GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Lake Superior State (LSSU) track and field program had a successful first day at the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Championship Meet on Thursday (did not compete in Wednesday's heptathlon or decathlon) that featured several personal records, multiple finalists, and junior Jenna Fleming (Hilton Beach, Ont.) securing her third-consecutive GLIAC Championship victory in the javelin throw. 

"We had some solid performances across the board," said head coach Tony Filipek. "The weather cooperated, and kids were out there cheering their lungs out."

Both the men and the women each currently sit in eight place in the team standings with two and ten points, respectively.

The aforementioned Fleming secured her third-consecutive GLIAC championship in the javelin throw, running away with the gold medal as her fourth best throw of the day would have still bested all other competitors.

"It feels cool to be able to get a repeat win, three-time champion," said Fleming. "I'm definitely looking forward to what's up next, hopefully nationals, but I will still be looking for that fourth win and the record."

Fleming's top mark of the day came on her first attempt of the javelin finals, throwing for a distance of 44.38 meters.

"Today saw Jenna win her third-consecutive GLIAC championship, doing so in impressive fashion with an excellent series," said Filipek. "I think she can four-peat next year, but I don't want to get ahead of myself because she still has a national meet to get ready for in three weeks."

Katelyn Moore (Grayling, Mich.), Sydney Kapushinski (Imlay City, Mich.), and Maddi Gould (Sanford, Mich.) would also find plenty of success on the women's side, setting new personal records in the 1500-meter run (6:07.92), 800-meter run (2:32.35), and hammer throw (32.98m), respectively.

Also, despite narrowly missing the finals in the women's javelin throw, true freshman Paige Johnson (Eckerman, Mich.) would still finish in the top-ten overall for the event with a top throw of 25.32 meters that came five centimeters shy of her personal best. 

Meanwhile, the men were also able to put together several strong performances as well.

"The guys set up really well for finals tomorrow, starting with the senior leadership of Andrew Giddens (Cadillac, Mich.) running an all-time best in the 110-hurdles (14.93) (preliminaries) which will set up well to help score some points for us," said Filipek.

Michael Sherman (Boyne City, Mich.) secured a new personal record of his own in the 400-meter race with a time of 50.05, only three seconds shy of the program record with another opportunity in Friday's finals due to finishing in sixth place overall during Thursday's preliminary races.

"That's what you want to be doing this time of year, running the very best that you can," said Filipek.

The Lakers would continue to see strong showings from both their senior leadership and the incoming youth movement.

"Senior Riley Nichols made a final in the long jump," said Filipek. "I think that was his first final that he's made in his career, and it was excellent to see him cap it off like that. We had some young kids score for us as well, Avery Timm (Petoskey, Mich.) in the jumps (6.23m long jump and Trey Nieman (Morenci, Mich.) throwing (41.68m hammer throw), so that was great to see."

Then, as the evening approached a close, Ethan Nachazel (East Jordan, Mich.) would run the race of his life in the 10,000-meter run. He netted an 11th place finish individually that resulted in a new personal record, but he would not simply beat his previous best mark in the event, he would blow it out of the water, besting his previous time by over a full minute after crossing the finish line with a time of 32:45.82.

The Lakers will now turn their attention to the final day of the 2023 GLIAC Outdoor Championships, looking to finish strong while maintaining a positive attitude.

"I think the relays on both sides are set up to score tomorrow," said Filipek. "We put a lot of focus and strategy on stacking those relays so that we could do well there. Tomorrow is going to be nice weather, and I like our demeanor. We are serious, but we're having fun."