Andrea Karl In The News-Herald

It was a team effort from the Titan cross country community this past weekend as former UDM cross country stars teamed up with a few current Titans to take ninth at the Great Lakes Relay.

The team “WE RUN IN THA D” consisted of Titan alums Zach Bolton, Andrea Karl and Andrew Lindsay as well as current junior Kristie Ferrans, assistant cross country and track coach Emili Jackson and her husband Matt and Director of Ticket Operations and Sales Greg Haapala. A few friends of the Titan community also joined in with Darren Cunningham, Bridget Riehle and LeAnn Sarka rounding out the 10-member crew.

The group went on to earn the top 10 finish in the coed division that featured 41 teams.

The Great Lakes Relay is a team event with each member taking turns running different legs of a 270-mile course over three days. The event started in Oscoda (NE coast of the lower peninsula) and went across the state to Empire (near Traverse City). It was not a normal cross country course either as the harriers braved tough conditions running on backwoods forest trails and little used dirt roads.

Throughout 270 hilly miles, the team managed to average a 7:36 pace per mile, with each person running at least 25 miles over the three days.

A week prior to that race, Karl won the Rollie Hopgood 5K in Taylor in impressive fashion.

A four-time member of the Horizon League All-Academic team and a three-time MVP in cross country and track and field, Karl blew past the competition with a time of 19:24, finishing 37-seconds ahead of the second-place runner and 2008 champion Emily Masters.