It’s a block party
Sophomore Zach Hankins has been nominated to the 2017 Bevo Francis Award watch list. This is an award given to the player with the best season in small school basketball. These include players from non-major conference Div. 1, Div. 2 and Div. 3 players. Former Ferris standout center Jared Stolicker was nominated last year.
Hankins is leading the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) No. 1 Bulldogs in points and rebounds with 15.1 points per game and 9.4 rebounds per game. He also leads the team in blocks with an astounding 4.4 blocks per game. In conference, he averages 5.1 blocks a game.
Saturday, Jan. 21, Hankins recorded a career high in blocks against Wayne State. He had 10 blocks in a 102-81 conference win. The 15-3 Bulldogs will take the block party to Marquette when they play the Northern Michigan Wildcats 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26. They then travel to Houghton to take on the Michigan Tech Huskies 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 28.
They probably could have just ran to the meet
Ferris track and field placed in the middle of the pack Friday, Jan. 20, at the Grand Valley Open in Allendale. Of the 16 teams, the men’s Dawgs placed seventh with 13 points, and the women placed sixth also scoring 13 points.
Ferris junior Molly Emerick won the women’s 800 meter in NCAA qualifying time at 2:13.72. Emily Haynes and Kathryn Etelamaki placed fifth and sixth in the 3,000 meters with times of 10:21.11 and 20:23.45 respectively.
Cody Stilwell led the Bulldog men with a third place finish in weight throwing. He had a provisional NCAA qualifying throw at 57-11.5. Ross Miller and Brett Allpow also competed in the event placing eighth and tenth respectively. Senior Logan Hammer placed fifth in the mile with a time of 4:16.21.
Ferris track and field will compete next Friday, Jan. 27, and Saturday, Jan. 28, at the Saginaw Valley Jet’s Pizza Invitational in Saginaw.
Ferris football award season
Lead coach Tony Annese won the Football Gazette Super Region Four Coach of the Year for the second year in a row and sophomore defensive end Zach Seiler won the Super Region Four Defensive Player of the Year.
Seiler broke Ferris records for sacks and tackles for loss this season with 19.5 and 29.5, respectively, after New Orleans Saint Justin Zimmer set them in 2015.
Two other Bulldogs earned first team all-region honors in senior linebacker Anthony Darkangelo and junior corner Tavierre Thomas. Offensive linemen Jake Daugherty and Devin Johnson garnered second-team all region laurels for their work in the trenches helping Ferris place as the second best rushing team in the GLIAC.
All of these players will be up for All-American honors as first and second-team placers. Voting will be held later this month for the 2017 Don Hansen’s Football Gazette All-American team.