Kuhl and Armstrong are named to Pre-Season All-GLIAC Team
BAY CITY - The Lake Superior State men's basketball team was picked to finish third in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference North Division, while the LSSU women's team was ranked fourth as GLIAC pre-season polls were announced Thursday during the league's second annual Media Day conference call.
In addition to the pre-season rankings, coaches named Pre-Season All-GLIAC Men's and Women's Basketball Teams, which included LSSU senior centers Ryan Kuhl and Jackie Armstrong.
Kuhl has led LSSU in scoring during two of the past three seasons and has been the Lakers' top rebounder for three straight years. He earned All-GLIAC North Division First Team honors as a sophomore and was named to the second team as a junior. The four-year starter averaged 14.0 points and 6.6 rebounds per game in 2007-08 and has 1,129 career points.
The Pre-Season All-GLIAC Men's North Division Team also included sophomore Justin Keenan of Ferris State, and seniors Lawrence Ross of Saginaw Valley State, Robby Springborn of Michigan Tech and Pete Trammell of GVSU. Findlay forward Josh Bostic was chosen as the pre-season player of the year.
Last season, Armstrong was the Lakers' top scorer, averaging 11.7 points per game, and No. 3 rebounder at 4.8 rebounds per game. The 2006 GLIAC Freshman of the Year and two-time GLIAC All-Academic Team selection has 888 career points. She has also improved her free-throw shooting percentage from .473 as a freshman to .505 as a sophomore and .724 as a junior.
The Pre-Season All-GLIAC Women's Basketball Team also included Hillsdale's Katie Cezat, an All-American and the league's player of the year in 2007-08. Other North Division picks were Michigan Tech juniors Sarah Stream and Katie Wysocky, Ferris State senior Teghan Thelen, and GVSU senior Kim Wyngaard.
The LSSU men's team was ranked third behind defending champion Grand Valley State and Michigan Tech, which lost to the Lakers during the quarterfinal round of the 2008 GLIAC Tournament. Saginaw Valley State was picked to finish fourth, followed by Ferris State and Northern Michigan. Findlay was the top-ranked team in the South Division.
Michigan Tech, Grand Valley State and Ferris State were ranked ahead of LSSU in the women's poll. Hillsdale was the top-ranked South Division team. Northwood, which finished second behind MTU in the North Division in 2007-08, was ranked second in the South Division in 2008-09.
