ALLENDALE, Mich. – Six current or former Grand Valley State track and field athletes are set to compete at the 2025 Toyota USA Track & Field (USATF) Outdoor & Para National Championships hosted in Eugene, Ore. at Hayward Field. Jessica Gockley-Day (formerly Jessica Gockley), Kristen Hixson-Leland (formerly Kristen Hixson), Erika Beistle, Eli Kosiba, Jaivon Harrison and Myles Kerner will compete in six events from Thursday, July 31 through Sunday, August 3.
 
Live Results
Watch Live
 
Gockley-Day is the first former Laker to compete, racing in the women's 10000m event at approximately 9:54 p.m. ET on Thursday. She heads into Hayward with a 32:16.98 personal-best and 32:46.05 best-time this season (June 14). While at Grand Valley State, the Traverse City native was an 11-time US Track & Field and Cross Country Association (USTFCCCA) All-American, earning the honor 10 times in track and field and once in cross country.
 
Other events featuring Grand Valley State grads will not occur until Sunday afternoon; Hixson-Leland and Beistle will take the stage at 3 p.m. ET. In pole vault and discus, respectively.
 
Hixson-Leland enters competition with a 4.65m (15-3) personal-best set in 2022 and a 4.60 season-best (15-1). This season, she has won eight meets, including three non-collegiate meets, with heights exceeding 4.50m (14-9). Hixson-Leland is a three-time NCAA Division II individual national champion, seven-time USTFCCCA All-American and still holds three school records in the event.
 
Beistle is the only current Laker to compete at this year's USATF Outdoor National Championships. Currently ranked 23^rd the world in discus, the Rodney, Michigan native enters with a personal-best discus mark of 66.63m (218-6.75). This past season, Beistle shattered the NCAA DII discus record of 2019 and broke the NCAA DII Outdoor Championships record with a 65.05m (213-5) throw in Pueblo, Colorado, also notching the furthest throw in state history. Since her first outdoor mark of the season, she recorded marks of more than 210 feet in five of six meets to hold eight of the top 10 best marks in NCAA Division II history.
 
Former Lakers Kosiba and Harrison will wear GVSU attire as they compete in men's high jump, slated for Sunday at 3:50 p.m. ET. Kosiba, ranked 22 in the world, enters with a season-best mark of 2.28m (7-5.75) and a personal-best clearance of 2.30m (7-6). Harrison nearly ties his teammate's mark with a 2.27m personal-best, which he recorded this season.
 
Kosiba began his final collegiate season with a 2.30m (7-6) mark that tied the NCAA DII men's indoor high jump record of 2007. He continued to dominate, consistently clearing 2.20m (7-2.5) or more through all 10 meets in 2025. The Indiana native was named individual champion at the 2025 NCAA DII Indoor Track & Field Championships for the first time in his career with a 2.23m (7-4) mark. One week later, representing team USATF, he placed fourth with a 2.28m (7-5.75) high jumps at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China.
 
Harrison closed out his collegiate career as the NCAA DII Outdoor Field Athlete of the Year following his performance at the NCAA DII Outdoor Championships. Never clearing less than 2.11m (6-11) through all seven outdoor meets this past season, Harrison cleared 2.26m (7-5) on his second attempt to claim his third individual national title for Grand Valley State and fourth title overall. Just two months prior, he recorded a National Runner-Up finish at the Indoor Championships behind teammate Kosiba. Following this year's national title, Harrison cleared 2.27m (7-5.4) at the Royal City Inferno Track and Field Festival to qualify him for the USATF National Championships.
 
Kerner closes out GVSU's day at 4:40 p.m. ET as he competes in men's shot put. Competing second in the lineup, the Grand Rapids native enters competition with a 20.23m (66-4.5) throw. Competing unattached, Kerner recorded the mark at the GVSU Extra Weekend Meet, successfully breaking the GVSU Outdoor Stadium record, which was, you guessed it, previously held by the thrower. During his time at Grand Valley State, Kerner won four individual national championships, collected eight USTFCCCA All-America honors and attached his name to four program, meet or facility records.