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Ferris Hires New Athletics Director

CMU grad takes over for recently retired Tom Kirinovic

by Greg Buckner, Sports Editor Published: Aug 27, 2010

The search for a new Athletics Director at Ferris has come to an end as Michigan native Perk Weisenburger has been tabbed to replace retired Tom Kirinovic.

Weisenburger served as the Associate Athletics Director for External Operations at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas since 2005. He will take over the Athletics Director duties on Sept. 10. (more…)

 
 
 

Something to Prove

Bulldog football places hopes on new offense to bounce back from 1-10 season

by Greg Buckner, Sports Editor Published: Aug 25, 2010

Striving to Improve: Ferris foot­ball play­ers begin to prac­tice for the 2010–2011 sea­son, where they hope to improve on last season’s record of 1–10. There are high hopes for the Bulldogs with a new offen­sive strat­egy and many return­ing play­ers. Photo By: Kendall Baumann | Production Assistant

With last season’s dis­mal 1–10 cam­paign in the past, the Bulldog foot­ball team comes into the 2010 sea­son with renewed hope and a chip on its shoulder.

Coming into this sea­son ranked 11th out of 14 teams in the 2010 GLIAC Preseason Coaches Poll, you would not expect a one-win team to come into a new sea­son with such opti­mism. Head coach Jeff Pierce believes that the sting of last year has moti­vated his team to come out and prove the crit­ics wrong. (more…)

 
 

Off to the Races

Men and women’s cross country anticipates the upcoming season

by Tyler Shelton, Ferris State Torch Published: Aug 25, 2010

Running into the Season: The Ferris cross coun­try team are warm­ing up for the 2010–2011 sea­son, which begins Sept. 3 at the Northwood Open. The team hopes to run to Nationals again this year. Photo Courtesy of Ferris State Athletics

The men’s and women’s cross coun­try teams have sev­eral new faces and return­ing play­ers for the 2010–2011 season.

During the 2009–2010 sea­son, the women’s team posted an 11th-place fin­ish in the NCAA Division II National Championships and fin­ished 3rd in the Division II Midwest Regional. The team locked up a 2nd-place fin­ish in the GLIAC Championships, with Grand Valley State tak­ing the title. The Bulldog women’s team will look to con­tinue this suc­cess as it begins prepar­ing for com­pe­ti­tion. (more…)

 
 

Capital Gain

Ferris hockey player Eric Alexander raises expectations, turns heads at NHL camp

by Greg Buckner, Sports Editor Published: Aug 25, 2010

A Shot to Impress: Eric Alexander, a sopho­more Ferris hockey player, par­tic­i­pated in the Washington Capitals’ sum­mer devel­op­ment camp. Alexander scored a goal that impressed the Capitals’ gen­eral man­ager. The Bulldogs 2010–2011 hockey sea­sons begins Oct. 2. Photo Courtesy of Eric Alexander

While many col­lege stu­dents spent their sum­mer vaca­tions with intern­ships and sum­mer jobs, Ferris hockey player Eric Alexander spent his sum­mer impress­ing NHL executives.

Alexander, a sopho­more for­ward for the Bulldogs, was a non-drafted invi­tee to the Washington Capitals sum­mer devel­op­men­tal camp. While there, he raised expec­ta­tions for his sopho­more sea­son after being named to the all-camp team by Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau. (more…)

 
 

Serves Up

Women’s volleyball team looks to continue past success

by Josh Crowton, Opinions Editor Published: Aug 25, 2010

Spiking Down the Competition: The women’s vol­ley­ball team is ready to begin the 2010–2011 sea­son, which starts on Sept. 3 with the Ferris State Invitational. Photo Courtesy of Ferris State Athletics

The women’s vol­ley­ball team will open its 38th sea­son of var­sity play on Sept. 3 as the Bulldogs will host the Ferris State Invitational.

The team returns 13 play­ers from the 2009 squad, which earned a NCAA Tournament appear­ance for the 15th time in school his­tory. While the team has many play­ers return­ing from last year’s team, only three were starters. Fifteenth-year head coach Tia Brandel-Wilhelm hopes last year’s suc­cess will help the new starters tran­si­tion into their roles as they know not only what is to be expected of them, but of the team. (more…)

 
 

Serving Up Swagger

Women’s tennis team looks to take conference by storm

by Ashley Allison, Interim Staff Writer Published: Aug 25, 2010

Tennis is Back: Tiffany Rheynard slices a ball dur­ing a match last sea­son. The women’s ten­nis team com­pleted the 2009–2010 sea­son with a 12–8 record and is begin­ning the 2010–2011 sea­son with high hopes of another win­ning sea­son. Photo Courtesy of Ferris State Athletics

After last season’s 12–8 over­all record, the Bulldog women’s ten­nis team hopes for another suc­cess­ful sea­son in 2010–2011.

With the loss of co-captain Daniela Dimas from last sea­son, the team hopes that new team­mate Alina Stanila will step up and help the team con­tinue its win­ning ways. Head coach Alex Palladino hopes Stanila, a trans­fer stu­dent from Romania, will come in and bol­ster the team’s chances for a con­fer­ence cham­pi­onship. (more…)

 
 
 

National Attention

Ferris golfers Lilleboe and Simons qualify for U.S. Amateur Championship

by Tyler Shelton, Ferris State Torch Published: Aug 25, 2010

Swinging Ahead: Former Ferris golfer, Eric Lilleboe, ana­lyzes a shot on the green dur­ing his warm-up. Lilleboe qual­i­fied for the U.S. Amateur Championship at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash. and also co-medaled at the U.S. Amateur Qualifer in Harbor Springs. Torch File Photo

Eric Lilleboe and Garrett Simons qual­i­fied for the 110th annual U.S. Amateur Championship at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash.

After an award-winning career at Ferris State, Lilleboe has con­tin­ued his suc­cess on the course as he achieved co-medalist lau­rels at the U.S. Amateur Qualifier held July 22 in Harbor Springs. (more…)

 
 
 

Comfort Zone

New Bulldog offensive coordinator comes home to revive struggling offense

by Josh Crowton, Opinions Editor Published: Aug 25, 2010

Offensive Change: The new offen­sive coor­di­na­tor, Chris Boden, gives some advice dur­ing a foot­ball prac­tice. Boden is ready to turn the offense around with a new sys­tem. Photo By: Kendall Baumann | Production Assistant

After a 16-year absence from his home state, Chris Boden is hav­ing a home­com­ing as he has joined the Bulldog foot­ball staff.

After grad­u­at­ing from Saginaw Valley State in 1990, Boden began his coach­ing career as a grad­u­ate assis­tant with Central Michigan. In 1994, after he received his mas­ters degree, he left the con­fines of the Great-Lake state in order to pur­sue his coach­ing career. In those 16 years, Boden has held coach­ing posi­tions in Ohio, Georgia, Texas, and South Dakota, where he was the head coach of Northern State for five years. (more…)

 
 
 

From the Gridiron to the Big Screen

Former FSU standout Jake Visser snags role in upcoming Kurt Russell film

by Greg Buckner, Sports Editor Published: Aug 25, 2010

Tackling the Big Screen: Former Ferris State foot­ball player, Jake Visser, is one of 38 play­ers cho­sen to be in the new film “Touchback.” Auditions were held at Coopersville High School over the sum­mer, where nearly 1,200 play­ers tried out for a role. Photo Courtesy of Ferris State Athletics

Not many for­mer col­lege foot­ball play­ers can list film actor on their resumes, but for­mer Bulldog foot­ball star Jake Visser will get his chance to appear on the big screen after secur­ing a role in the upcom­ing film, “Touchback”.

Visser, a for­mer defen­sive tackle who was named the 2008–2009 National Scholar Athlete of the Year by the Division II Conference Commissioner’s Association (CCA) after his senior cam­paign, was among 1,200 foot­ball play­ers across the coun­try that audi­tioned to be extras in the film, which stars actor Kurt Russell and for­mer Oscar nom­i­nee Christine Lahti. (more…)

 
 

Two Golfers, One Goal

Current and former Bulldog athletes to compete for national title

by Benjamin Thayer, Editor In Chief Published: Aug 4, 2010

Two mem­bers of the 2009–2010 Ferris State men’s golf team will com­pete in the 2010 U.S. Amateur Championship in University Place, Wash.

Former Bulldog golfer Eric Lilleboe and Ferris senior Garrett Simons will com­pete in the 110th annual U.S. Amateur Championship begin­ning Aug. 23.

Garrett Simons, senior

Eric Lilleboe, FSU alum

(more…)