Ferris State Football Receives Championship Rings & Crowns Lift-A-Thon Winners In Special Event
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Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University football squad officially received its 2014 championship rings as the Bulldogs held a special ceremony in conjunction with the annual Bulldog Football Lift-A-Thon this past Friday (April 24) evening.
FSU's players and coaching staff members from the Bulldogs' historic 2014 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Championship team last fall received their title rings before a crowd of fans, parents, alumni and friends inside the Ewigleben Sports Arena.
The event helped officially close the door on the 2014 championship season as the Bulldogs begin pointing toward the 2015 season and repeating as conference champions.
The Football Lift-A-Thon, which annually serves as a primary fundraiser for the Bulldog Football program and is operated in conjunction with the FSU Gridiron Club and the Bulldog Athletic Association, has been held for more than 30 years.
The Lift-A-Thon, which was developed in 1982, operates under the FSU Gridiron Club and the Bulldog Athletic Association with contributions to the Lift-A-Thon directly benefiting the Bulldog football program.
Each healthy squad member on Friday night competed in the bench press and were divided into six divisions based on weight, position and performance. A complete list of the award winners can be found below.
The Bulldogs will begin their 107th season of varsity competition this coming fall with their sights set on repeating as GLIAC Champions and making a return trip to the NCAA Division II Playoffs following a historic season in 2014 that saw the Bulldogs finish with their first conference title in 15 years and first trip to the postseason in 18 seasons.
In 2014, FSU head coach Tony Annese led the Bulldogs to an 11-1 overall record, which was the school's best in 19 seasons. A total of 10 FSU standouts earned some form of All-America honors, the Bulldogs had 16 all-conference honorees and standout quarterback Jason Vander Laan, a junior, was tabbed as the Harlon Hill Trophy Award winner given to the NCAA Division II Player of the Year, the best of more than 10,000 players at the level in the nation.
Annese, who was named the GLIAC and American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Regional Coach of the Year after leading the Bulldogs to the school's first-ever 11-0 regular season in the program's 106-year history last fall, recently inked yet another stellar recruiting class on National Signing Day in February with FSU adding upwards of 30 incoming prep recruits, including a GLIAC-best 26 from the state of Michigan.
More than 50 letterwinners are slated to return this coming fall for the Bulldogs with upwards of 20 players with significant starting experience eligible to be back for the 2015 campaign. Fall camp will begin in early August.
Below are the winners from the Lift-A-Thon:
Division 1
1st - Nate Iveson
2nd - Troy Smith
3rd - Wyatt Ford
Division 2
1st - Antonio Agurs
2nd - Jamel Lockett
3rd - Kitwana Clark
Division 3
1st - Maurice Nash
2nd - KC Zenner
3rd - Damonta Madden
Division 4
1st - Derek Ash
2nd - Zach Sieler
3rd - Kyle Baldwin
Division 5
1st - David Mann
2nd - Jason Syverson
3rd - Mike Zawacki
Division 6
1st - Corey Arnouts
2nd - Justin Zimmer
3rd - Garrett Woods