ALLENDALE — The top-ranked Laker women’s indoor track and field squad finished up the 2012 GVSU Big Meet Saturday inside the Kelly Family Sports Center and it was the distance medley relay squad (DMR) that stole the show on the day.

Maddie Rodts

The squad of sophomores Madie Rodts, Aileen Lemanski and Lisa Galasso, along with senior Rachel Patterson, finished with a time of 11:37.02, currently the top qualifying time in the country as well as a Big Meet and Kelly Family Sports Center record.

The mark was also an NCAA Division II Championship automatic qualifying mark.

Two other DMR teams hit provisional qualifying marks as the team of senior Betsy Graney, sophomore Leiah Hess, senior Chanelle Caldwell and junior Ashley Botham finished second with a provisional time of 11:39.27. Also hitting a provisional time was the team of freshman Hannah Osborn, sophomore Andrea Kober, freshman Jessica Janecke and freshman Jordan Chester who crossed the line in 11:50.30.

The two other automatic marks on the day came from a pair of people familiar to automatic qualifying standards this year as juniors Sam Lockhart (19.50 meters) and Liz Murphy (20.09 meters) hit automatic qualifying marks in the weight throw while finishing second and first, respectively, in the event. Hitting a provisional qualifying mark in the weight throw was sophomore Alyssa Zokoe with a toss of 16.70 meters.

Senior Lauren Buresh won the shot put event with a throw of 14.90 meters, a provisional qualifying mark while junior Amy Reynolds hit a provisional mark of her own and a personal best with a clear of 3.50 meters in the pole vault.

On the track, senior Karie McDonald hit her second qualifying mark of the weekend, this time a provisional mark in the 800 meter run with a time of 2:14.17.

The Lakers got a number of top 10 finishes on the day, including junior Jennifer Fuller and freshman Jordyn Kiser finishing in a tie for second place in the high jump with a mark of 1.61 meters.

Picking up a pair of top 10 finishes was freshman Victoria Schiller who finished eighth in the long jump (5.26m) and seventh in the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 9.20 seconds.

Head coach Jerry Baltes shared his excitement for the fourth annual Big Meet, which saw over 80 teams and 1,800 athletes compete over two days.

“We had some breakthrough performances this weekend across all event groups. We are moving in the right direction as we get closer to the GLIAC and the NCAA Championships. This was an extraordinary two days of track and field. There were so many people at GV that made it a great meet for all the athletes which competed,” Baltes said. “A big thanks goes out to Charlie Read and the ticket office, Jamie Schlagel and our event staff, Eliza Macdonald and the entire training staff and all the officials, student-athletes, alums and assistant coaches who worked very hard to make the weekend a great success for all that participated.”

The Lakers will now prepare for their last home meet of the indoor season, the GVSU Tune-Up, which takes place Friday at 3 p.m. in the Kelly Family Sports Center.