Jerry Baltes is in his 27th year at the helm of the men's and women's cross country and track and field teams at Grand Valley State entering the 2025-26 academic year. During his time at GVSU, Baltes has been able to build 17 national championship teams, eight Division II Women’s Programs of the Year, two Division II Men’s Programs of the Year and has led GVSU to 137 out of 142 cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field GLIAC championships.
Overall, Baltes has won 80 GLIAC Coach/Coaching Staff of the Year titles and has built hundreds of All-American athletes for a combined total of 1,154 All-American honors. Baltes has received the Great Lakes/Midwest Regional Coach of the Year Award in cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field for a combined total of 71 times. The women's cross country, track and field teams at Grand Valley State have won all three (cross country, indoor track, outdoor track) conference championships since 2001, while the men won all three for a streak of five seasons (2003-07) including back-to-back-to-back sweeps of the titles during the 2017-20 seasons.
The cross country program under Baltes at the NCAA Championships has had a combined 39 top-10 finishes, 16 top-five finishes and a National Championship title in 2018. The women have collected 25 top-five finishes, five individual National Championship titles and seven team national titles, earned in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2023.
Under Baltes, the program has earned seven Jerry Baltes Division II Program of the Year awards, including five in a row from the 2008-2009 season through 2012-2013. GVSU also recorded a second-place finishes in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons.
In cross country, Baltes has led the women to 23 straight GLIAC and Midwest Region titles apiece, seven National Runner-Up finishes, seven team National Championships and seven individual National Championship titles. In 2010, Baltes and the Lakers won their first NCAA DII cross country title. The Laker ladies scored 66 points, as all five of their scoring runners finished in the top 20. GVSU added four more championships, including three-in-row, from 2012-14 and a fifth title in 2016. The team captured their sixth national title in 2018, scoring 41 points with four of five athletes placing in the top 30 and four more in the top 10. Grand Valley State secured their seventh national title in 2023 with 59 points. Four Lakers finished in the top 15.
Grand Valley State has become a powerhouse in track and field under Coach Baltes, as well. Since 2000, he has guided the women's track & field team to 26 consecutive indoor and 25 consecutive outdoor conference titles. The titles include school records in points, accumulating 260 and 282 points during the 2019 GLIAC Indoor and Outdoor Championships. Baltes has guided his women’s squad to six team National Championship titles, including back-to-back season sweeps during the 2011 and 2012 seasons. His most recent victory occurred in May 2025. For the first time since 2012, the women’s team earned the national title in outdoor track and field with 60 points – just one more than rival Adams State. Fifty three individual women’s national championship titles have been won under Coach Baltes.
Baltes has built one of the best men’s cross country and track and field programs in the nation. Grand Valley State has earned three Damon Martin Division II Men’s Program of Year awards during the 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2022-23 academic year. During the 2021-22 seasons, Baltes led the men’s squad to national championship titles in cross country and outdoor track and field and a National Runner-Up finish in indoor track and field.
In 2017-18, GVSU won its first Damon Martin Division II Men’s Program of the Year award. as The cross country team finished second in the NCAA DII Cross Country Championships, sixth at the NCAA DII Indoor Track & Field Championships and fifth at the NCAA DII Outdoor Track & Field Championships. GVSU also has finished second in the Damon Martin Division II Men’s Program of Year standings from the 2013-2014 season through the 2016-17 season.
Similar to the women’s squad, Baltes has built a men’s program that has dominated the GLIAC and the Midwest Region since his hire. The Lakers have won 22 consecutive GLIAC and Midwest Regional cross country championships with their first national championship title in 2018. Their crowning moment follows four National Runner-Up honors from 2012-2017. The team placed ninth in 2002, sixth in 2004, fourth in 2005, fifth in 2006, fourth in 2007, fifth in 2008, fifth in 2009, third in 2010, third in 2011, seventh in 2012 and fourth in 2015.
The men’s track & field program has collected 24 GLIAC Indoor Championships and 18 Outdoor Championships, both of which are the most in the GLIAC. The men’s team has finished in the top-10 10 times at the NCAA DII Indoor Championships, including their most recent finish as National Runner-Up in 2025. They have had nine top-10 performances at the outdoor championships which includes their third place finish at the 2025 NCAA DII Outdoor Championships
Baltes has led the men's and women's indoor and outdoor track teams to 73 top-20 finishes at the NCAA National Championships. The men's indoor track and field team placed 13th in 2000, 15th in 2001, 12th in 2002, 18th in 2005, 10th in 2006, eighth in 2007, fourth in 2008, 12th in 2009, 20th in 2011, fourth in 2013, sixth in 2014, second in 2015, fifth in 2016, eighth in 2017, sixth in 2018, fourth in 2019, second in 2021, first in 2022, third in 2023 and second in 2024 and 2025.
The women's team finished 14th in 1999, ninth in 2002, seventh in 2003, 16th in 2005, fifth in 2006, third in 2007, sixth in 2008, second in 2009, second in 2010, first in 2011, first in 2012, fourth in 2013, fourth in 2014, sixth in 2015, third in 2016, second in 2017, eighth in 2018, second in 2019, first in 2021, second in 2022, sixth in 2023, fourth in 2024 and third in 2025.
The men's outdoor track and field team finished in 13th place in 2006, eighth in 2007, sixth in 2008, 12th in 2009, 16th in 2011, sixth in 2014, 10th in 2015, fifth in 2016,13th in 2017, fifth in 2018, fourth in 2019, first in 2021, third in 2022, fourth in 2023, fifth in 2024 and third in 2025.
The women's team placed 11th in 2002, 18th in 2005, fourth in 2006, fifth in 2007, eighth in 2008, fourth in 2009, third in 2010, first in 2011, first in 2012, third in 2013, third in 2014, fourth in 2015, fourth in 2016, second in 2017, fourth in 2018, fourth in 2019, second in 2021, second in 2022, fifth in 2023 and fourth in 2024. The Laker ladies won their first outdoor national title since 2011 during the 2025 outdoor season, marking their 21st top 20 finish since Baltes’s hire.
Baltes has coached GVSU athletes to 78 Individual National Championships, including seven relay teams. Six individual championships were added at the 2025 indoor and outdoor championships, including Erika Beistle’s NCAA DII Outdoor Championship record-breaking discus throw, also notching the furthest throw on Colorado soil in state history. After five years, Klaudia O’Malley won her first individual national title, finishing first in the 1500m. O’Malley is the most decorated athlete in program history with 19 All-American honors. Kaylee Diamond (I), Eli Kosiba (I) and Jaivon Harrison (O) all snagged championship titles in high jump. After claiming a national championship title during the 2024 cross country season, Lauren Kiley earned another in the 3000m event at the 2025 NCAA DII Indoor Championships. Myles Kerner earned his fourth individual championship title at the indoor championships with a first-place shot put mark.
During the 2024 indoor and outdoor seasons, Erika Beistle recorded a "trifecta" of National Championships as she claimed the individual title in the indoor and outdoor women's shot put as well as the women's discus. Myles Kerner (shot put) and Jaivon Harrison (high jump) both swept their respective events at the indoor and outdoor national championships, as they claimed both individual titles at both meets this season. Additionally, Caleb Futter earned his first individual national championship title in the men's mile at the indoor national championships.
Judith Essemiah claimed her fourth individual national title at the 2023 outdoor championships in the hammer throw, while Jacob Urban won the men’s hammer throw. Myles Kerner added to the collection at the 2023 indoor championships in the men’s shot put, while the women’s DMR squad took home first with a record-breaking time.
Bobbie Goodwin won the weight throw during the 2019 indoor championships, while Sarah Berger claimed a national title during the the 2018 cross country season. Zach Panning added two more national titles to his resume in 2019, as he swept the 5,000m and 10,000m runs during the 2019 outdoor championships. Panning also won the 5,000m run 2018 during the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships, while the women’s 4x400m relay team composed of Jessica Eby, Angela Ritter, Chant’e Roberts and Rachael Walters also won a championship at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships. Jason Van Elst became Grand Valley's first-ever individual National Champion as he won the 35 pound weight throw (65'-9.5") in 2001 in Boston, Mass. Mandi (Long) Zemba became the school's first-ever female athlete to win an individual national championship in the 1,500m race during the 2002 outdoor season.
In the 2023-2024 season, Baltes had five current student-athletes and three alumni qualify for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene, Oregon. Myles Kerner (shot put), Erika Beistle (discus), Eli Kosiba (high jump), Jonathan Rankins-James (high jump), Jaivon Harrison (high jump), Zach Panning (10k), Jessica Gockely-Day (10k), and Kirsten Leland (pole vault).
Other student-athletes who have competed at the USA Track and Field Championships since Baltes has been at GVSU include Sam Lockhart (shot put/ discus), Mandi Zemba (5,000m/8,000m) Betsy Graney (3,000m Steeplechase), Rachel Patterson (5,000m), Kristen Hixson (Pole Vault), Darien Thornton (Hammer Throw), Zach Panning (10,000m), Rachael Walters (800m), Eli Kosiba (high jump), Jonathan Rankins-James (high jump), and Luke Jelderks (long jump).
Prior to Grand Valley State, Baltes was a four-time letter winner and captain of the cross country/track and field teams at Butler University. He then began his coaching career at Butler where he was the assistant men's and women's track and field/cross country coach for two years at Butler. His area of focus was with the distance athletes in cross country and the jumpers in track. He played a major role in building a cross country program that qualified for the National Championships. In 1998, he assisted in leading the Butler Bulldogs to 16th place at the NCAA Championships. Baltes also guided Butler's first track athlete to the 1998 National Championships in the 3,000, 5,000, and 10,000 meters, since 1971.
Originally from Rolling Prairie, Indiana, Baltes graduated from Butler in 1998, and received a Bachelor of Science degree in secondary education-physical education.
Head Coach Jerry Baltes with his Wife (Samantha), Daughter (Ali) , and Son (Jack)
