After the dust set­tles on the record books 20 years from now and the cur­rent stu­dents are located in every cor­ner of the globe, there will be things for­got­ten about your days spent here in Big Rapids.

It won’t mat­ter what par­ties you went to, what clothes you wore or what test you were study­ing for. Things tend to be for­got­ten that aren’t impor­tant. In the sports world, this remains true as well. The things that great sports teams and pro­grams are remem­bered for are championships.

From the begin­ning of the school year to now as we pack up our belong­ings, Ferris State University has had one of the best years in ath­let­ics in the Bulldogs’ history.

The place where mem­o­ries start for FSU couldn’t be any­where other than Ewigleben Ice Arena. The FSU hockey team had the best sea­son in pro­gram his­tory, end­ing up in a spir­ited loss in the National Championship game against Boston College.

Between Jordie Johnston putting pucks past oppos­ing goal­tenders and Chad Billins shut­ting down teams’ offenses, the hockey team was spec­tac­u­lar this past year. The team effort had con­tri­bu­tions from every mem­ber as it went on to win the CCHA Championship and earn a cov­eted invite to the NCAA Tournament for only the sec­ond time in school his­tory. The Bulldogs fol­lowed the reg­u­lar sea­son suc­cess with a mag­i­cal run to the school’s first ever Frozen Four appear­ance and were hon­ored as the national runner-ups.

Magical sea­sons did not end there for the Bulldogs, as the women’s vol­ley­ball team had an amaz­ing 27–4 over­all record and looked spec­tac­u­lar in the process. They came away from this year’s cam­paign with hard­ware as the GLIAC North Division cham­pi­ons and did it with dom­i­nance. FSU had a 10-game streak of shutouts dur­ing the course of the year and set high stan­dards for the vol­ley­ball program.

The courts showed noth­ing but suc­cess to FSU as well. Whether it was bas­ket­ball or ten­nis, the Bulldogs came away big on the courts. The men’s bas­ket­ball team had an amaz­ing year by earn­ing the GLIAC North Championship, with one incred­i­ble year where sopho­more Kenny Brown earned national hon­ors. The boys played with high effort and max­i­mum inten­sity, which paid off in the great­est way–earning them hardware.

The women’s bas­ket­ball team also was a force in the GLIAC, fin­ish­ing with a 17–2 con­fer­ence record and also bring­ing home the tro­phy for the GLIAC North Championship. Whether it was Sarah DeShone sink­ing threes or Tricia Principe break­ing down defenses, the thing that cap­tured vic­to­ries for the Bulldogs was team defense. Every lady on the team played with grit as well as a tough men­tal­ity, and it paid off with the incred­i­ble season.

Capturing the GLIAC title as well was the men’s ten­nis team with a sur­prise upset in the cham­pi­onship game against Northwood University. The team fin­ished 8–1 in con­fer­ence play with the lone loss com­ing against Northwood University. Through senior lead­er­ship and clutch play in the cham­pi­onship, they came away on top with a thrilling 5–4 vic­tory as they avenged the early sea­son loss and brought home the hard­ware for the first time since 1999.

With these teams, one has to men­tion Tina Muir and the lady run­ners as well. Breaking records and fin­ish­ing All-American, senior run­ner Muir leaves Big Rapids as per­haps one of the most dec­o­rated run­ners in school his­tory. And her team­mates’ incred­i­ble sea­sons have put FSU on the map in track and field competitions.

The things that cre­ates mem­o­rable moments in sports are incred­i­ble fin­ishes and incred­i­ble teams. As we look back while we are get­ting ready to head home for the sum­mer months, 2011-12 Ferris State ath­let­ics dis­played both of these, and you can count on them not be for­got­ten any time soon.

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