Western Wayne Today

The Wayne State University men's and women's cross country teams will host the Seventh Annual Warrior Challenge on Friday, September 12. The event is scheduled to take place at Willow Metropark in New Boston, Michigan. The competition will begin with the women's 6K race at 5:00 PM, followed by the men's 8K at 5:45 PM. Both races will start from the Chestnut Picnic Area located at the southeast end of the park.

Since its start in 2018, the Wayne State women's team has won every edition of the Warrior Challenge. The men's team has secured victories in three of those years: 2018, 2019, and most recently in 2023.

At last week's Hillsdale Invitational, both Wayne State squads achieved team victories. The women's team placed six runners among the top seven scorers and had eight finishers in the top eleven. On the men's side, three athletes finished within the top six and eight were among the top eighteen.

Head Coach Grant Lofdahl commented on this year's meet: "The Warrior Challenge has grown into a consistently competitive meet, and we are excited to welcome an excellent field of teams to Willow Metropark this weekend. There are several DII regionally ranked and 2024 national qualifying teams competing including Saginaw Valley State and Findlay, as well as NAIA top-ranked Spring Arbor."

Lofdahl added: "Our own teams have competed at a high level over the years at the Warrior Challenge, and we expect more of the same on Friday. Coming off of a nice season-opening win last week at Hillsdale, we'll focus on pack running as a team, and we should stack up pretty well against some deeper competition."