Many former Wayne State University cross country athletes have participated in marathons across the United States this fall, representing the university at various events.
Grant Lofdahl, head coach of Wayne State’s cross country team, said, “Something we want every graduate of our cross country program at Wayne State to take with them is the lifestyle of distance running, staying in an athletic mindset, and being healthy for life.” He added, “When some Warriors decide to keep on competing, that’s even better in my mind, and when they take the challenge of racing 26.2 miles, it’s amazing to follow those journeys. Seeing so many WSU alums running marathons recently has been very exciting, and this fall there were Warriors excelling in the marathon all across the country! I am proud of their commitment and effort, and also excited to see the results from many more who are racing in the spring of 2026.”
Among those who competed was Zahid Salodawala (2018-22), who ran a personal record time of 2:43:22 at Long Beach on October 5. Alex Townsend (2008-11) finished with a personal best of 2:29:29 at the Chicago Marathon on October 12. Jeremy Cavallo (2019-23) also set a personal record in Chicago with a time of 2:36:39.
At the Detroit Marathon on October 19, Reagan Justice (2021-24) finished as the second female overall with a time of 2:48:09. Zac Truman (2018-23) placed third overall in Detroit with a time of 2:20:38. Melissa (Moncion) Kessler (2002-05) completed the race as second masters female in 2:57:25. Other finishers included Kevin Salter (2013-17), Teresa Diehl (2016-19), Charlene Yarema (2019-23) at Marine Corps Marathon in Washington D.C., Natalie Davies (2021-24) making her debut in Indianapolis, Annalee Misch (2021-24) debuting at California International Marathon in Sacramento, and Joe Verellen (1999-2003) at Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville.
In addition to these performances, Joe Verellen and Renee (Moncion) Verellen ran the Detroit Free Press Half-Marathon; Joe finished 25th while Renee placed 112th. Haley Boccomino also completed the half-marathon.
Lauren (Kessler) Couls participated in Detroit’s 5k event.
Several other former Wayne State student-athletes from different sports took part in marathon events as well. Swimmer Franz Mueller completed Detroit’s marathon along with baseball player Christian Bilkovic and swimmers Jack Rogers, Clayton Kinnard, Stewart Nowinski, Isidora Sekaric, Fernando Costa, Matt Vassilakos; softball player Alison Ortega; diver Mikaela Senkus; and swimmer Hannah Gurecki.
The university encouraged anyone omitted from this list to contact sports information director Jeff Weiss by email.
