Oct. 16, 2021, NORTON SHORES, Mich. – Multiple Grand Rapids Community College runners posted personal records at the Muskegon Jayhawk Invitational on Saturday as both the men’s and women's cross country teams finished in the top five.
The men’s team, ranked No. 6 in the nation, competed without three of its usual top-five runners. Both others stepped up, raced strong and came away with several best performances.
The Raiders were once again led by freshman Coleman Clark, who finished in 9th place overall in a time of 26:24. Finishing in second for the Raiders was redshirt freshman, Jaydon Moleski, in a personal best time of 27:51 in 37th place.
Freshmen Lucas Schneider and Craig Fuller both had big breakout races in personal best times of 28:18 and 28:20 to finish in 54th and 57th place. Freshman Christian Martinez-Ramos rounded out the top five for the Raiders in a time of 28:28 to finish in 61st place.
"We're still a little banged up as a team dealing with injuries from a few different people as well as some other health concerns that caused us hold out a few of our normal top runners, but that didn't stop the rest of the guys in putting their best foot forward and going out there and competing as hard as they could today," head coach Garrett Lacy said. "I was very proud of the guys who ran today in stepping up and running the way they ran to come away with personal best times for many of them. We will be all the better for it and even stronger as an overall unit when we race at regionals in a couple of weeks with our full squad back healthy and ready to go come Oct. 30."
In a field that consisted of five four-year schools and 11 community colleges, the Raider men finished in fifth place with a score of 163. Grand Valley State University won the title with a score of 36. Region XII opponents, Lansing Community College and St. Clair County Community College, were second and third.
The women's team took on a field of 10 teams and finished fourth overall and second among all two-year schools. Lansing Community College took home the title with an impressive score of 36 that included the first-place overall runner. GRCC, which had the second- and third-best community college runners in Kaylee Scott and Audrey Meyering, finished 50 points behind the Stars with a score of 86.
Scott and Meyering ran side-by-side for almost the entire race and finished with just a three-second difference; 19:48 for Scott and 19:51 for Meyering, a 2020 All-American.
Elizabeth Meyering, 30th overall, was third for the Raiders with a 5k time of 20:36 while freshman Rose Meyer, 38th overall, finished with an impressive time of 21:05.
GRCC completed regular season play and will train for the two weeks for the postseason. Regionals will be in Lansing on Oct. 30 at the Grand Woods Park.