HOUGHTON, Mich. – The Michigan Tech cross country squads begin the postseason this weekend, traveling to Big Rapids, Michigan, for the 2024 GLIAC cross country Championships at the Katke Golf Course hosted by Ferris State.

The men's 8k race will be the first race of the day at 11 a.m., with the women's 6k to follow at 11:45 a.m. A live stream and live results of the event can be found at Michigantechhuskies.com/live. 

Regular Season Recap

The No. 20 nationally-ranked men of Michigan Tech saw Sam Lange be the low-stick at the Lewis Crossover (25th-place) and Roy Griak Invitational (8th-place), earning two GLIAC Athlete of the Week accolades for his efforts. Transfer Michael Dennis also earned GLIAC Athlete of the Week honors following the season opener at the Phoenix Open, where he was the top Husky placing 6th overall. Veteran Tucker Ringhand has steadily been the number two runner for the Black & Gold this season, proving to be a dynamic one-two punch with Lange.

Colman Lenci, Callen Carrier, Zeb Swager, Brady Ketzenberger and Sawyer Fowler have finishes among MTU's top-seven this season.

Five Huskies will be making their conference championship debut in Lenci, Swager, Ketzenberger, Austin Smelker and Lucas Seng. Sam Marshall and Michael Marshall will be appearing in their second GLIAC championship race for the Black & Gold. 

Sophomore standout Sophia Rhein has led the women's team during the regular season with top-10 finishes at the Phoenix Open (fourth-place) and the Roy Griak Invitational (sixth-place), along with a 35th-place finish at one of the top DII races this season in the Lewis Crossover. 

The Huskies have seen shuffling within the top-seven all season long, although Ingrid Halverson has been the second finisher for MTU at the season opener and the Lewis Crossover. Veteran Cedar Gordon finished second for the Huskies at the Roy Griak Invitational and third at the Lewis Crossover. 

As a whole, the women's squad has nine runners with GLIAC Championship experience, with Gordon, Halverson and Claire Endres competing in two conference championship races on the grass for the Black & Gold.

Juniors Hannah Kilpatrick and Ingrid Seagren join sophomores Amyla Eberhart, Bridget Burns and Alisa Teige appearing in their second conference championship on Saturday. 

First-years Erica Kazin, Alex Li and Grace Riddle will make their GLIAC Championship debut for the Huskies. 

Awards

Following the championship races, at 12:45 p.m. awards ceremony will take place near

the finish area. The championship trophy will be presented, with the team captain(s) accepting on behalf of the institution. The following six awards will be presented: First Team All-GLIAC (Places 1-10), Second Team All-GLIAC (Places 11-20), GLIAC Cross Country MVP (overall champions), Team Championship trophies (medals to each team member), Freshman of the Year (to the top-finishing redshirt freshman or true freshman), and Coach of the Year (voted by the head coaches).

One Last Thing

The Huskies return two All-GLIAC performers from a season ago with Sam Lange earning first team honors while freshman Sophia Rhein earned second team All-GLIAC accolades. Lange placed sixth overall in the men's race, while Rhein took 17th place in the women's event.