GVSU Mike Lints Alumni Open

Think of a strand of spaghetti being unraveled from a colossal pot, so long that one could tie it around the perimeter of Africa - from northern Egypt to the Cape of Good Hope - and still have leftovers; just so did the oversized track at GVSU stretch on and on, pulling runners in with the siren song of less turns, just to crush their dreams with the mental devastation of still having a full minute to run after hearing the once-sweet sound of the bell. Yet, on February 8, 2025, 11 runners from the Notre Dame Running Club mustered up the courage to face this challenge.

(Last epic simile, I promise): Think of a broom in action, fringed and dirty, forgotten and left unattended as though worthless, yet capable as ever of cleaning a filthy room; just so did NDRC sweep the GVSU 5000m, sweeping the fans off their feet in the process. On the women’s side, Ingrid Corpus took the win, and it wasn’t particularly close. She ran 19:25.62, 30 seconds ahead of the next runner. On the men’s side, Pete Heesters also dusted the competition, running 14:45.97, 29 seconds ahead of 2nd place. Owen Donaher came 4th, running a massive PR with a 15:17.37. Next up was Zach Wrobel, who ran 16:03.63 for 6th and another PR. Shortly behind was Tyler Gordon, running 16:21.02 for 8th, a time that is likely fast enough to impress Sabrina Carpenter.

Next up, Theresa Kerker showed off her leapswyrming skills by running a 11.37 for 19th place in the 60m hurdles. Shortly after, the mile began. ~5.33 laps later, Hector Gonzalez had run a 4:40.48 for 47th, followed by Patrick Boyd in 4:50.09 for 60th, Max Shugars in 4:58.74 for 69th, and Andrew Jitendran in 5:10.45 for 76th.

After that, Theresa Kerker was back with a vengeance, completing the formidable 400m in 1:09.31 for 33rd place. To close things off, Ryan Soenen ran a 2:03.02 800m for 38th place. The Irish look ahead to the Margaret Bradley Invitational at the University of Chicago. Go Irish and stay frosty y’all.

P.S. Margaret Bradley’s father was coached by Alex Wilson (the Alex Wilson Invitational is on the same day). “Woah, talk about history”.

Post by: Winston Fairchild

Photos by: Jonathan Karr

© 2025 Notre Dame Running Club (runclub@nd.edu)