The Ferris State runners are back in action for another go around in 2012 as selected members of the team participated in a scrimmage-type event hosted by Grand Valley State University.
The un-scored Bob Eubanks Open featured athletes from numerous colleges including Michigan State, South Florida and Notre Dame among others.
For the women, it was a consistent effort as three Bulldogs finished in ninth place in their respective events. Junior runner Zoey Hohmann took home ninth place in the 400 meter run, junior Alyssa Osika earned a ninth place finish in the mile run and sophomore Jessica Piling finished in ninth in the weight throw.
“We’re still running and just running our normal mileage to get ready for the season,” said Bulldog sophomore runner Haleigh Przybylek. “Our goal for the season is just for everyone to improve and personally my dream season for myself would be to set personal records.”
On the men’s side junior Tyler Crossman led the way with an impressive fourth place finish in the 3,000 meter run and 11th in the mile run. Also finishing impressively with a seventh place finish in the mile run and ninth in the 3,000 meter run was junior Bulldog Ryan Chute. Senior Justin Price also finished with a solid effort in the men’s 400 meter race, earning himself an 11th place finish.
The Bulldogs will now turn to the upcoming 2012 season and look to improve on last year’s 11th place finish in the GLIAC outdoors championships.
After the cross country season the Bulldogs runners took a much needed break to cool down a little bit, as junior Michael Schulte said, “After the cross country season we got a week and a half break to rest our legs and such, but after that the preparation was running more miles and using core workouts to our advantage.”
The Bulldogs are hoping to start off the season on a good note and the next scheduled competition is Friday, Jan. 20 at Grand Valley State University. After a couple of other competitions the Bulldogs will go into the GLIAC Indoor Championships in Findlay, Ohio.
Even though the track teams are smaller in numbers than most teams, both the men’s and women’s are hoping to exceed expectations in 2012.