Western Wayne Today

Wayne State University's Reagan Justice has qualified for the 2024 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championship. The event is scheduled to take place in Sacramento, California, on November 23 at 2:15 PM.

Justice, a student-athlete from Canton, Michigan, secured her spot by finishing third individually with a time of 21:22.45 at the NCAA Regionals held in Romeoville, Illinois. This race determines which teams and individual runners advance to the NCAA Championships.

She is among 26 Division II runners who have qualified as individuals and one of three from the Midwest Region, alongside Ella Barya of Davenport and Ines Macadam of Tiffin. Justice's qualification marks the first time since Amanda Brewer's All-American performance in 2012 that a Wayne State women's cross country runner has individually qualified for the championship.

Justice has previously competed in the NCAA Championship twice. The Wayne State women's cross country team received an at-large bid in 2023 and was an automatic qualifier after finishing third as a team at the 2022 Midwest Regional Race.

Head Coach Grant Lofdahl commented on Justice's achievement: "It is extremely difficult to qualify for the NCAA Championships, and to do it three years in a row is an amazing accomplishment. It will be a bittersweet trip for Reagan this year, considering that our team qualified in 2022 and 2023, and she will be racing solo this year as the Warriors just missed an NCAA selection."

Lofdahl added: "She has had a fantastic season and probably ran her best race yet last weekend with a third-place regional finish, but she has been training with Sacramento in mind for a long time and I think she will end her cross country career on a high note. All-American is certainly the number one goal for her."