Members of the Michigan State Running Club achieved a great deal in their short but sweet 2013 outdoor track season, which saw the Spartans compete in four meets in Michigan and Indiana.  Twenty six club members participated in the 2013 outdoor track races, a great increase from fifteen in 2012 and eight in 2011.

The Spartans opened up their season at home in East Lansing at the first ever Red Cedar Races on March 30th.  With a last minute withdrawal by Purdue, the invitational turned into a dual meet between MSU and MRun.  Collegiate dual meet scoring and the limited number of events ensured that both team titles were decided by one point: the Spartan women came out on the wrong side of the score while the men beat MRun for the first time ever on the track.

One week later, MSU was represented in fifteen events at the NIRCA National Track & Field Championships, hosted by Indiana University in Bloomington.  In addition to the usual distance events, Spartans also took to the sprints, throws, hurdles, and most entertainingly, the steeplechase.  The Spartan women finished sixth out of seventeen teams with only five athletes scoring in four events.

With the club season ending at NIRCA, those who wanted to continue competition participated in varsity meets at Eastern Michigan and Hillsdale.  Many people set personal bests and club records at these meets.  Of the twenty six club outdoor records, fourteen were set in 2013.

With their recently set outdoor records, Stephanie Schmidt (800m – 2:28.7) and Valerie Morel (400m – 65.98, Mile – 5:40) led a mid-distance heavy women’s squad.  Sarah Parks (66.0, 2:40), Christina Casali (72.0, 2:37), Tarah Thompson (71.0), and Megan McNitt (2:42) filled out the pool of runners that set club records in the 4x400m and 4x800m relays, both of which also earned All-American status in Bloomington.

The two lone distance girls, Margaret Levasseur (18:57) and Kathryn Dugal (21:22), each ran the 5000m twice this season in addition to dropping down in distance to fill out relays.

The men’s team expanded a great deal this year in both size and variety.  The most notable addition was Alex Bonnen, who threw the Discus and Shot Put at NIRCA.  Additionally, the sprints and hurdles were bolstered by freshmen Tom Eby (12.34, 23.74) and Andrew Crechiolo (55.50, 60.24) alongside veteran Jeremy Bebber (53.50, 60.32).  They, as well as Jordan Prather and Pat Frahm, comprised the primarily Spartan 200m heat at the Red Cedar Races.

Bennett Prud’homme (1:59.0) and Josh Klebba (2:03.7) posted the season’s best 800m times at the Red Cedar Races.

The distance squad proved to be very versatile throughout the season.  Mark Choate and Ben Lambert were part of the season’s fastest 4x400m (3:41.9) as well as posting the season’s two best 1500m times (4:15.2 and 4:25.8).  Adam Terwillegar (15:54), Jeff Girbach (16:14), and Colin Riley (16:17) focused on the 5000m.  Girbach also set the 3000m Steeplechase record while Riley took the 10,000m record.  Chase Taylor (17:07), Alex Toloukhonov (4:50 mile), Trent Johnson (5:02 mile, 18:47), Ryan Squanda (4:43 1500m, 18:41), and Kristian Wosik (17:58) also competed in the distance events this season.

- Colin Riley, 5/20/13