FSU Track Wraps Up GLIAC Championships

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University men's and women's outdoor track and field teams wrapped up action in the 2011 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Championships on Friday (May 6) in Midland, Mich.

The Bulldog women's squad finished the three-day meet with 48 points en route to a seventh-place overall team finish.  Meanwhile, the men's team took 11th overall with four points in the meet.

Grand Valley State captured both the men's and women's team titles with 187.50 and 274 points, respectively, while Ashland came in second in both divisions.  The meet was hosted by Northwood University and took place on Fisher Track at Hantz Stadium.

FSU sophomore Zoey Hohmann placed second overall in the 400 meters (56.38) and added an eighth-place showing in the 200 meters (25.63) following final-round action on Friday.

Ferris State All-America cross country runner Tina Muir saw her first action of the year on the track at the GLIAC Championships and took second place in the 5,000 meters (16:49.40).  She finished less than a second behind event champion Julia Nowak of Grand Valley State and both surpassed Muir's previous meet record of 16:56.48 recorded in 2009 and also posted NCAA provisional performances.

Freshman Samantha Johnson captured fourth place in the 1,500 meters (4:32.68) while sophomore Alyssa Osika came in fifth (4:34.62) as both reached national provisional qualification times.  Senior Paige Onweller also scored for the Bulldogs in the same vent by placing eighth (4:39.48) in the field.

Bulldog junior Amy Joostberns registered a seventh-place showing in the discus (139-4) while freshman Brittany Anderson wound up eighth in the 5,000 meters (17:57.34).

Previously on Thursday, Bulldog freshman Jessica Pilling won the women's hammer throw (179-9) for Ferris State.

On the men's side, sophomore Ryan Chute took sixth place in the finals of the 1,500 meters (3:55.54) as he accounted for three of the Bulldogs' team points.  Freshman David Silversmith had FSU's other point in the meet with an eighth-place effort in the 10,000 meters (31:32.52) on Thursday.

Junior Alex Best placed 10th for FSU in the 5,000 meters (15:06.99) on Friday.

Selected members of the FSU men's and women's teams will compete in the annual Dr. Keeler Invitational hosted by North Central College (Ill.) on Thursday and Friday, May 12-13, in Naperville, Ill.