Women's CC Climbs To 10th Nationally

Big Rapids, Mich. - The Ferris State University women's cross country team has climbed to 10th nationally in this week's (Sept. 23) United States Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II Poll.

The Bulldog women's cross country team, which is guided by third-year head coach Steve Picucci, previously was listed 12th nationally in the preseason poll.  The Bulldogs remain second this week in the USTFCCCA Preseason Midwest Regional Rankings behind regional number one and nationally second-ranked Grand Valley State.

This week's rankings are the first regular-season listings for the 2010 campaign with the next scheduled release set for Sept. 29.

Ferris and GVSU are the only Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) teams found in the top 25 of the national women's rankings as previous 21st-ranked Ashland dropped out of the latest poll. 

Preseason favorite Adams State (Colo.) continues to lead the national rankings followed by GVSU, Alaska-Anchorage, Shippensburg (Pa.) and Chico State (Calif.) in the top five.

The Bulldogs are coming off an impressive showing in their own Ray Helsing Bulldog Invitational held last Friday (Sept. 17) at FSU's Katke Golf Course in Big Rapids.  While no official team scores were kept, the Bulldog women dominated the field in the 5K women's race.  FSU claimed the top nine spots overall and had 12 of the top 13 finishers with senior All-American Tina Muir (St. Albans, U.K.) winning the individual title in a time of 18:21.14 overall.

Ferris ran to a 11th-place team finish while tying for the second-highest finish in school history during the 2009 NCAA Division II National Championships last fall (Nov. 21) in Evansville, Ind. FSU secured its national championships berth a season ago by running to a third-place team finish in the NCAA-II Midwest Regional Championships (Nov. 7) held in Kenosha, Wis. The Bulldog women placed third in the regional for the second-straight campaign.

Last year also represented only the fourth time in history the Bulldog women's cross country team had team qualified for the national championships as FSU's 2008 showing was its first since 1987.

Nearly all of FSU's team from a season ago returns this year, including Muir, who took 12th place overall for the second-straight year in earning All-America honors for the second consecutive campaign last season.  Muir, who was last year's regional champion and GLIAC Runner of the Year, won all five of her races prior to the national championships in 2009.

Ferris State is slated to resume action by taking part in the Great Louisville Classic on Saturday, Oct. 2, in Louisville, Ky.  It will be held at the same site as both the 2010 NCAA-II Midwest Regional (Nov. 20) and the 2010 NCAA Division II National Championships (Dec. 4), which will also be held in Louisville.