The Bulldogs put on a strong per­for­mance at the annual Bulldog Invitational this week­end, claim­ing 17 top-8 finishes.

Despite some strong winds and an occa­sional driz­zle, the Bulldogs fought through the con­di­tions to post some impres­sive indi­vid­ual fin­ishes at the home non-scoring meet. The meet was held at Top Taggart Field and con­sisted of 11 teams from Michigan includ­ing Grand Valley State, Calvin, Alma, and Northwood among others.

For the women, fresh­man Shelby Janutol took the top spot in the 1,500 meter race with a time of 4:48.57, while fel­low fresh­man Anna Rudd claimed sec­ond in the 5,000 meter run with an 18:15.85.

Senior Emily Cross tied for third in the high jump with 5 feet, 1 inch, while also claim­ing fifth in the 100-meter hur­dles with a 15.90 sec­onds fin­ish. Ferris second-year head coach Steve Picucci was happy with Cross’s per­for­mance in the 100-meter hurdles.

“Emily had a really good day for us,” said Picucci. “She had a good per­for­mance and she pro­vides some senior lead­er­ship for us.”

Claiming another top fin­ish was fresh­man Zoey Hohmann, who fin­ished third in the 400 meters with a time of 58.95 sec­onds, along with plac­ing eighth in the 200 meters.

Sophomore Andrea Fogle earned a third-place fin­ish in the dis­cus while junior Amy Joostburns took sev­enth in the event. The women’s team claimed ten top-8 fin­ishes at the event.

For the men, two Bulldogs claimed first-place fin­ishes as the team turned in a strong per­for­mance collectively.

Junior Justin Price won the 400 meter race with a time of 48.96 sec­onds, while also plac­ing ninth out of 48 run­ners in the 200 meters. His time of 22.79 sec­onds was .08 sec­onds behind the fourth-place finisher.

Senior Greg Burns added a top fin­ish in the pole vault while fel­low senior Mike Mangieri placed third in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:03.23.

Though both teams had to fight through some strong winds, fresh­man run­ner Tyler Weedon thought that the teams were able to over­come the conditions.

“Any time that it’s windy like this, it makes it all that much harder to turn in top times,” said Weedon. “I thought that we turned in some good results today and we had a good turnout.”

Sophomore Tyler Crossman took third in the 5,000 meter run with a 15:23.26 and the pair­ing of Price, senior Dan Volk, sopho­more Jack Page and fresh­man Derrick Bartlett resulted in a fourth place fin­ish in the 4x400-meter relay.

The teams will return to action Saturday when Ferris trav­els to Midland to take part in the Northwood Invitational. With only four meets left until the GLIAC Outdoor Championships, which will also be held at FSU’s Top Taggart Field, coach Picucci knows the next few meets will be crit­i­cal for both teams.

“These next cou­ple of weeks are going to be where we want to start post­ing our best times,” said Picucci. “If we keep up the effort we’ve had recently, I think we’ll be ready by the time the GLIAC cham­pi­onship rolls around.” n