EMPORIA, Kan. -- The streak is over.

From the outdoor meet in 2022 through the indoor meet in 2026, Pittsburg State’s men’s track and field team won eight consecutive NCAA Division II team championships.

But on Saturday afternoon at Welch Stadium, the Gorillas’ comeback bid came up short. Grand Valley State grabbed the team lead on the first day and maintained it throughout the meet, finishing with 66 points. The Gorillas outscored the Lakers 41-22 on the final day but wound up second with 61 points.

“We got off on the wrong foot on the first day,” Gorillas coach Kyle Rutledge said. “We have to learn how to get off to a better start. We’ve done that indoors but were able to get away with it thanks to our (distance medley relay). We cannot have a slow start in a national championship. We have to make sure we have a good start to get momentum on our side instead of playing catchup.

“Grand Valley came out and punched us in the mouth, to be honest with you. We didn’t have an answer the first day. The second day we had a lot better energy, a lot more things go our way.

“Then we just couldn’t get it going the last day. The 4x100 didn’t have a clean handoff (on the third exchange). They ran well but little things like that will cost you in the end.”

One bright spot Saturday was sophomore Grayson Smith, who almost dethroned D2 pole vault king Vlad Malykhin of Harding.

Smith was the first one to clear 17 feet, 11 inches, and moments later Malykhin missed on his first attempt before passing to the next height.

That left him two attempts at 18-3, and he missed once before clearing the second time.

Smith, who cleared his first five bars on the first attempt, missed twice at 18-3 and passed to the next height. He had one shot at 18-4.75 but missed, and that made Malykhin an eight-time national pole vault champion – four outdoors and four indoors.

“He’s starting to figure it out, isn’t he,” Rutledge said. “He gave it a go. He had a great competition. We’d been working on clearing opening bars and clearing first attempts. That’s where it gets you at the national championship.

“We made him earn it, and that’s all you can do,” Rutledge said. “We didn’t lose it. We just got beat, and I can handle that.”

The Gorillas’ 4x400 relay team of Woyn Chatman, Nate Watson, Logan Davis and Caden Williams also had a runner-up finish, timed in 3:05.40.

Dylan Sprecker finished third in the 1500 (3:49.80), and the 4x100 relay of Griouard Weddington, Braylon Thompson, Davis and Ilias Garcia took third place (39.66). Garcia also was fifth in the 100 (10.21).

Drake Stapleton placed fifth in the shot put (60-8.50), and Isaiah Webster took sixth in the triple jump (51-8.50, a personal best). Williams took eighth in the 400 (46.96).

The Gorillas picked up multiple points Saturday in the decathlon as Leo Chauchard finished second with a personal best of 7,492 points and Matthew Malmstrom took fifth with 7,639.

Xavier Byers also finished fifth in the high jump (6-11.75).

Summarizing the weekend, yes, both PSU teams were disappointed. But keep things in perspective.

“The kids did great,” Rutledge said. It’s such a great group of young men and women. I wanted to win for the seniors to go out on a high. As a coach, you want them to finish their career in the right way and have a great memory.

“But again, we’re talking about second place in the nation. When we’re at that point, I think we’re in a pretty good spot. When we’re disappointed, we’re crying and not happy about second place … about five or six years ago we’d be tickled to death.

“There are a lot of people who would love to be in our position, but we also understand it’s the standard now. The standard at Pittsburg State, the standard of this program, we want to be in the hunt to win every year and we have to be sure and compete at a high level.”