DETROIT -- In a historic moment for the Wayne State University cross country program, Ransom Allen (Ithaca, Mich. / Ithaca) was recognized on Monday as the Division II men's winner of the M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) for the week of September 25.
It's the first time in WSU program history that an athlete has been recognized with this honor during the cross country season.
"I am very excited to receive the award after a great race in Minnesota this past weekend! It shows a lot about the hard work both myself and the whole team have put in the past five years. The team is finally starting to put things together after injuries caused a pretty disappointing 2022 cross country season. We are excited to carry the momentum into the postseason!" said Ransom Allen of his recognition.
"Ransom made it look pretty easy at the Griak Invite. That's a brutal course and he ran away from several All-Americans late in the race. It definitely was not easy! He is having a great season so far, and he is a rare runner in that he's been able to get stronger and faster every year. As a fifth-year senior, he's a threat to win any race he is in. It's a pretty big deal for our program to have a National Athlete of the Week. Just a little extra validation for all that Ransom and our whole program has accomplished over the past few years. The best is yet to come, with championship season rapidly approaching." said head coach Grant Lofdahl.
Allen defeated 459 other finishing runners to claim the top spot in the eight-kilometer Men's Maroon Race at the University of Minnesota's 37th Roy Griak Invitational last Friday. The race featured programs from Division II, Division III, the NAIA, and other leagues and clubs. His race-winning mark of 25:18.40 was just over 10 seconds faster than the runner-up finisher in Ryan Hartman from Augustana (S.D.) at 25:29.00.
The graduate student collected his second consecutive victory with the performance. He also won the Warrior Challenge on September 15 in New Boston, Mich., with a time of 24:59.30. Overall, the Warrior has won four cross country races in his decorated collegiate career at WSU, with the fourth last weekend being the first outside of the Warrior Challenge -- the event that the cross country teams host at Willow Metropark.
His performance helped the Green and Gold to a second-place team finish out of 32 teams receiving scores at the meet. The Warriors had 92 points for the 8K, which put them behind NAIA member Indiana Wesleyan (58 points) for first place. He helped WSU finish ahead of several nationally ranked Division II teams at the meet, including seventh-ranked Augustana (S.D.) (fourth, 118 points), 17th-ranked (and GLIAC member) Michigan Tech (ninth, 260 points), and 18th-ranked UC-Colorado Springs (fifth, 194 points).
Allen was also named Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Cross Country Men's Athlete of the Week for his historic weekend, the third time in his career he was named Athlete of the Week by the conference.
FROM THE USTFCCCA
National Athlete of the Week is an award selected and presented by the USTFCCCA Communications Staff at the beginning of each week to 14 collegiate cross country athletes, when applicable (male and female for each of the three NCAA divisions, the NAIA and the NJCAA).
Nominations are open to the public. Coaches and sports information directors are encouraged to nominate their student-athletes; as are student-athletes, their families and friends, and fans of their programs. Nominated athletes are noticed before those athletes found through searching TFRRS.
The award seeks to highlight not only the very best times, marks and scores on a week-to-week basis, but also performances that were significant on the national landscape and/or the latest in a series of strong outings. Quality of competition, suspenseful finishes and other factors will also play a role in the decision.
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