Coach Murray On HLN Detroit
Championship Website With Course Maps

DETROIT (10/31/2013) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's cross country team will be on the prowl for a title as the Titans head to Ohio for this year's Horizon League Cross Country Championships.

The event will be held on Saturday, Nov. 2, at Boardman High School in Boardman, Ohio. The men's 8k race will begin at 11:00 a.m., with the women's 5k to follow at Noon. For more information on the event – hosted by Youngstown State – click here.

The men will bring a veteran squad into the Buckeye State with five of its eight runners upperclassmen and six runners that have taken part in at least one HL Championship.

All eight runners set career marks in the 5k last week at the EMU Classic. Senior Martin Nelkie and junior Ryan Hofsess lead the way for Detroit as those two have combined to take the top spot on the squad in all six races on the year.

Nelkie earned Second Team All-Horizon League honors last season by taking ninth in a career-best 25:38. The two-time Dominick Taddonio Team MVP was the top Titan in the first four races, winning the 27th Annual Running Fit-Detroit Titan Invitational and claiming second at the Golden Grizzly Open. He also has one other top-10 and two more top-20 finishes in 2013.

Hofsess has really turned it on since the start of the season, posting personal records in the 5k, 5.2-mile and 8k on the year. He has been the top runner in each of the last two events recording back-to-back sixth-place efforts at Penn State and at Eastern Michigan, while also claiming second at the Titan Invitational and fifth at Oakland. His 8k PR of 25:56 was set at Notre Dame's National Catholic championship earlier in the year, taking 17th in the process.

Senior Sam Felton has run in three HL Championships and has been consistent this year with a pair of top 20 marks and also setting PR's in the 5k, 5.2-mile and 8k. Sophomore Derek Gielarowski has been in the scoring five in five of his six races, while sophomore Austin Wigent has recorded three top-20 runs and junior George Holman has been one of the top five UDM runners in three events.

UDM is looking for its first title in program history, but the Titans do have three runner-up performances to their credit in 1980, 1985, and '86, with the latter two teams led by current Titan head coach Guy Murray. Detroit will also be in search of its first individual winner. Ken Dubois holds the highest finish at the event taking second in 1987.

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