the men recording a team score of 52 points while the women finished with 37 points. 
 
Final Results
 
Head coach Jerry Baltes stated, "This was a solid starting point for our squads today. It's always good to get out there and bust the rust off to see where we are at. We saw a lot of good things across the board, on the flip side we have a lot of work still to get done".
 
The Laker women recorded a team score of 37 points awarding Grand Valley State a second-place finish falling shortly behind Michigan State (25 pts) but defeating Miami of Ohio (88 pts) and Kent State (130 pts). 
 
Sophomore, Lauren Kiley was the first Grand Valley State runner to cross the finish line on the women's side, finishing in second place with a time of 21:02.0. Ana Tucker and Natalie Graber finished neck and neck placing fourth (Tucker) with a time of 21:06.0 and fifth (Graber) in a time of 21:10.1. The women's squad finished with 11 runners placing in the Top 50. 
 
On the men's side, Grand Valley State finished with a total score of 52 points, placing ahead of North Central (86 pts) and Miami of Ohio (105 pts).  
 
Sophomore, Elias Bergman recorded a new personal-best 8k time of 24:53.5 as he claimed a sixth-place finish for the Lakers. Andrew Hylen and Koby Fraaza were the next two Lakers to cross the line, finishing in ninth (Hylen) with a time of 24:58.1 and 15^th (Fraaza) in a time of 25:05.3.  The men's squad completed the Spartan Invitational with 15 Lakers placing in the Top 50.
 
"We will stay focused on getting a little bit better each week in order to be ready when we need to be", said Baltes.
 
The Lakers compete next at the Calvin Knight Invite on Friday, September 29^th in addition to, the Live in Lou XC Classic on Saturday, September 30^th.