Full Results
All five Titan scorers finished in the top 75 and six of the seven UDM runners earned a top 100 time as the men's cross country team totaled 258 points for an eighth-place finish at the National Catholic Championships. The five-mile course was held on the Notre Dame golf course.
Nearly every Titan runner in the race showed improvement from last year as Detroit was led by three seniors in
Pat Liederbach (Petoskey, MI/Petoskey),
Alex Harris (Huntington Woods, MI/Shrine) and
Ryan Ayala (Coopersville, MI/Coopersville). Liederbach was the top UDM finisher earning 27th with a time of 25:55.
“Pat was in good position through three for a top-10 finish, but he is having some blister issues and just couldn't hang in,” said head coach
Guy Murray.
Harris was able to beat his course PR by eight seconds to claim 47th in 26:29, while Ayala just missed his career best by four seconds taking 55th in 26:34. The run by Ayala was also his best Notre Dame run by 58 seconds.
Freshman
Martin Nelkie (West Branch, MI/Ogemaw Heights) placed 57th (26:35), while the scoring squad concluded with sophomore
Edwin Gay's (Grosse Pointe, MI/GP South) 26:59 for 72nd place.
“The rookies all had good debuts on this course in a tough field today,” added Murray.
Junior
Bob Radlich (Cheektowaga, NY/Cleveland Hill) took 47 seconds off his tally last year to take 85th (27:18), and freshman
Sam Felton (St. Joseph, MI/St. Joseph) finished up the varsity seven just over the century mark claiming 102nd in a time of 27:28.
The Titans will return to action on Oct. 2, when the red, white and blue head to Kentucky for the Greater Louisville Classic.