Holland Reporter

Forty-four athletes from Grand Valley State University participated in the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend, Indiana. The event saw the Lakers women's team finish fourth in the Women's Blue Division 5k with 161 points, while the men's team secured fifth place in the Men's Blue Division 8k with a score of 158.

In the Women's Blue Division 5k, all nine participating Lakers achieved personal-best times. Lauren Kiley led her team by finishing 15th with a time of 16:30.3. Abigail VanderKooi and Allie Arnsman followed, placing 28th (16:48.6) and 30th (16:49.5), respectively. Other contributors included Maggie O'Malley (52nd), Natalie Mello (53rd), Cara Newman (74th), Landyn Howell (79th), Megan Postma (82nd), and Annika Sandman (123rd).

The men's squad also had strong performances in their division, with seven out of nine runners achieving personal bests. Báhozhóni Church finished first among his teammates at 20th place with a time of 23:22.8.

"It felt good. I saw my sister at the 1k mark," said Church. "It was the push I needed."

Koby Fraaza placed next for Grand Valley State at 22nd with a time of 23:31.0, followed by Owen Westerkamp (27th), Conor Somers (44th), and Noah Selveraj (47th). Nathan Riddering, Sebastian Ramirez, Brock Wooderson, and Bentley Alderson also competed for the Lakers.

In the Open Division races, five women set new personal records in the 5k event. Karen Kiratu led this group by finishing eighth at a personal-best time of 17:39.9, while Violet Hrabovsky took twelfth place during her collegiate debut.

On the men's side in the Open Division, six athletes recorded personal bests; three finished among their team's top five runners. Andre Richmond led his teammates by placing ninth at 24:26.8.

Several other Grand Valley State athletes are scheduled to compete at Calvin University's Knight Invite tomorrow, where women's and men's races will take place at 10 a.m. and 10:45 a.m., respectively.