Lake Superior State competed in Westville, IN for GLIAC Championships on Friday, with nearly all 18 runners logging a season or personal best for the weekend.
"We're really pleased with our performances," stated Laker Head Coach Matt Stith. "With the 10 women and the eight men that competed for us, I believe all but two achieved either a season-best or career-best despite the challenging conditions, so it was a really terrific outing for everybody."
Stith also noted how great of a day it was in terms of weather, praising the realness to the course which was hosted by Purdue Northwest in Friday's meet. It was a great cross country day," said Stith. "It was a little cold, a little rainy, there was a little mud, a little wind so it was real cross country weather on a real course. So everything you could ask for in the setting for a conference meet towards the tail end of the season."
On the women's side Noel Black finished in a time of 22:28.7, which now stands as the best time of any third-year women's runner in the 6K at Lake State. "Once again Noel led us," added Stith. Her 26th place overall is the highest we've had any athlete place in GLIAC cross country in several years. She bettered the time goal she had set for herself at the beginning of the year. To see her march through the season as successfully as she has, it's a testament to her incredible work ethic and dedication to the task.
"All of our scoring runners on the women's side are juniors sophomores or freshman so we're still very happy with how we placed for this year but there's more to come," said Stith.
The women's team finished eighth overall for the meet, picking up their first team win ever over Wisconsin Parkside while outrunning Davenport and Roosevelt in the process as well. "One of the real goals that we set when I first came here was to start being really competitive in the mix with the middle tier of the conference and we feel like we're starting to get there," noted Stith.
For the men's team, Gavin Guggemos continued his impressive third year as a Laker logging a time of 26:11.4 and finishing as the Lakers' top runner for the day. "I can't say enough about Gavin Guugemos," said Stith. "Once he arrived two years ago he's been a consummate leader for our team we're very proud of him, that he put down was a race that was as good as any he had run in his career here. Having him to lead our team is a great privilege for us."
Stith also claimed how first-year Daniel Bowerman's performance was a great showing of perseverance. "I also want to shout out Daniel Bowerman who was dealing with some soreness before the meet that had him a little concerned with how it was going to work out," stated Stith. "But he just got stronger and stronger as the meet went on and ended up being our number two runner for the day and ran a big personal record.
"Seven out of eight had either their best day of the year or their best day ever," claimed Stith.
Ahead of next meet's NCAA Regionals, Stith was enthusiastic at the chance at competing in late November. "We could have anything from 60 degrees and sunny to a foot of snow so the regional meet is going to be a little bit of a wildcard in a lot of ways. We're all excited and looking forward to that."
LSSU now shifts its focus to the NCAA Regionals in two weeks time, where they will travel to Kenosha, WI. The event is set Saturday, November 21st and will be hosted by Wisconsin Parkside. Follow the Lakers throughout the season on the new Lake Superior State Lakers app, now available on the App Store and Google Play.
