(Courtesy GVSULakers.com)

Turlock, Calif. - The Grand Valley State women’s outdoor track and field team captured the school’s first ever Division II National Championship on Saturday (May 28) by winning the 2011 Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Turlock, Calif. In doing so, GVSU became the first NCAA women’s program in history (Division I, II, or III) to win the cross country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field national championships in the same academic year. The Lakers’ point total of 82.5 points was 14.5 better than second-place Lincoln.

On Saturday’s final day of competition on the campus of Cal State Stanislaus, Grand Valley State scored points in seven events, improving on its comfortable lead from Friday, when the Lakers were ahead of Central Missouri, 47.5 to 24. GVSU cleaned up in the 1500 meter run, taking home second, third, and fourth place, while also earning a third-place finish (800 meter run), a fourth-place tally (4×400 meter relay), and a fifth-place mark (discus throw).

The Lakers’ overall team score of 82.5 points gave them the team title over Lincoln, who placed second with 68 points. Adams State finished third with 51 points, while Johnson C. Smith (36) and UC-San Diego (35) rounded out the top five schools.

“I am really proud of our student-athletes, our coaches, and our entire program,” said GVSU head coach Jerry Baltes. “This was a total team effort today and a battle with the weather. It was raining, windy, and cold, but our student-athletes stayed focused all the way through the final day.”

On Dec. 4 in Louisville, the Laker cross country team captured the national championship, as all five GVSU runners placed in the top-30 and a pair of student-athletes finished in the top-10. The Lakers finished 29 points ahead of second-place Western State. The Grand Valley State women then won its second national championship of the academic year on Mar. 12 in Albuquerque, N.M., as three Lakers won individual national titles. GVSU won the competition by 32 points, again over second-place Lincoln. That set the stage for this weekend’s result, with Grand Valley State claiming a wire-to-wire victory by leading after all three days of the meet.

Read More: GVSULakers.com

(Courtesy GVSU Athletics)

Louisville, Ky.- For the first time in program history, the #2 Grand Valley State women’s cross country team won the 2010 Division II National Championship, earning the team trophy on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 4) at the Division II Fall Festival in Louisville, Ky. Five GVSU runners placed in the top-30, with seniors Katherine McCarthy(fourth) and Megan Maceratini (ninth) totaling top-10 finishes en route to the team title.

After finishing in second place at the national meet in 2005, 2008, and 2009 and earning top-three finishes each of the last five years, the Lakers finally pushed themselves over the hump, capturing the team trophy with a dominating performance. As a team, GVSU scored 66 points and finished 29 points ahead of second-place Western State (95 points). Adams State was third with 98 points, while Shippensburg (114) and Chico State (164) rounded out the top-five schools.

Read More: GVSULakers.com

(Courtesy GVSU Athletics)

Louisville, Ky. – Grand Valley State claimed its second NCAA Division II National Championship on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 4) in Louisville, Ky., with a 4-0 victory over #12 UC San Diego. GVSU recorded its first National Championships title last season and the last team to notch back-to-back championships was UC San Diego in 2000 and 2001. The Lakers had four different players record goals and notched its 21st shutout win. GVSU finishes the 2010 season with an impressive record of 22-1-2.

The 2010 Grand Valley State Lakers set a school record and an NCAA Division II record for shutouts in a season with 21 and held opponents to just five goals this season. The tough GVSU backline also played the entire home schedule without giving up a goal and did not allow a goal in the postseason. Grand Valley State recorded a goal in 24 of its 25 matches and had 16 student-athletes notch a goal for the Lakers this season. Grand Valley State outscored opponents by a 93-5 margin this season and set a tournament record with 17 goals scored.

Read More: GVSU Athletics

(Courtesy Adams State)

NEW ORLEANS— After posting a perfect-score win in the season-opening Joe I. Vigil Open on Sept. 11, the Adams State College women’s cross country team remained first in both the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Central Region and National Rankings released Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

The Grizzly men also remained as the No. 1 team in both sets of rankings.

The Grizzly women, who have won seven straight NCAA Division II titles, have now been ranked first in the country in 25 of the last 31 sets of rankings dating back to the 2007.  They have been ranked first in the region, made up of members of the Rocky Mountain Athletic and Northern Sun Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, for 31 straight polls.

The top 10 of the national poll was largely unchanged as each of the top seven teams remained steady.   Grand Valley State (Mich.), last year’s runner-up, remained ranked second.  Alaska-Anchorage, Shippensburg (Pa.), Chico State (Calif.) are also in the top 5 in that order.

Minnesota-Duluth and Western Washington are ranked sixth and seventh, respectively, while Western State moved up one spot to eighth.  Tampa (Fla.) also moved up a spot to ninth while Ferris State (Mich.) climbed two spots into the top 10.

The regional rankings also remained largely unchanged as each of the top seven teams also stayed put with Minnesota-Duluth, Western State, Augustana (S.D.), Mary (N.D.), Mesa State and Colorado Mines all being slotted behind the Grizzlies.  Augustana remained 11th in the national rankings while Mary slipped one spot to No. 20.

Further down the regional rankings, Winona State (Minn.) and Minnesota State each moved up a spot to ninth and tenth, respectively, while Metro State slid into the No. 10 spot.

The Grizzlies rested last week and will be off again this week before resuming action Oct. 2 at the Rocky Mountain Shootout, which will be hosted by the University of Colorado, currently 11th in the USTFCCCA’s Division I National Rankings.

Courtesy Adams State Sports Information

After starting off with a loss at Abilene Christian (the second season-opening loss in a row to the Wildcats), the NWMSU plowed through the MIAA to become conference champions.  They avenged their loss to ACU in the second round of the playoffs and other than a scare at Central Washington had a comfortable run at the championship.  This season will potentially be more of the same.

They return All-American receiver Jake Soy, who was named the nation’s top receiver in 2009, and All-MIAA QB Blake Bolles to lead the Bearcat offense along with Pre-Season All-American lineman Brett Grozinger, a finalist for the Gene Upshaw Award last season.  The defense will be anchored by All-MIAA and Pre-Season All-American Chad Kilgore and All-MIAA defensive back Ryan Jones.

While the Bearcats open at home against Texas A&M-Kingsville from the LSC, they only have three other home games.  Key contests will occur on the road against Nebraska-Omaha, Washburn, Central Missouri and the Fall Classic at Arrowhead vs. Pittsburg State.

D2 Sports Network predicts the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats will finish the season with a 13-1 record and repeat as MIAA and National Champions.

Last season the Lakers rode a veteran quarterback into the title game for the first time in a few years and came up short.  The season started with a win over West Texas A&M before the Lakers showed vulnerability with a 7-point victory vs. Ferris State.  Then, the rare slip up against Hillsdale.  It was the first regular season loss for GVSU since 2004.  They went on to finish strong including avenging the loss to Hillsdale and to Minnesota-Duluth for the previous season’s playoff defeat.

This year the Lakers reload and will be led on offense by first-team All-GLIAC lineman Cameron Bradfield and All-GLIAC honorable mention receivers Ryan Bass and Andrew Lorman.  Bass had 36 catches for 605 yards and 8 touchdowns in 2009.  The defense will be anchored by GLIAC Defensive Lineman of the Year Danny Richard and first-team All-GLIAC linebacker Justin Victor.

They will face two of their tougher opponents at home to begin the season as West Texas A&M from the LSC visits before the GLIAC schedule starts with Hillsdale.  The Lakers should cruise through the next eight GLIAC contests before a regular season finale with arch-rival Saginaw Valley State.

D2 Sports Network predicts the GVSU Lakers to finish 11-3 as GLIAC champions in the quarterfinals of the NCAA playoffs.

“This is an accomplishment that really reflects on the quality of student-athletes we have at Grand Valley State,” said athletic director, Tim Selgo. “I am extremely proud of our coaches and administration and thank the university for its wonderful support of our athletic program.”

GVSU finished with 1021.50 points and was able to tally points in the maximum of 14 sports (7 men’s, 7 women’s). The Lakers placed a total of 16 teams in postseason play during the 2009-10 academic year, with eleven teams finishing in the top 10 nationally. GVSU used consistency throughout each season, collecting 355.00 points in the fall, 330.50 points in the winter and 336.00 points in the spring. The Laker women scored 570.5 points, while the men scored 451.0 points.

Grand Valley State claimed the National Championship in women’s soccer, finished second in football, women’s cross country and women’s indoor track & field, third in women’s outdoor track & field, fourth in men’s swimming & diving, fifth in men’s cross country, sixth in women’s golf, eighth in women’s swimming & diving, ninth in baseball and women’s tennis, 17th in men’s basketball, 23rd in men’s outdoor track & field and 29th in men’s indoor track & field. GVSU did not count the points scored by men’s golf and women’s volleyball.

Rounding out the top five nationally were California (Pa.) (703.00), Central Missouri (672.50), Minnesota State-Mankato (660.50), and St. Cloud State (643.50). GLIAC schools were also well represented with Ashland finishing seventh (636.75), Wayne State 21st (454.5) and Findlay 34th (392.25).

GVSU’s seven Directors’ Cup titles are tops among all NCAA DII school’s and the 2009-10 campaign marked the third straight year that Grand Valley State has eclipsed the 1,000-point total.

The nine members of the ASU Rambelles track and field team that headed to the NCAA Division II National Track and Field Championships this week in Charlotte, N.C., will be returning home with the program’s first national championship trophy.

By capturing 50 points in their final six events, the Rambelles ran away with the title, beating second place finisher and defending champion Lincoln University by 14 points, 87-73. And, it was a total team effort. Senior Aisha “Ice” Adams scored points in all six events she entered, including an individual national championship in the heptathlon. Senior Chrystal Ruiz scored points in multiple events, senior Andria Nussey rebounded from a poor showing in the long jump to set a new school record and place second in the 800-meters, and senior Celethia Byrd won an individual national championship in the 400-meter dash and finished third in the 200-meter dash, a result that clinched the title for ASU.

“I just said ‘thank you Lord,’” Byrd said. “That is all that was running through my mind. I was very happy, and to hear my time was a new personal record, it made me feel good. Most of all, I may not have to run the mile relay. That’s awesome!”

Byrd’s points from the 200-meters put the Rambelles ahead by 12 points with only the 4×400-meter (mile) relay left to run. That meant no team could catch them, regardless of what they did in that final race. What they did, though, was put their final stamp on the national meet by winning the relay in a school record 3:38.88 with Byrd on the track running the anchor leg. The result had coaches James Reid, Tom Dibbern and Gary Gabriel yelling, fist-pumping and high-fiving in the stands.

“That is unbelievable,” Dibbern said. “When it’s going right, it’s going right.”

“This is a great feeling,” he added. “It hurt real bad last year when we lost it, but this has totally erased it. Coaching-wise, I’ve never had a feeling like this. It’s the best feeling I’ve ever had coaching. It’s truly worth it.”

After confirming that his team had clinched the title, Reid finally calmed down enough to begin the task of texting the great news to just about everyone he knows.

“I asked Coach Dibbern about nine times if he was sure before I called anybody,” Reid said. “I called my wife and told her because they have been following it on the internet. I called my parents and I called Coach (Kathleen) Brasfield, Coach (David) Noble and a bunch of people who have had a lot of influence on me. It’s still a little surreal right now.”

“I just can’t say enough about the girls,” he added. “What helped us was nine young ladies busting their butts for three days straight and coming into this year with a goal and wanting to do it. Even over the last three days when we’ve had not such good things happen, they have been resilient, not lost sight of the goal and came up big time after time. I just can’t say enough about them.”

Meanwhile, the Rams were also in a battle to achieve their goal of finishing in the top 10 at the national meet. Their day started with junior Tyler Orlando and sophomore Jacob McDonald placing third and seventh in the javelin, gaining eight points for the team and All-America status for themselves.

In the discus, junior Wade Goode also garnered All-America status by finishing eighth and earning a point for his team. The 4×100-meter relay team of James Howell, Ryan Adkins, Brian Holik and Nick Smith became All-Americans with a sixth-place finish that picked up three points. Howell also set a new school record with a 45.95 in the 400-meters that was good enough for third place and six valuable points.

The Rams also capped off their national meet in style with a second-place finish in the 4×400-meter relay in 3:06.44, the second-fastest time in school history. That race finally let junior Terence Holland showcase his talents as, due to weather delays, he was forced to wait until the final event of the meet to get on the track.

“With all that waiting, something good was bound to happen,” Holland said. “I was ready to go last night in the rain, but had to keep the animal in the cage. This was my one shot and I wanted to make it my best one. Second-fastest time in school history, you can’t get mad about that.”

The final race also provided another shot at success for freshman Isidro Garcia, who missed qualifying for the individual 400-meters by mere hundredths of a second. Now, he is also an All-American.

“That is a great way to finish off the year,” he said. “I’m glad that we came out and competed to the best of our ability. I went into the race wanting to run a :46, but skipped right past that and ran a :45.7 and that is a big jump for me. Second place in the nation is really something big.”

When the dust had settled, the Rams had also achieved their goal as they finished tied for ninth place with 26 points.

“I’m proud of our girls,” Garcia said, “and I’m glad they are going to celebrate a national championship. But, top 10 in the nation is also something big for the guys and we are really glad to have gotten that high up.”

“I think we are going to get a lot of coverage because we won the championship with the women,” Reid said. “But, I don’t want to take anything away from the men because they had a great meet. There has only been a few times when both men’s and women’s teams have finished in the top 10 at a national meet, and that is something we wanted to do coming in.”

“For the guys to do it the way they did it by running that great mile relay was incredible,” he added. “They put it together and made it happen. It’s awesome, totally awesome.”

FULL STORY

– Courtesy ASU Sports Information

The Drury men finished with 538 points for a 135-point victory, beating runner-up Incarnate Word (403). Wayne State was third with 343 points, while Grand Valley State (314) finished fourth and Ouachita Baptist (300) was fifth.

The DU women won their meet by 126 points, finishing with 657 points to runner-up Wayne State’s 531. UC-San Diego was third at 318, followed by West Chester (313.5) and Truman State (251) to complete the top five.

Drury picked up its eighth men’s title and seventh women’s championship since the programs moved to the NCAA-II level in 1994-95. The Panthers now have swept both titles in 1999, 2007, 2009 and 2010.

The sixth consecutive national championship for the Drury men ranks second all-time among NCAA-II programs, trailing only the eight straight won by Cal-State Bakersfield from 1986-93. The DU women won for the second straight year and third time in the last four years.

And yet again, Drury – which also got a boost when sophomore Jun Han Kim was named National Men’s Swimmer of the Year – used a strong final day to leave no doubt as to who ruled the pool in the four days of competition.

“It was just a tremendous effort by both squads all week,” Drury coach Brian Reynolds said. “Our veterans showed our young kids who were here for the first time the determination and extra effort it took to get it done for four days, and I’m extremely proud of both groups. We had so many swimmers step up with amazing efforts to make sure we got the job done.”

It started Saturday night for the women with a second and a fourth in the 1650 Freestyle from sophomore Erin Dolan and freshman Deanna Sorenson, and a 12th from sophomore Hannah McFall, respectively, for a quick 37 points. Then came a 4-7-8 finish from freshman Tiffany Van Dongen, senior Jing Hua and junior Li Tao in the 100 Free for another 38 points.

And the DU women poured it on from there, including another national title in the 200 Back from junior Juan Qing “Apple” Li and a fourth from senior Abbey Musch in the 200 Breast.

The DU men, meanwhile, opened Saturday’s session with a second national championship of the week for freshman Chris Jacobsen, this time in the 1650 Free. Michael Winiewicz followed with a seventh and Carlos Viveros a ninth in the 100 Free, Alexander Protsenko added a second place in the 200 Back and Jun Han Kim finished third in the 200 Breast.

By the time the evening was headed to the final two events – men’s 3-meter diving and the 400 Freestyle relay for both – the DU women had a 116-point lead, the DU men were up by 107 and all that was left for both was deciding how they were going handle their latest celebratory dive as a team into the pool after the awards ceremony.

For good measure, the Panthers picked up a victory in the women’s 400 Free Relay by Kelsey Ward, Li Tao, Van Dongen and Li, while the men closed out the meet with a third-place finish from Chris Kohler, Sergei Bilov, Viveros and Winiewicz in the same event, touching off the traditional post-meet celebration for the DU squads.

“We came into this season with a lot of questions, particularly on the men’s squad with all the quality swimmers we graduated last year,” Reynolds said. “Our women really had strong leadership from a great senior group to show the younger swimmers how it’s done, and our young guys really found a way to rise to the occasion here this week.”

– Courtesy Drury Athletics

The Lakers lead the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings following the completion of the fall sports season.

In standings announced Wednesday, GVSU earned 380 points — well ahead of the nearest competitor. The Lakers are seeking their seventh consecutive Directors’ Cup trophy.

Minnesota-Duluth is second with 239 points, while Carson-Newman, Tenn., (231), California, Pa., (229) and West Texas A&M (216) round out the top five.

Grand Valley finished in the top 10 in four of the five championships it qualified for — women’s soccer, first; football and women’s cross country, second; and men’s cross country, fifth. They also finished 33rd in women’s volleyball.

–Courtesy HollandSentinal.com