EAST LANSING, Mich. – Grand Valley State's cross country teams both found places on the podium at the Michigan State Spartan Invite. Led by Koby Fraaza and Lauren Kiley, the men's team finished second in the collegiate 8k with 66 points while the women ranked third in the college 6k with 119. Fourteen Lakers recorded personal-best times during their race, not including collegiate debuts.
 
Results – Men's 8k
Results – Women's 6k
 
"This was a great opener for both our squads," said head coach Jerry Baltes. "It was great to get out there and bust the rust against some strong competition."
 
Four men on GVSU's squad notched top-20 finishes. Fraaza was the first Laker to cross the finish line and second athlete overall, clocking a runner-up finish at 23:44.8. Owen Westerkamp and Báhozhóni Church were next, finishing 13th and 14^th at 24:11.8 and a personal-best 24:12.5, respectively. Redshirt-freshman Sebastian Ramirez claimed the 19th spot with a finish at 24:17.0 in his collegiate debut.
 
The women had two top-20 finishes and five in the top-50. As usual, Kiley led the squad, finishing 10th at 20:44.7. Allie Arnsman and Abigail VanderKooi finished next, crossing the finish line 20th and 22nd at 21:04.3 and 21:05.6 respectively. Maggie O'Malley (21:32.9) and redshirt-freshman Natalie Mello (21:40.0) finished 38th and 46th to round out the top-50.
 
Twenty-four Lakers also made their collegiate debuts at this morning's races while two others, Brendan Chapple and Karen Kiratu, made their debuts in GVSU uniform. The 24 automatic collegiate-bests add to 14 new personal-bests. Four women notched new-best 6k times following the personal-bests of 10 Laker men in the collegiate 8k.
 
"We look forward to building fitness over the next few weeks to be ready for the next couple big races," said Baltes.
 
The Lakers are back on the course on Friday, October 3 for the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invite beginning at 10:30 a.m. More information will be available via gvsulakers.com in the coming weeks.