FSU Track Teams Set For GLIAC Championships

Big Rapids, Mich. - A number of Ferris State University student-athletes are among the competitors to watch at this week's Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Indoor Track and Field Championships, which will take place Friday and Saturday (Feb. 26-27) at Grand Valley State's Laker Turf Building in Allendale, Mich.

Action in the conference meet starts on Friday at 3:45 p.m. (EST) and runs throughout the evening. Saturday's (Feb. 27) competition will begin at 11:30 a.m. (EDT) and conclude during the late afternoon hours with an awards ceremony set for approximately 4:30 p.m.

GVSU's Laker Turf Building features a 300-Meter Mondo surface track with six lanes on the curve and nine straightway lanes.

Adult tickets will be $7 for one day and $10 for two day pass. Students will be $3 a day. GLIAC Passes will be accepted for admission.

In the women's competition, the Bulldogs own the top league performance this season heading into the GLIAC Championships in two events as junior Tina Muir is ranked first in both the 3,000 meters (9:48.55) along with the the 5,000 meters (16:50.41).

FSU freshman Anna Rudd is listed third overall (17:31.49) in the 5,000 meters along with fourth in the 3,000 meters (10:18.37).

The Bulldogs also have two of the top five ranked competitors in the women's mile run as freshman Alyssa Osika is third (5:02.75) and freshman Shelby Janutol comes in fifth (5:04.97) entering the league championships.

Senior Greg Burns is listed fourth overall (4.80m) for the men's team in the pole vault heading into the conference meet while senior Mike Mangieri is ranked fourth in the 5,000 meters (14:48.65) and is also fifth in the 3,000 meters (8:38.55), according to the GLIAC's Final Performance listing.

This week's conference meet will give individuals another chance to reach national qualification marks for the NCAA-II Indoor Track and Field Championships slated for March 12-13 in Albuquerque, N.M.

FSU currently has national qualifiers this season in Muir (Mile Run & 5,000), Osika (Mile), Rudd (5,000) and Burns (pole vault). Muir is an automatic qualifier in the 5,000 meters while the others are national provisional qualification marks.  The Bulldogs have also provisionaly qualified for nationals in the women's distance medley relay.