Runners of all ages come out for MSU invite

Anyone looking to play golf on a sunny Friday afternoon at Forest Akers East Golf Course this weekend quickly found they were out of luck, as the course was taken over by about 4,200 racers running through fairways and around sand traps.

The MSU men’s and women’s cross country teams participated in the annual Spartan Invitational, which included runners from across the state competing at the college, high school and middle school levels. It was MSU’s first event of the season.

Both the Spartans men’s and women’s teams had three runners finish in the top 10 of their respective races.

There were no team standings at the event.

Senior Emily MacLeod led the Spartans with the top finish in the women’s race, clocking in at 21:07.

“She had a good year last year, and took a lot of steps during the track season in order to become an outdoor regional qualifier,” assistant coach Kim McGreevy said.

“She took all the steps to get to this point and we aren’t surprised that she won the race today.”

Junior Carlie Green followed close behind, finishing fourth overall, and junior Rebekah Smeltzer took eighth.

“Our top five were only about a one-minute spread so I was pretty happy about that,” MacLeod said.

The races, which included 170 women and 218 men, featured runners from state colleges including Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, Michigan, Grand Valley State, Hope College, Saginaw Valley State and Lansing Community College.

In the men’s race, MSU had five runners in the top 20, including senior Patrick Grosskopf, who finished first for the Spartans and fourth overall with a time of 24:53.

“We kept it together really well throughout the whole thing,” Grosskopf said. “We ran pretty solid.”

MSU senior Spencer Beatty finished sixth overall and second for the Spartans.

Junior Alex Russeau trailed just behind, coming in only two seconds later for the eighth overall spot.

“They raced well when it got hard,” McGreevy said.

“Midway through the men’s race, it looked like it was starting to run away from us, but they did a nice job coming back and beating people around the stretch. It’s 8,000 meters for the men, so they have a lot of time to make decisions.”

Next week, both teams will head to Minneapolis to participate in the Griak Invitational.

Then, races will begin to count toward national rankings.

Though it was just the Spartans’ second event of the fall season, the Spartan Invitational marked MSU’s first and last home meet for the year.

“It’s always fun to be home,” McGreevy said. “It’s a beautiful golf course.”