Harriers flourish at Spartan Invitational

Brodee Gillam

Sports Editor

The LCC men's and women's cross country teams ran in the Spartan Invitational, hosted by Michigan State University, on Sept. 16 and both thrived on the big stage.

The Stars competed with five NCAA Division I and two Division II teams, along with 14 other schools. Michigan State, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Grand Valley all participated in the competition, which was not officially scored.

LCC Cross Country Head Coach Jim Robinson said he was pleased with his teams' performance, but understands some of both team's struggles.

"Historically we've gotten mixed results, where we end up with one or two runners doing well, but overall we don't do well," Robinson said. "That's partly because… in the early part of the season, you're really focused on training so your legs are tired for racing."

The Lady Stars were led by freshman Casey Mossholder for the second meet in a row. Mossholder finished 52nd out of 361 athletes, racing to a 23:13 finish in the women's first 6K race of the season.

The other women weren't far behind, with freshman Melissa Ricci finishing 88th with a time of 23:41 and sophomore Kaitlyn Beyer placing 140th in 24:29.

Robinson said he sees this group succeeding this season, thanks to the perspective they take on cross country.

"I like the group of athletes we have; very positive attitude, good team camaraderie and good support among the athletes," Robinson said.

The male harriers saw five runners place in the top 215 and finished with five runners within 30 seconds of each other. Freshman Deion Feldpausch was the first Star to cross the finish line in the team's first 8K race, finishing 169th out of 410 with a time of 27:46.

Sophomore Dylan Rocha, who led the men in the Olivet Invitational, was nine spots behind Feldpausch with a 27:56 finish.

Rocha said he has high goals for this team, and he sees this team as greatly improved compared to last season.

"We will improve our standings at nationals," Rocha said. "Last year we did well but this year we have a much better team, so the podium is the goal at nationals.

"A team goal is to have as many people to the 25's (minutes), whether they are in front of me or behind me."

The next meet scheduled for both teams is the Greater Louisville Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 1, starting at 12:45 p.m.