PEORIA, Ill. – The regular season came to an end this afternoon for Grand Valley State's cross country squad. The finale took shape in four races at the Bradley Pink Classic in Peoria, Illinois. The men's 8k and women's 6k white (open) races kicked off the day, followed by the men's 8k and women's 6k red (invite) races. Through the four races, 19 personal-best times were recorded.
RESULTS
The first race of the day began at 1 p.m. EST. Eleven Laker men raced in the men's white race, hustling through the 8k course.
Evan Nosek led the group, crossing the finish line third at a personal-best 25:08.48.
Jacob Esser and
Drennan Akins were the next two to complete the 8k, notching a 6-7 finish at 25:17.28 and 25:19.54, respectively.
Colin Hanson and
Dylan Esser rounded out the top five Laker marks, finishing 12th and 13th at 25:35.18 and 25:35.49, respectively. In addition to Nosek's PR, the Esser twins posted new best-times alongside teammates
Ian Fowler (25:43.5) and
Kilian Whalen (25:49.2).
The women's white race followed on a 6k course of their own.
Abby Young and
Annie Alkema led the squad with personal-best finishes at 22:01.15 and 22:24.18 to place third and ninth, respectively.
Addison Washler was the next Laker to cross the finish line, finishing 13th at 22:39.47. The final two Lakers in the team's top five posted personal-best marks of their own. Redshirt-sophomore
Katrina Sandman and true freshman
Sinead Noonan were the 16th and 18th student-athletes to finish, recording finishes at 22:42.02 and 22:44.51. Redshirt-freshman
Carly Elkin also recorded a personal-best time of 23:07.64 at the Classic.
A slew of personal-bests accompanied the men in the red (invite) race.
Iain Forrest was the frontrunner, placing 18th at 24:32.2. Just one-tenth of a second separated the 27th and 28th finishers
Kyler Dean (24:44.1) and
Logan Tracia (24:44.2). Two-tenths of a second later,
Connor Nolan (24:44.4) and
Gabriel Connelly (24:44.5) rounded out the team top five, placing 30th and 31st overall. All of the top five GVSU times were personal-best times for each athlete.
Seth Conner accompanied the PR crew with a personal-best 25:14.2 time in his collegiate debut.
The trend continued in the women's red race, as four Lakers saw personal-best times and four others made their collegiate-debut in the 6k for GVSU. The Lakers top five spots spanned less than five seconds from the first finisher to the fifth.
Karen Kiratu was the first in line, notching a personal-best 6k finish at 21:09.1.
Megan Postma (21:18.2) and
Maria Widmann (21:24.1) followed suit, recording PRs of their own as they crossed the finish line 30th and 33rd.
Annika Sandman and
Violet Hrabovsky were next, finishing 46th and 49th; Sandman recorded a personal-best finish at 21:36.4 and Hrabovsky rounded out her collegiate 6k debut with a 21:38.0 finish. The three remaining Lakers making their 6k debut were
Emma Gunnett (22:44.98),
Ava Crews (22:37.37) and
Mea D'Agostino (21:41.92).
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Grand Valley State cross country begins postseason competition next week at the 2025 GLIAC Cross Country Championships. Davenport University will host the championships at the Calvin University Cross Country course. More information will be available on gvsulakers.com in the upcoming days.
