ALLENDALE, Mich. - In his second trip to Grand Valley State this season, distance runner Luke Greer etched himself at No. 15 in the nation at present standing in his push to reach the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships following his performance at the GVSU Big Meet from the Kelly Sports Family Center on Friday afternoon.
The Northhampton, England native turned in a third-place finish in the 5000-meter race with a time of 14:16.82. The mark was nearly seven seconds better than his previous trip to GVSU for the Holiday Open on Dec. 7 when he finished the race at 14:23.60.
"Going into the day there was a lot of excitement," said assistant coach Eric Phillips. "No nerves or anything like that for him. We came here to embrace an opportunity and that's exactly what he did. We knew he was likely on the bubble last time he raced but I can confidently say this set us up beautifully for the rest of the season. We will gear up for conference in a couple weeks and he will take a breather until then but spirits are very high right now."
"It was a lot of fun to be in a high quality race," Greer said. "I was pleased to have run faster than last time and I'm crossing my fingers in hopes that it is enough to punch my ticket to NCAA's."
The rest of the program will set its sights on a trip to Columbia, S.C. for the University of South Carolina Indoor Open on Feb. 16. As for the South Atlantic Conference Indoor Championships, the two-day meet is slated for Feb. 23-24 at the JDL Fast Track in Winston Salem, N.C.
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