Northwest Wayne News

Wayne State University's Ransom Allen is set to compete in the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships this Saturday, November 18, marking his third and final appearance at the national meet. The event will take place at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Missouri.

Allen, hailing from Ithaca, Michigan, is the sole representative from Wayne State's men's cross country team to qualify for the NCAA Championships for a second consecutive year. He will start in box No. 1 alongside 27 other individual runners and 34 programs. The men's race will cover a distance of 10 kilometers and is scheduled to begin at 12:15 p.m. Eastern.

Coach Lofdahl expressed confidence in Allen's performance this season: "When we met in August to talk about goals, the biggest one I had for Ransom was to approach every single meet with the goal of winning, and then go compete to win." Lofdahl noted Allen's consistent training since June and his recent victories at both GLIACs and NCAA Regionals as indicators of his strong form heading into the championships.

Allen qualified for the national meet by winning the Midwest Regional 10K race held at Angel Mounds in Evansville, Indiana. His victory secured him an automatic spot in this weekend's championship race. Coach Lofdahl highlighted that Allen's triumph was his fourth win out of five races this season.

Throughout the season, Allen has received several accolades including GLIAC Athlete of the Week honors twice and being named GLIAC Runner of the Year following his conference championship win. Additionally, he earned All-Region honors from USTFCCCA and was recognized as Division II Men's Athlete of the Year for the Midwest Region.

In previous NCAA Championship appearances, Allen has improved his standings each year. In 2021 he finished 25th while helping Wayne State secure a team finish of 15th place; last year he achieved ninth place individually with a time that set a new program record.

Awards will be distributed to top performers after Saturday’s races which can be followed live via streaming on NCAA’s website or through provided coverage links.