Tina Muir Earns GLIAC Commissioner's Honor

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Big Rapids, Mich. - Ferris State University junior Tina Muir (St. Albans, United Kingdom) has added to her impressive list of awards by being selected as one of this fall's 12 recipients of the prestigious Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Commissioner's Award sponsored by Meijer, Inc.

The announcement of this fall's six male and six female honorees was made today (Dec. 16) by the league office.

The GLIAC Commissioner's Awards are presented following the conclusion of the fall, winter and spring seasons to six deserving female and male winners each based on those who excel both in the classroom and on the field of play.

In addition to Muir, this fall's female recipients include Rebeccah Rapin and Natalja Stanski of Grand Valley State; Sydney Dow of Hillsdale; Cassie Osiecki of Northern Michigan; and Kait Harris of Saginaw Valley State. The six male student-athletes include: Nick Bellanco of Ashland; Bill Kanitz of Hillsdale ; Alex Gilde and Danny Richard of Grand Valley State; John van der Lann of Michigan Tech; and Cortland Seaver of Saginaw Valley State.

"These 12 student-athletes that represent their institution, conference, and their respective communities truly embody the term student-athlete," stated GLIAC Comissioner Dell Robinson. "Their pursuit of excellence on and off field serve as a monumental testament of the talented young leaders we have in this conference. I will look to them to be the leaders of the future.

"The GLIAC greatly appreciates the support of Meijer for their sponsorship of the 2009 Commissioner’s Award. The award and continued support by Meijer is evidence of our pursuit of academic excellence," he added.

Muir was the only recipient from a women's cross country program to receive the award and one of only two cross country runners overall along with Seaver, a member of the SVSU men's cross country team.  She's the eighth Ferris State student-athlete to receive the honor in the three-year history of the award and the first from the FSU track/cross country program.

The junior standout capped off a stellar season by being named recently to the United States Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II All-America Team following her performance in the 2009 NCAA-II National Championships held Nov. 21 in Evansville, Ind.

Muir claimed All-America accolades for the second consecutive campaign with her second-straight 12th-place performance at the national meet as the Bulldogs ran to a 11th-place team finish while tying for the second-highest finish in school history. Muir led the Bulldogs at the national championships by completing the 6K course in a time of 21:11.0 among 184 runners in the field. 

Muir, who was this year's NCAA-II Midwest Regional Athlete of the Year by virtue of her regional individual championship performance, had won all five of her races this season prior to the national championships and was also selected as the GLIAC Runner of the Year after winning the conference title.  Twice this fall she also attained the GLIAC Runner of the Week honor.

Muir also earned All-America honors at the national championships last season, becoming only the second All-American in Bulldog women's cross country history.  Her showing at this year's national championships matched her performance of a year ago as FSU's highest finisher ever at the national championships.

This year represented only the fourth time in history the Bulldog women's cross country team had qualified as a team for the national championships as last year's berth was the program's first appearance since 1987. Ferris claimed Great Lakes Regional crowns in both 1981 and 1987 to advance to the NCAA-II Championships where they placed eighth and 11th overall, respectively. In 2008, the Bulldogs placed 17th as a team at nationals.

Muir is a recreation and leadership management major at FSU.