Northwest Wayne News

The Wayne State University men's and women's cross country teams are preparing to compete in the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship on Saturday, November 8. The event will take place at the Wayne E. Dannehl National Cross Country Course in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The women's race is scheduled for 11:00 AM ET, with the men's race following at 12:15 PM ET.

At their most recent competition, both squads participated in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Championship and finished fourth overall. Three members of the men's team—Glen Davis, Sean Pettis, and Jared Platt—were named to the All-GLIAC second team. On the women's side, Ava Peters and Ella Showerman also received Second Team All-GLIAC honors.

Institutions from the GLIAC, Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC), and Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) will be present at the regional meet. The top 25 individual finishers will earn spots on the All-Region team. Coaches will also select award recipients for Men's Athlete of the Year, Women's Athlete of the Year, Men's Coach of the Year, and Women's Coach of the Year.

The structure for advancing to nationals includes automatic bids for the top three teams from each region and ten additional at-large selections across all regions, making a total of 34 qualifying teams. In addition to team qualifiers, 24 runners per gender will be chosen to compete as individuals.

According to rankings released by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on October 28, Wayne State's women's team is ranked seventh in their region while the men's team holds ninth place.