Season Ends for AU Cross Country Runners at Ferris State
November 5, 2005

Both Ashland University cross country teams ended their season Saturday (Nov. 5) in Big Rapids, MI, at the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional championships. This year’s regional meet was hosted by Ferris State.

On the men’s side, the Eagles finished seventh out of 20 teams. Grand Valley State captured the team title with 43 points. That’s the Lakers’ fourth consecutive regional crown. Wayne State (54) was the runnerup and Southern Indiana (60) was third. Fourth place went to Saginaw Valley State (105).

Ashland had 223 points. AU’s top three runners were all freshmen. Zak Wilburn was 28th (33:03.7), Jeremy Trein was 30th (33:07.9) and Ricky Featheringill was 43rd (33:29.0).

Sophomore Nate Peck of Grand Valley State won the individual crown in 31:28.1 (10K). Brian Taghon of SIU-Edwardsville was the runnerup (31:40.0).

The women’s team championship also went to Grand Valley State. The Lakers claimed their fifth consecutive regional title with 29 points. Wisconsin-Parkside was second (110) and Southern Indiana (113) placed third. AU was 14th out of 22 teams.

Senior Erin Stauffer was the first Ashland runner across the finish line. She completed the 6K course in 22:32.8.

Grand Valley State’s Mandi Zemba won the race in 20:47. Southern Indiana’s Heather Cooksey was second (21:22.8).