Grace McLaughlin
Sep 14, 202210 min
Edits and additional commentary by John Cusick & Garrett Zatlin
The Grand Valley State Lakers are historically one of the best distance running programs in Division Two as they routinely win national titles on both the grass and the track.
The last time the Lakers took home a national cross country title was in 2018. They were back-to-back runner-up finishers at the national meet in 2019 and 2021 with no championship meet being held in 2020.
Last fall, the Lakers' 2nd place team included the individual national champion as well as the individual silver medalist. And despite scoring an impressive total of 79 points, long-time rival Adams State managed to dominate the field with just 59 points of their owns.
Now, in 2022, the Lakers will look to replicate the same elite-level scoring that they had last year with a roster that has since lost multiple standout stars. And despite those departures, history says that the GVSU women will no trouble being one of the most elite D2 cross country teams in the nation yet again.
The top Grand Valley State women opened up their 2021 cross country season at the MSU Spartan Invitational where they ran to a 2nd place team finish behind Division One juggernaut, Michigan State.
Once there, the Lakers flexed outstanding depth as they placed seven athletes inside the top-30, making them the only other team in the race to do so outside of Michigan State.
The GVSU women outlasted an underrated Toledo team, which is currently ranked at TSR #25 in our Division One preseason rankings, by three points. They also knocked off other Division One programs in the process.
Superstar Hannah Becker led the way with her 6th place finish while this year's TSR #2 runner, Klaudia O’Malley, was just outside the top-10 results in 11th place. Sarah May made her debut for the Lakers with a very underrated 16th place finish.
Consistent veteran Natalie Graber finished 18th and this year's TSR #12 runner, Taryn Chapko, rounded out the team's scoring-five in 22nd place. Lucy Karpukhno and Kayce Rypma (TSR #23) finished 25th and 27th, respectively.
That season opener was a fantastic example of what we would see from this team throughout the rest of the season. The Lakers had flexed a scary amount of firepower in a very good field and their depth showed almost zero signs of weakness.
If they kept running like that, then a national title wasn't going to be out of the question.
The Lakers' next big meet was the Louisville XC Classic where they placed 6th overall and were the first Division Two team with 217 points. In that race, they defeated a top-tier RMAC foe in UC-Colorado Springs by a 181-point margin as well as the Queens (NC) women by a 251-point margin.
Both of those programs would prove to be two of the better cross country teams in Division Two later that season.
Becker led the way yet again with her 21st place finish. O’Malley (44th), Chapko (49th), May (54th) and Graber (57th) finished close together while Kayce Rypma (79th) and Lucy Karpukno (101st) trailed behind.
As impressive as this team race was, there weren't many new insights that we could pull from those results. The GVSU women were simply better than the rest of their D2 competition, but we would need to see a more D2-centric fields to get a better understanding of just how dominant this team could be in 2021.
At one of the biggest Division Two meets, the Lewis XC Crossover, the Lakers easily took home the win with 36 points in what was yet another dominant performance. O’Malley won the race while Rypma (4th), May (8th), Graber (10th) and Karpukhno (13th) were the final four scorers for the Lakers.
The biggest takeaway from that race? The Lakers ran away with the win despite not having their top scorer, Hannah Becker. Although she didn't toe the line, the Lakers had enough women to still put all five scorers inside the top-15.
And to make matters even more impressive, the Lakers had all seven athletes inside the top-25. The rest of the teams in that field didn't even have all five of their scorers inside the top-25, much less than their entire top-seven.
Prior to the cross country national meet, Grand Valley State had a successful championship season as they easily won both the GLIAC XC Championships and the Midwest Regional XC Championships.
They scored a perfect 15 points at the GLIAC Championships with Becker taking the top spot, O’Malley placing 2nd, Chapko finishing in 3rd, Rypma taking 4th and Karpukhno closing out the scoring in 5th place.
GVSU also put three additional women in the top-10 with Emma Everhart Deckard in 6th, Morgan Fuerst in 7th and Maria Mitchell in 8th. In other words, this team's firepower wasn't just getting better, their depth was, too.
At the Midwest Regional XC Championships, the Lakers continued their dominance and won with a score of 40 points, a margin that was 70 points ahead of the next-best team. Becker placed 3rd, O’Malley was 4th, Chapko finished 8th, Rypma placed 9th, Karpukhno settled for 16th, Everhart-Deckard was 32nd and May finished 48th.
Despite finishing 20 points behind Adams State at the NCAA XC Championships, the Lakers still showed that they were one of the best teams in the country. They garnered five All-American awards with jaw-dropping results from Becker (1st), O'Malley (2nd), Chapko (14th), Graber (35th) and Rypma (36th).
In nearly any other year, five All-Americans would be more than enough to take home the national title. It's hard to fault the Lakers simply because they ran into arguably one of the best cross country teams in Division Two history.
Last year's Grand Valley State team was beyond fantastic. The fact that their team had to settle for a runner-up finish by over 20 points at the national meet is just absolute insanity. And despite losing a few key names from last year's team, including their most important one of all, our TSR #3 ranking of this group still feels like it could be a mistake.
Heading into the fall of 2022, the Lakers are losing the reigning individual cross country national champion, Hannah Becker. They'll also be without a consistent top-seven runner from last fall, Lucy Karpukhno. The GVSU women will also be without the services of Morgan Fuerst who emerged as a backend varsity contributor at certain times throughout the 2021 season.
On paper, the GVSU women aren't necessarily going to go through a program overhaul. This team is deep enough to still be amongst the most elite programs in the country.
They will, however, have some extremely important varsity gaps to cover.
Becker, for instance, is a crushing loss. If you remove her from the 2021 national meet results and then move every other woman in the field up one spot, then the Lakers would have only beaten the Augustana women by two points despite still having four All-Americans and five women in the top-45 (in that scenario).
And with both Karpukhno and Fuerst also gone, the backend of this varsity looks surprisingly unclear, something that we don't often say about this GVSU lineup.
The good news is that Klaudia O’Malley is the teams' top returner after her runner-up finish from the 2021 cross country national meet. After such a great overall season, we were expecting the same level of success on the track -- and for the most part, she delivered.
O’Malley earned another national meet runner-up finish in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships back in March. That result came after she set personal bests of 4:44 (mile) and 9:23 (3k) earlier in the season.
However, despite being one of the top-ranked athletes at the indoor national meet in the 3000 meters, O’Malley recorded a DNF result in that race. Of course, she also competed in the DMR and helped the Lakers to a 5th place finish in that race, so a DNF result after several other races is a bit more understandable.
During the outdoor season, O’Malley ran personal bests of 16:14 (5k) and 4:20 (1500). She later placed 4th in the 1500 meters and 14th in the 5000 meters at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
O’Malley has been fairly consistent and has TONS of championship experience. But truthfully, her scoring impact can't be a whole lot better in 2022 than it was in 2021. Even if she wins the national title, she'll only yield one additional point.
And then we have Taryn Chapko who was a consistent third scorer for GVSU last year. Despite being labelled as a middle distance runner on the track, she showed tremendous confidence and poise throughout her first year of collegiate cross country.
Chapko placed 17th at the NCAA XC Championships last fall to earn All-American honors and aid the Lakers in their runner-up result. She also proved to be extremely reliable throughout most of last fall, something that we weren't necessarily expecting from the half-mile specialist.
After recording personal bests of 2:07 (800) and 4:35 (1500) on the track this past spring, the rising GVSU veteran eventually earned two All-American finishes in the 800 meters.
Chapko has unique talent given her blend of endurance and speed. She brings underrated firepower to the Lakers’ lineup, but much like O'Malley, there isn't a ton of room for her to be significantly better in terms of her point-scoring value.
But as long as she contributes similar scoring to last year, then that will be more than ok.
Natalie Graber is a talented cross country veteran who is one of the more reliable top-tier scorers in Division Two. She placed 32nd at the 2019 NCAA XC Championships and nearly matched that result with her 35th place finish last year.
We should also note that during the 2019-2020 indoor track season, she ran personal bests of 4:53 (mile), 9:40 (3k) and 16:51 (5k). But then this past spring, she began to give the steeplechase a try.
On the outdoor oval, Graber qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the steeplechase with a personal best of 10:40, but she did not make it out of prelims and finished 18th place overall.
For as good as Graber has been on the track, nothing that we've seen from her as of late suggests that she'll be any better or worse than a national meet finisher who is 30th to 40th come December of this year.
However, Graber does have the potential to be as high as a top-20 All-American on the grass. And if that happens, then the lost scoring potency of Becker becomes slightly less impactful. That, of course, is not guaranteed to happen.
The Lakers' consistent backend scorer last year was Kayce Rypma. She earned All-American honors with her 36th place finish at the NCAA XC Championships and went on to place 13th in the 5000 meters at the indoor national meet as well as 5th place in the steeplechase at the outdoor national meet this past spring.
Rypma also placed 6th in the 5000 meters at the 2021 NCAA Indoor Championships and she holds impressive PRs of 4:30 (1500), 16:48 (5k) and 35:06 (10k).
Talk about a dynamic runner.
Rypma brings highly valuable versatility, reliable scoring and a solid amount of experience to the table for the Lakers. We currently have her ranked at TSR #23 in our preseason individual rankings, and it will be absolutely crucial for her to reach that potential as the Lakers try to make up for the loss of Becker.
Be sure to also keep an eye out for Emma Everhart-Deckard and Sarah May.
Everhart-Deckard and May were both top-seven runner several times last year, but they will have to step up and fill GVSU's lineup gaps later this fall. Not just from Becker's departure, but also from the losses of Karpukhno and Fuerst who were backend contributors in 2021.
Both Everhart-Deckard and May had solid track seasons in 2022, with the former running times of 17:14 (5k) and 35:53 (10k), but neither woman advanced to the postseason. May was also in and out of Lakers' scoring-five last fall which could prove to be a huge asset if they see more of it this fall.
In addition to the mass amount of depth that this team already has, the Lakers will be bringing in two athletes who have the potential to put this program back at TSR #2 in our rankings...and maybe even better.
Grace Pagone is not new to Grand Valley State this season, but she will be making her cross country debut for the Lakers.
Pagone transferred to Grand Valley State last winter after graduating from the University of Nebraska. During her time as a Cornhusker, she placed 64th at the NCAA Division One Midwest Regional XC Championships and set promising personal bests of 16:51 (5k) and 34:55 (10k).
During her first outdoor track season as a Laker, Pagone ran 35:09 in the 10k at the Drake Relays and 16:59 in the 5k at the Bryan Clay Invitational. In our minds, Pagone has a high ceiling and could be a potentially huge low-stick for the Lakers in 2022.
And yet, at the same time, we don't have a great idea as to how her performances will translate to the grass. Her results from Nebraska were respectable for the Division One level, but it's admittedly hard to gauge what she'll be able to do at a national-caliber level in Division Two.
And then we have Abby Vanderkooi who may be the single-best American distance running recruit in Division Two this year. While it is routine for Grand Valley State to redshirt their freshmen, we think Vanderkooi will have an immediate impact for the Lakers this fall.
After all, she is a four-time state champion in Michigan and has run outstanding marks of 4:57 (1600), 10:29 (3200) and 16:48 (5k XC). Vanderkooi has also competed in numerous national meets at the high school level, so she very clearly has the experience to match her top-tier marks.
If her transition to college goes smoothly, Vanderkooi will be in the Lakers’ top-five without much question. The biggest question, however, is how high up in her team's lineup will she be? Will she be an All-American or even a top-20 athlete at the cross country national meet?
If so, then we're looking at a group that could maybe give our TSR #1 team a scare.
As we said previously, Grand Valley State is historically one of the top distance programs in the country and this season should be more of the same. And while the loss of Becker is far more detrimental than some may realize, adding two very accomplished women to this team could essentially counter that low-stick scoring loss.
The Lakers are ranked at TSR #3 for the 2022 preseason because of their major scoring departures and the fact that their lineup will be partially restructured despite having many of the same athletes.
And yet, regardless of those changes, the Lakers are undeniably a top-three team with a history of greatness. In our eyes, this ranking is probably their floor in terms of their potential this fall.