Spartan Invite Race Recap

​The Spartan men and women took to Forest Akers East on September 16th for their first official action of the season at the Spartan Invitational. Here the Spartans would take on a multitude of teams from the community college to division one level. First to toe the line were the men, excited to see the trajectory this season was going to take. At the gun, junior Jacob Young and senior Paul Salach went out quickly, setting the tone for the men. President Lambert was late to the race, but played an instrumental role alongside Tommy Brettschneider taking race video, which caught plenty of Spartan men flexing and dabbing their way through the race. In the end, Young was the first Spartan to finish in 27:59, followed by Salach (28:20), Lucas Werner (28:46), Alec Reilly (29:09), and Wes Diener (29:15) rounding out the top five. Young and Salach both took down at least one man on the D1 MSU team, quite an accomplishment for those two. Overall, 20 men competed in an excellent initial showing for the club men.
            On the women’s side another competitive race unfolded. Looking to make a statement, usual suspects Erin Zimmer, Nicole Mosteller and Tarah Thompson were in the mix of the race early on. Flying under the radar was freshman Charlotte Etienne. Rocking some retro Spartan gear, she was a part of this strong Spartan pack. The race video caught the determined faces of man Spartan women, and even some smiling for the cameras. Zimmer paced the team in style, finishing in 23:43 for the 6k distance, good for 92nd overall and a finish ahead of a woman on the D1 team. Etienne (24:04), Thompson (24:31), freshman Amanda Montgomery (24:37), and Mosteller (25:12) followed her. 23 Spartan women competed at the invitational.
            Next, both the men and women look forward to the Spartan Grand Classic where both groups will compete in the 5k distance against other club competition.