Women's Track & Field | 10/8/2014 8:00:00 AM

The following feature originally appeared in Audible, which is the official gameday football program, during the Tiffin game on Oct. 4, 2014.

DETROIT -- Rick Cummins has seen plenty during his 18 year tenure at the helm of all things running at Wayne State University.
 
Producing a pair of women's NCAA Championship track and field qualifiers – Jen Rock and Brittany Johnson – in just the second year of that program shows tremendous work by WSU's current athletes and high-end potential for the future.
 
From the program-building of the late 1990s when there was no post-season representation, Cummins has directed the men's and women's cross country teams into perennial contenders for GLIAC and NCAA honors.
 
During Cummins' tenure, the men have made seven NCAA championship appearances while the women have competed in four. Both cross country squads ran together in the national championship in 2008 for the third time in school history.
 
When the decision was made to add women's indoor and outdoor track and field for the 2012-13 season, Cummins assumed the head coaching responsibilities for those sports as well. Competitive success has quickly followed suit.
 
During the Warriors' first women's track and field season, the teams placed 12th and 10th at the indoor and outdoor GLIAC Championships, respectively.
 
Individual highlights followed in 2013-14, as Rock, a senior, placed sixth in the 10k event, becoming Wayne State's first All-American in the process. She finished the 10k race with a time of 35:31.64.
 
The women's teams also showed improvement from year one to year two within the conference. The 2013-14 indoor team placed eighth out of 15 schools at the GLIAC meet, while the outdoor team finished sixth out of 16.

 

Rock, who majored in nutrition and food science, has a twin brother who ran at the Air Force Academy. She came to Wayne State from Utica Eisenhower and some time at Loyola University, and was a regular on the Coach's Academic Honor Roll during her Wayne State career.
 
"Jen Rock was tremendous," Cummins said after the championship meet. "What a perfect way to end her collegiate career as the first All-American in WSU women's track and field history.  She has had this as her goal since the day WSU announced the addition of women's track. Jen stayed composed and was able to match the pace when it picked up over the last 1600."
 
Johnson, Rock's teammate, has also forged a championship identity at Wayne State.
 
She prepped at Oxford High School after being born in Toronto, Ontario. As a pre-nursing major, Johnson appeared on the Athletic Director's Academic Honor Roll and has been an active member of SAAC, the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
 
During her first two seasons as a Warrior, Johnson has ran in each segment – cross country in the fall, indoor track and field during the winter and outdoor track and field in the spring.
 
A junior entering the 2014-15 season, Johnson placed third in the mile as a sophomore at the GLIAC Championship meet in 2013, which earned her a trip to the NCAA Indoor Championships.

 

Johnson joined Rock in competition at the Outdoor meet as well, becoming Wayne State's first NCAA Championship participants. Her time in the 1,500-meter race was more than a second better than her personal best.
 
"I am so proud of Jen and Brittany," Cummins said at the time. "They both ran great. Brittany ran the fastest race of her life and finished 13th overall. She ran a very smart race, a personal record of over a second, and made a huge step forward from indoor nationals. She had a very, very good sophomore year."
 
The finish by Rock earned Wayne State points for the NACDA Directors' Cup, where the Warriors recorded their highest-ever point total in 2013-14, placing among the top five percent of all Division II schools nationally. 
 
All spring sports last year had representation at their respective NCAA Championships and scored points.
 
"They both outperformed their seeds entering the meet," Cummins said. "They are a joy to work with and they represent Wayne State very well.  It was a great day for WSU women's track and field, and a day I will never forget."
 
The WSU women's cross country team is currently ranked third in the Midwest Region and 11th nationally.
 
"Adding track & field has helped us in that we are able to develop cross country kids in the Winter months, which we were unable to do previously without the track & field program."
 
Kyle Stefan is a former writer/editor for The South End as well as a former men's golf student-athlete.