GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Grand Valley State took home two first place finishes at the 20th annual Knight Invitational hosted by neighbor school Calvin University. The women's squad snagged gold with 26 team points and the men collected 22 points for a first place finish.
 
Knight Invite Results
 
The women began the day at 10 a.m. in the women's 6000m collegiate race. In her second race in GVSU uniform, Sinead Noonan recorded a personal-best finish at 23:03.3 to place third in the race. Shaela Elert was just behind her, notching a fourth place finish at 23:12.3 in her collegiate-debut. Carly Elkin was next for the Lakers, crossing the finish line sixth at a personal-best 23:18.5. Mackenzie Sellenraad (10^th, 23:36.9), Grace Oberski (13th, 23:58.4) and Mia Williams (14th, 23:59.1) rounded out the team of six, all recording personal-best finishes in the 6000m event.
 
The men's 8000m collegiate race followed at 10:45 a.m. Freshman Evan Nosek led the team with a third place finish at 25:44.8. Kilian Whalen was just behind his teammate, crossing the finish line fifth at 25:54.3. Dylan Esser (25:58.7), Ian Fowler (25:58.7), Colin Hanson (26:01.0) and Justin Hoffman (26:03.7) crossed the finish line as a quad, notching an 8-9-10-11 finish for their team. Nosek, Whalen and Fowler made their collegiate-debuts for GVSU this morning, as did Alex McArthur (26:59.0) and Will Engbers (27:04.8).
 
The Lakers cross country squad has just two races left before the 2025 GLIAC Cross Country Championships on Saturday, October 25. Several Lakers will compete at the Muskegon Jayhawk Invite on Saturday, October 11 in Muskegon, Michigan and the Bradley Pink Classic on Friday, October 17 in Peoria, Illinois. More information regarding the races will be available on gvsulakers.com in the coming weeks.