Eastern Wayne Today

The Wayne State University men's cross country team finished fourth at the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Championship held in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Saturday. The team recorded 108 points during the event.

Grand Valley State took first place with 17 points, followed by Saginaw Valley State with 50 points and Michigan Tech with 91 points. Wayne State placed ahead of Parkside, Ferris State, Davenport, Purdue Northwest, and Lake Superior State.

Three Wayne State runners—Glen Davis, Sean Pettis, and Jared Platt—earned Second Team All-GLIAC honors for their performances. Davis finished 14th overall (12th in team scoring) with a time of 24:48.80. Pettis was 18th overall (14th in team scoring) at 25:00.10, while Platt secured the 20th spot overall (16th in team scoring) at 25:04.80.

Other notable finishes for Wayne State included Ethan Pruzinsky placing 41st overall (32nd in team scoring) and Gabe Trevino finishing 43rd overall (34th in team scoring). Additional competitors for Wayne State were Andrew Yax, Ishaan Kundapur, Ian Lewis, Aidan Lobsinger, Ty Nagy, Parks Allen, and Anthony Vinson.

Head coach Grant Lofdahl commented on the team's performance: "These young men have been determined and resilient from day one, and they left it all out there on the course today.  The end result came up just short of our goal, but the effort was strong." He added praise for individual runners: "Glen (Davis) went out fast and mixed it up with some of the best runners in the country, and to finish where he did in his first GLIAC meet is outstanding.  Sean (Pettis) and Jared (Platt) have worked so well together all year, and it's great to see them rewarded with all-conference finishes.  Really an exceptional day for our top-3. Ethan (Pruzinsky) is starting to put the pieces together, and he took another step forward today.  Our focus for Gabe (Trevino) has been smart race strategy, and he put together a good one.  Ishaan (Kundapur) and Ian competed hard in their first GLIAC meet, and their efforts were very good."

Lofdahl also noted the youth of his squad: "This is still a very young team, with no seniors in the top-7 today, and the future is very bright.  They've set their goals and did not quite meet them in terms of conference finish, but we have regionals in two weeks.  These Warriors are going to be ready when we move up to 10,000 meters."

Wayne State will compete next at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship on November 8.