Wayne State University Athletics

Jose Juarez

Reagan Justice finished in eighth place.

Women's Cross Country 11/4/2022 2:11:00 PM Zachary Manning, Sports Information Graduate Assistant

Women's Cross Country Places Second at GLIAC Championships

The Warriors had two runners in the top 10.

NEW BOSTON, Mich. -- The Wayne State University women's cross country team had a strong day at the 2022 GLIAC Cross Country Championships earlier this morning at Willow Metropark, as the Warriors placed second out of 10 teams. All told, the Green and Gold had five All-GLIAC performers.

The final team scores were: Grand Valley State (15 points), WSU (66 points), Saginaw Valley State (91 points), Michigan Tech (138 points), Ferris State (153 points), Northern Michigan (163 points), Davenport (188 points), Purdue Northwest (193 points), Parkside (208 points) and Lake Superior State (325 points).

Leading the way for Wayne State was a pair of First Team All-GLIAC performers in sophomore Reagan Justice (Canton, Mich. / Salem) and redshirt senior Ashley Defrain (Fort Gratiot, Mich. / Port Huron Northern). Justice earned eighth place with a time of 21:48.30, while Defrain was right behind her in ninth place, crossing the finish line in a time of 21:49.50.

Redshirt junior Charlene Yarema (Romeo, Mich.) earned Second Team All-GLIAC honors by finishing in 15th place. She recorded a time of 22:10.44. The next runner to cross the finish line for the Green and Gold was redshirt junior Thailyia Christensen (Flushing, Mich.), who placed 17th with a time of 22:13.14. That was also good for Second Team All-GLIAC honors.

The final scoring runner for WSU was Briana Vojinov (Brownstown, Mich. / Woodhaven), who rounded out the Second Team All-GLIAC lineup. She placed 25th (20th in team scoring) with a time of 22:44.19. Emily Gordon (Northville, Mich.) also placed in the top 50, as she finished in 37th place. She was able to register a time of 23:15.63.

With their success throughout the year and during the GLIAC Championship meet, the Wayne State coaching staff was honored with the GLIAC Coaching Staff of the Year award after a vote by the league's head coaches. With the vote being tied, the WSU coaching staff shared the award with the coaching staff from Grand Valley State.

FROM COACH LOFDAHL
"This was a really solid effort from our women, across the board. The runner-up finish and 66 points tied our all-time program records at the GLIAC Championships. Reagan and Ash mixed it up with some of the best runners in the country and to both be First Team All-GLIAC is excellent. Ash wrapped up a fantastic GLIAC career with four all-conference runs. Charlene and Thailyia worked well together and have been great leaders for us all season. It was exciting to see Bri Vojinov nab the final all-conference spot as a true freshman. I think our best is still to come, as we have been training all season to peak in November and early December! Overall, today went about as well as it possibly could have gone. I'm thankful to our outstanding coaching staff and to Erika Wallace and the rest of the WSU Athletics staff for helping us pull off an exceptional GLIAC Championship."

UP NEXT
The Warriors will head back to Wisconsin for the NCAA Midwest Regional, which is slated for Nov. 19.

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