Michigan State University
Jeff Drenth Memorial
Russeau Leads Spartans at Season-Opening Jeff Drenth Memorial
9/4/2009 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Sept. 4, 2009
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State cross country team kicked off the 2009 season this afternoon at the Jeff Drenth Memorial, hosted by Central Michigan University at University Park in Mt. Pleasant. Making his Spartan debut, Alex Russeau, a transfer from Siena Heights University, took first place in the men's race, while freshman Kristen Smith, running attached, placed second to lead the Spartan women.
"Alex has done a wonderful job early in his time at Michigan State," said director of track & field/cross country Walt Drenth. "He handled the pace of the race well today and ran away from the field. Overall, I was really pleased with the showing by the guys today. The freshman showed they can come in and immediately help the team out. It will give us great depth throughout the season."
Russeau won the race by six seconds with a time of 15:34.8, topping Spartan freshman Ben Miller (15:40.8), who ran unattached. Also running unattached, freshmen Kevin Yarnell (16:01.9) and Stephen Walker (16:05.2) placed fourth and fifth, respectively. Rounding out the top-10 this afternoon was another pair of unattached MSU freshmen - Brett Burdick (ninth, 16:21.2) and Kenny Laskowski (10th, 16:26.2).
"On the women's side, we ran a bunch of girls unattached today," added Drenth. "Kristen looked really good this afternoon in her debut, as did Thereseann Huprikar. For us, we held out our top nine runners, so it was an opportunity to see our underclassmen perform. It will be fun when we get home next weekend to see how we do with our whole team and see how the returners have progressed over the summer."
Smith took second place with a time of 19:02.1, finishing ahead of senior Thereseann Huprikar, who placed third at 19:08.0. Fellow senior Ashley Casavant was seventh this afternoon, crossing in 19:16.7. Central Michigan's Melissa Darling won the women's race in 18:49.2.
Michigan State hosts its lone event of the season - the Spartan Invitational - on Friday at Forest Akers East Golf Course.
Players Mentioned
