TSR Collaboration
Sep 24, 20204 min
Written by Quenten Lasseter and Garrett Zatlin
The Grand Valley State Lakers have one of the better returning rosters in the NCAA, right next to the defending champions, Colorado Mines. The 4th place team from last year’s national meet is returning everyone from last year (although Colin Herrmann's remaining eligibility isn't 100% clear).
Those returners include All-American studs such as Tanner Chada, Noah Steffen and Ben Zaremba, as well as 2017/2018 distance standout Enael Woldemichael who was absent from the 2019 season.
You're probably looking at those names and thinking "Wow, this is a pretty strong group of returners. They could have been very competitive this year."
Now, what if I were to tell you that they added multiple All-American-caliber distance talents who could give this team an incredible boost in scoring potency? Well, whatever your reaction is, the reality is that this team was primed to compete for a national title this fall.
But before we get to those transfers, lets chat about what this team accomplished last fall...
The Spartan Invitational hosted by Michigan State had a vast number of top-ranked programs entered in the race to start the 2019 cross country season. That, however, didn't seem to faze this Grand Valley State squad. Veteran Tanner Chada led the way by finishing 3rd overall and was followed by a handful of teammates who crowded the latter-half of the top-30.
The end result? A 2nd place team finish, losing only to host Michigan State and placing ahead of nationally ranked Division II teams such as Michigan Tech and Saginaw Valley.
The Lakers got the ball rolling over the next couple of weeks by placing 5th at the Buckeye Preview where Tanner Chada had himself a huge day, winning the individual title with a time of 24:27. Ben Zaremba (16th), Garrett White (19th), Jesse Becker (24th) and Jacob Domagalski (25th) rounded out the scorers as they all finished in the top-25.
As the season moved forward, Grand Valley caught fire and began to put together a winning streak which gave them team titles at the Lewis Crossover meet, the GLIAC Championships and the Midwest Regional Championships.
Of course, the Lakers had their eyes set on the biggest stage: the NCAA Championships. In Sacramento, they were led by none other than Tanner Chada who placed 24th overall. He was closely followed by teammates Noah Steffen in 27th and Ben Zaremba in 34th. Their final two runners placed 51st (Hylen) and 76th (Becker) to close out the team scoring.
Overall, it was a good performance, but it was just not enough for Grand Valley to compete with the top programs in this race. Their depth and numerous All-Americans gave them a 4th place team finish, but it was clear that they would need more scoring potency if they wanted to compete with a program like Colorado Mines.
So what did they do? They went out and got more scoring potency.
Let's chat about GVSU's two new additions, Colin DeYoung (Cornerstone) and Isaac Harding (Michigan).
DeYoung (TSR #17) was the NAIA cross country national champion in 2018 and an All-American on the track track at Cornerstone. He brings in great veteran experience with personal bests of 14:13 (5k), 24:06 (8k) and 30:41 (10k). It's been a while since we last saw him run cross country, but the potential firepower that he brings to the table is extremely exciting.
As for Harding (TSR #15), the graduate transfer from the University of Michigan has D1 experience which will mesh well into what Grand Valley State is currently building. Harding has been part of numerous top-ranked Michigan teams during his time in Ann Arbor and is bringing a loaded resume with him.
He owns personal bests of 8:10 (3k), 14:07 (5k) and 30:23 (10k). Not only that, but he placed 44th at the D1 NCAA XC Championships last fall -- just four spots out from All-American honors. Just like DeYoung, his experience and potential firepower could have given this GVSU team a national title during a normal year.
Those two, however, aren't the only transfers joining the Lakers.
Marcos Garcia is coming from Benedictine College with quietly impressive times of 8:17 (3k) and 14:22 (5k). Garcia was a bit quieter on the cross country end of things during his stay in Division III, but those personal bests suggest that he could be in the All-American conversation when it comes to cross country.
We think that the men of Colorado Mines are a super strong team. They have great depth and underrated firepower. However, on paper, GVSU just has too much scoring potency at the top of their lineup.
The simple return of Enael Woldemichael immediately makes this team so much better than they were last year. Adding experienced veterans like Harding and DeYoung to the mix is also crazy to think about, especially given the promise that we have seen in Chada.
That Woldemichael-Chada-Harding-DeYoung mix can rival just about any top four in the country and the fact that this team has two more proven All-Americans behind them in Noah Steffen and Ben Zaremba is pretty crazy to think about. It's also super realistic to think that their seventh runner (maybe Garcia?) could have been in the All-American conversation as well.
When you start going down the list of names of who could end up in this projected top seven, it's not insane to think that a potential All-American could be left out. The incredible amount of firepower and the endless number of lineup options throughout this roster left us with no choice but to give Grand Valley State our TSR #1 spot.