The Detroit Titans men's cross country team had its best showing in more then 10 years as UDM finished sixth, out of 33 teams, at the 29th Annual National Catholic Championships, held at the Notre Dame Golf Course in South Bend, Indiana. 

The Titans totaled 175 points, placing two harriers in the top 20 and four in the top 50 in the historic five-mile race. It was their best finish since taking fifth in 1997 with a 190 team score.

"A fantastic meet for us, one of our best days ever in our 29 year history at the National Catholics," said head coach Guy Murray. "We were a bit behind where we wanted to be at the start of the year, but we worked hard the first month to get to this point and today's finish is definitely something we are capable of building on."

Detroit was led by sophomore Patrick Liederbach (Petoskey, MI/Petoskey) who took 14th with a time of 25:45. The run was nearly 30 better then his time at last year's race (26:14) and just three seconds off of his career best. Graduate senior Andrew Hayner (Royal Oak, MI/U-D Jesuit) followed in 20th place setting a new personal record with a time of 26:00.

"Pat has done a nice job to get himself back to the front of the group. He is a big key to our success, Murray said. "Andrew is making the most of his fifth year. All those miles are paying off for him a big way."

In his 8k debut, freshman Alex Vanias (Leroy, MI/Pine River) was 34th in 26:28, the fourth best run by a rookie in UDM history.

"A great 8k debut for Alex," said Murray. "He likes to get out hard and will get better every week as he adjusts to the college distance."

Sophomore Alex Harris (Huntington Woods,MI/Shrine) was 42nd with a run of 26:36, while senior Jon Hans (Dearborn Heights, MI/Crestwood) clocked a 27:17, good for 65th place. Three other Titans posted career times on the day as sophomore Kevin Smalley (Gladwin, MI/Gladwin) took 83rd in 27:38, a 36-second improvement, while junior Kevin Wozniak (Dearborn, MI/Edsel Ford) improved his by 17 seconds with a run of 28:27 to place 123rd. Sophomore Alex Gould (Comstock Park, MI/Comstock Park) took 144th in 28:32, shattering his old time by 1:40.

Duquesne won the race with 44 points, followed by host Notre Dame with 45. DePaul was third at 115, Xavier fourth with 120 and Dayton fifth with 121.

The Titans return to action in two weeks when they travel to Louisville, KY, to compete in the Greater Louisville Classic, held in Tom Sawyer Park.