Northwest Wayne News

Wayne State University’s women’s cross country team has added two new student-athletes for the 2025-26 academic year. Head coach Grant Lofdahl, now in his eighth year leading the program, announced the signings of freshman Reese Hansen and transfer Katie Rohrer.

Hansen joins from Grand Rapids City High Middle School. She was a four-year varsity letterwinner at Ottawa Hills High School, competing in state regional meets each year and advancing to the finals in 2024. Hansen set a personal-best time of 19:36.7 at the 2024 MITCA Fifth Annual Meet of Champions and earned All-OK Conference honors three times in cross country. She also participated in track throughout high school, contributing to multiple relay teams that reached regional championships and state meets. Hansen is a two-year member of the National Honor Society and plans to major in Biological Sciences.

Coach Lofdahl said about Hansen: "Reese comes to us from a very good program at Ottawa Hills, and she is a runner who with some development and training, can become a big contributor for our program. It remains to be seen where she will fit event-wise indoors and outdoors, and she has some versatility. From an academic and team-culture perspective, she is certainly a great fit for WSU and should thrive this environment."

Katie Rohrer transfers from Eastern Michigan University after her freshman season. She competed in four regular-season cross country meets for EMU, setting personal bests including a 19:22.3 5K at the Jeff Drenth Memorial—her highest NCAA finish—and a 24:47.4 6K at the George Dales Invite. During indoor track season, Rohrer ran the 3K at three events with her best time being 10:37.20.

Rohrer graduated from Charlevoix High School as a four-year varsity letterwinner in both cross country and track & field. She twice earned All-Lake Michigan Conference and All-Region recognition in cross country while competing at state meets all four years. In track, she won multiple conference titles as a senior and posted personal bests of 2:23.06 (800m) and 5:18.07 (1600m). Rohrer also played softball as a freshman on teams that won conference and regional titles.

Coach Lofdahl commented on Rohrer’s addition: "We are very excited about Katie's potential, from the 1500 on the track up to 6K in cross country. She is a runner very much on the upswing over the past year and a half, with a breakout senior track season at Charlevoix and a solid freshman year at EMU. She can make an immediate impact this fall in cross country, and it will be good to see her on the track as a miler, 3K/5K runner, and steeplechaser."

Hansen and Rohrer join previously signed recruits Chloe Josephson (Linden), Olivia Lincourt (Northville/Farmington/Oakland C.C.), Ava Peters (Livonia/Franklin), and Kendall Sears (Napoleon/Pettisville).