John Groendyk set for big senior season on the track at GVSU
ALLENDALE, Mich. — John Groendyk is hoping for an impactful junior season for Grand Valley State University (GVSU) Track & Field. Groendyk grew up in Zeeland, Michigan, about 20 minutes away from GVSU. He attended Zeeland East High School and had an impressive high school career for their track & field team. He was the team captain in his junior and senior years and received a flurry of awards throughout his four years.
Groendyk was an All-Area athlete all four years of high school. He earned All-State Honors in the 800-meter three times, All-State Honors in the 4×400-meter relay three times, and All-State Honors in the 4×800-meter relay four times. His senior year was his strongest season as he was a State Champion in the 800-meter. He finished high school with bests in the 400-meter at 50.2 seconds, 800-meter at 1:53.4, and 1600-meter at 4:31.2.
Groendyk took his running talents to Division II GVSU. He was redshirted in his first season but began competing in his second season. He had an impressive redshirt freshman season. He set a couple of personal records and won some awards at the end of the year. He set an outdoor personal record in the 1500-meter (3:52.14), the indoor mile (4:14.99), and the indoor 800-meter (1:51.36). In addition, he was named an All-American in the distance medley relay and All-Region in the 800-meter and 1500-meter. He also performed well on the academic side and was given an Academic Excellence Award from the conference.
Groendyk took his freshman season success and pushed it to his sophomore season. He set a new indoor mile personal record (4:14.09) and finished first in the Conference Indoor Championships in the distance medley with an impressive time of 9:55.37. He qualified for the 2020 NCAA DII Indoor National Championships for the distance medley relay and received All-American Honors in that relay and All-Academic Excellence Honors.
Groendyk numbers slipped a bit in his junior season, but he still performed well. He set a personal record in the 800-meter (1:49.07). In addition, he received First-Team All-American Honors in the outdoor 800-meter and indoor distance medley relay. He also earned All-Academic Excellence Honors for the third time.
The track and field season started last weekend with the GVSU Holiday Open. Groendyk raced quite well and got first place in the 800-meter. Out of 42 runners in DI and DII, John Groendyk was the top runner.
John Groendyk is bound to have an outstanding junior season and tear up DII track & field.
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