“On the women’s side, we went 1-2-3. I thought the entire effort from the group was good. I didn’t see any faults anywhere,” head coach Walt Drenth said. “I saw a couple peoples struggle with the heat, it was really warm, but I thought we did an outstanding job.”

Junior Caleb Rhynard ran in first for MSU at third place, with a time of 24:31, with junior Ben Carruthers following in seventh place (24:39), both running the 8K.

“I thought athletes on both sides stood out,” Drenth said. “I am really pleased with some of the young guys, the way they competed— [sophomore] Garret Zuk and [junior] Nick Soter. I think those guys are learning and doing a nice job.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing the team at large run. I’m interested in seeing how our freshmen interact with our upperclassman —they haven’t really had the chance to do that in terms of competitive chance. I’m interested in seeing how our freshmen manage the longer distance—Women move from 5,000 to 6,000 meters and men from 5,000 to 8,000 meters,” Drenth said. “I’m interested to see how we compete coming off of a long week of travel. The event itself, we have 7,000 participants, so it will be fun.”

A combination of Spartan newcomers and veterans will run during the Spartan Invite, giving all athletes a taste of the at-large competition. Drenth mentioned that all the men will be running.

The 25^th annual Spartan Invite will begin at noon with the college women’s 6K race at Forest Akers East Golf Course. Following the women is the men’s 8K race at 12:30p.m., then the high school 5K event races at 1:10 p.m., with middle school 3200M wrapping up the event at 6:20 p.m.