Strong Weekend Showing For Ferris State Cross Country Teams

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University men's and women's cross country teams returned to action with a strong showing on Saturday (Oct. 5) at the 2013 Greater Louisville Classic held at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky.

The Bulldog men's squad placed sixth with the women's team seventh in the non-Division I Gold Division in the event, which is annually one of the nation's largest and most competitive cross country invitationals.

On the men's side, in the Gold Division, Ferris State finished with 156 total points.  The University of Guelph took first place (31) with Southern Indiana second (59) and Washington University third (99).

The Bulldog men were led by senior Brandon Cushman, who placed 26th overall among all runners including Division I student-athletes.  He was 11th in scoring position in the Gold Division and clocked 25:11.76 on the 8K course in the event hosted by the Louisville Sports Commission.

Behind Cushman was senior David Silversmith in 40th place overall at 25:27.17 with senior Alex Bladecki coming in 82th among all finishers at 25:51.38 on the day.

Junior Spencer Gerber was 128th in the pack with a time of 26:16.33 and followed by senior Bill King at 151st overall in 26:35.77.

Sophomore Lucas Copi was 190th (27:02.99), senior Tyler Weedon wound up 210th (27:19.27) and junior Andrew Harper came in 230th (27:44.11) overall.  Freshman Kyle Richardson also ran and was 237th (27:53.43) with senior Connor LaRowe taking 261st place (29:03.11).

On the other side, Ferris State senior Samantha Johnson took 14th place overall at 17:32.11 in the women's race and was sixth among non-Division I finishers.  Senior Anna Rudd claimed 45th place (18:07.48), junior Breeann Ovokaitys was 159th (19:17.58), freshman Jessica Delaney placed 184th (19:28.82) and freshman Samantha Humphrey was 185th (19:28.92).

Bulldog freshman Natalie Perry placed 195th (19:36.97), sophomore Emily Haynes claimed 208th place (19:42.37), junior Kayla Smith was 218th (19:49.02) and freshman Alyssa Cummings came in 222nd (19:52.05) overall. FSU sophomore Paige Koskinen registered a 260th place showing (20:30.93).

The Bulldog women's 190 points came in a competitive field. Guelph won the women's non-Division I Gold event with 17 points, Western Ontario was second (80) followed by Edinboro in third (110).

In addition to the competition at the Greater Louisville Classic, the Bulldogs also sent a select number of other competitors to the Lansing Invitational on Friday (Oct. 4) at Grand Woods Park in Lansing.  The women's team had three finishers while the men had five runners in action and away with a 14th-place team performance in a field that included more than 25 total teams.

The Bulldog men were paced by Logan Hammer in 36th place overall (26:39.2) with Douglas Hulbert taking 46th place (26:53.3) followed by Evan Vanosdol in 133rd place (28:33.8), Andrew Campbell in 177th place (29:41.9) and Ryan Wickstrom coming in 203rd (30:40.2) on the day.

Felicia Slate was 60th for the women in the 5K field (20:17.8) with Erika Roe 91st (20:58.0) and Jeanne Wilson 152nd (22:09.7).

The next scheduled action for the Bulldogs is at the Lucian Rosa Invitational hosted by Wisconsin-Parkside on Oct. 12 in Kenosha, Wis.