DETROIT (7/31/2026) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's and women's cross country teams will begin the year on a course very familiar to the history of the Titans as the program announced its schedule.

Detroit Mercy will open the year by running at Cass-Benton Park in Northville on Sept. 12 in the first Tommy Titan vs. W the Warrior Cross Country Classic. UDM and Wayne State will co-host the event and will be back on the same course that was the home of the famous Tommy Titan Invitational from 1987-2022. 

Less than a week later on Sept. 18, Detroit Mercy will head to South Bend, Indiana, for the annual National Catholic Championships. 

October will see the red, white and blue travel to the Derby State for the 25th Annual Swags Louisville Cross Country Classic on Oct. 3 and then to New York for the Canisius Alumni Classic on Oct. 17.

The postseason starts with a spooky Horizon League Championships, held on Halloween at Youthtowne Fields in Clinton, Pennsylvania. 

The NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships will be nearby at Michigan State on Nov. 13, while the Division I Championships will be contested at Indiana State's LaVern Gibson Championship XC Course on Nov. 21. 

The men finished seventh at the league event last year and return a veteran core of harriers, including All-League standouts in graduate senior Joshua Otten and sophomore Colin Murray. The women were 10th at the league showdown, but will have eight upperclassmen returning, including graduate senior Taylor Myers and seniors Alaina Burns, Abby Fifield, Helana Napiorkowski and Avery Saunder.