The Wayne State men’s and women’s cross country teams each won their respective team titles at the WSC Wildcat Cross Country Classic last Saturday at the Wayne Country Club.

This meet was the first home cross country meet held in Wayne in four years. The men edged out runner-up South Dakota State 35-36 and the women won with 27 points ahead of runner-up Mount Marty, who scored 48.

The men had four individuals finish in the top 10, led by a 3rd place finish from Dylan Kessler, who finished the 8,000-meter course in 26:58. Isaias Solorio (27:47) finished 5th, sophomore Bailey Peckham (27:55) finished 7th, and sophomore Brock Hegarty (28:10) finished 9th. Other WSC finishers were Bryce Holcomb (11th – 28:19), Jesus Arellano (16th – 29:04), Garrett Wells (17th – 29:10), Nathan Hiemer (21st – 29:31), and Jakob Kemper (28th – 30:02).

“The way the guys won was especially exciting,” said head coach Marlon Brink. “They just won it by one point and halfway through the race, our guys were not leading. With about a mile to a thousand meters left, we had several guys who passed a couple South Dakota State kids, and when that happened it kind of shifted it from about a five-point deficit to a one-point win.”

For the women, a 1-2 finish from Kim Lowman (20:35) and Andrea Torres (20:41) led the Wildcats to a comfortable victory. Allie Rosener (20:56) finished 4th and Molly McCartney (21:40) finished 9th to round out WSC runners in the top 10. Other finishers of the 5,000-meter race were Amanda Mote (12th – 22:00), Josephine Peitz (14th – 22:18), Brianna Crouch (16th – 22:31), Marin Jetensky (17th – 22:40), Hannah Perkins (18th – 22:42), and Payton Birkel (34th – 25:38).

“I thought our women’s team ran very well. Overall, I was very happy with how the meet went,” Brink said. “A few of the kids said they were glad they knew the course really well and they said it helped them to race better. A lot of the athletic teams from campus here came out to support them too. It was nice to have a good number of fans out there.”

The season is about at a midpoint, with the Briar Cliff Invite this Saturday in McCook Lake, South Dakota, the Mount Marty Invite in Yankton, South Dakota on Oct. 20, the NSIC Championship in Abeerden, South Dakota on Nov. 3, and the NCAA Central Regional in Joplin, Missouri on Nov. 17.

“It [Briar Cliff] is a very flat and very fast course,” Brink said. “We should see some pretty fast times from them this week.”

The women’s cross country team will be back in action at 10 a.m. while the men’s team will be starting shortly after the women finish McCook Lake, South Dakota.