Matt Stith's season began way back in the fall of 2025. Officially, it ended on Friday, May 1st, 2026 with the GLIAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Allendale, MI, making Stith and his teams the first - and last - Lake Superior State student-athletes in competition.

"Like almost any competitive endeavor that stretches over nine months, you're going to have loads of ups and downs and twists and turns," said LSSU's second-year Track & Field Head Coach, reflecting on the 2025-26 season. "Looking back, I think the things that we're going to be most proud of are the way our student-athletes persevered through everything. Of course, we had some great performances and great moments, and those are what sustain you. But nobody goes through a season that long without having some down periods, maybe some off days and some tough times. Over and over again, we saw our student-athletes who completed this whole time bounce back from difficulty. Whatever happened last week, this week, they're going to pull on the jersey and go out and give us everything they've got.

"And that's the spirit of our program."

Keira Lamming scored points  in the Women's High Jump for LSSU, leaping 1.54 meters. She also competed in the Women's 400 Meter Hurdles and the Women's 4x400 Meter Relay. The High Jump success was particularly impressive, as she outjumped her ranking on a day when the rest of the field struggled with adverse weather conditions. Several athletes struggled to hit their marks, while Lamming nearly scored a personal best.

"It was fantastic," said Stith. "Keira is a great pleasure to coach because she's a big meet performer. The women's high jump was contested this year under some pretty dicey conditions, weather-wise. She jumped within a centimeter of her personal best. So for the second year in a row, she placed higher at GLIAC than her seed coming in would have predicted. Which tells you all you need to know about her as a competitor. And then she also turned around and ran a very solid leg on our women's 4x400 relay as well."

Janelle Docter scored in the Women's Hammer Throw, hurling for 46.78 meters. Lake State's record-holder for the Indoor Weight Throw event, Docter finishes her Laker career as one of the program's best throwers.
 
"Clearly, Janelle is among the most accomplished throwers and most accomplished track and field athletes in Lake State history," said Stith. "It's been a real pleasure to be a part of that journey with her. Her performance this weekend at GLIAC was very typical of her. A couple of great throws. She's also a great teammate who really pays attention to what everybody else is doing around her, especially in that throws group. It was a worthy finish to a great career."

For the men's team, Grant Wheaton contested the Decathlon and finished fourth in the field, scoring wins in the 110 Meter Hurdles and High Jump. Though he's just concluded his first year of collegiate track and field, Wheaton told Stith that he's already planning his offseason training program to improve in certain disciplines.

"There's a reason that the Olympic Decathlon champion is traditionally called The Greatest Athlete in the World," said the Lakers head coach. "The breadth of the different disciplines and the different skills that are involved in that event is second-to-none. So we're super excited that Grant, as a freshman, has performed as well as he has already in the multi-events, but particularly in his first full decathlon competition."

Rayce Rizzo scored points in the Men's Pole Vault, with poor weather conditions hampering much of the field. The sophomore scored points for the second straight year at the GLIAC Championships.

When the event wrapped up on Friday, the Lakers returned to Sault Ste. Marie for Lake Superior State University's Commencement ceremony, which took place on Saturday. Stith spoke about his senior graduates.

"Anybody who's given four years - or in some cases five years - of the level of effort and discipline and focus that's required to compete at this level is absolutely prepared to be a great success in life. You can't be a successful student-athlete and not have a leg up going out into whatever's next. We have graduating seniors who are doing everything from moving directly into the working world in law enforcement and natural resources areas, to additional training and additional schooling. We have on graduating senior who's already starting work on his Ph.D. this summer.

"I've been with them for two years and gotten to know them well enough to know that they are truly outstanding individuals. Each one of them will be missed, but each of them is going to go out and do amazing things in the world. And that's the end goal for every coach, is for your program to graduate accomplished and qualityh individuals. This class is exactly that."