Men’s cross country
The men finished second at the Division II Midwest Regional in Big Rapids and have qualified for the NCAA Championship meet.
Abdullah Saleh, who had finished sixth in each of the last two years at the regional, finished third with a time of 31:59.9 — his third-best performance of his career.
”I think we did a pretty good job preparing ourselves,” Saleh said.
Dan Kapadia finished 16th and Chris Tassen finished 23rd.
Kevin deBear, Sam Breen, Pat Webster and Omar Saidi also assisted in the second-place finish.
The team will compete in the NCAA Championship, to be held in Slippery Rock, Pa., on Nov. 22, with a scheduled start time of noon.
”Our goal on our team was to qualify,” Saleh said. “We wanted to be in the top two or three.”
Women’s cross country
Like their men counterparts, the women also took second at the Midwest Regional.
Rachelle Malette finished first in the field with a time of 21:19.1 and defended her regional championship from a season ago.
“All of our hard work paid off,” Malette said. “I think it’s a pretty big deal that it will be the second consecutive year that both teams qualify (for the NCAAs).”
Lauren Kessler and Kristi Werner finished 13th and 14th, respectively, and joined Malette as recipients of All-Regional First Team honors.
Annie Magin, Allison Wykle, Michele Barton and Robin Coolsaet also ran for Wayne State.
The women will also race in Slippery Rock, Pa., on Nov. 22 at noon.
“Personally I’d like to finish inside the top five,” Malette said. “It’s a little bit easier for me to try and find out where I stand. As far as the team, I think we want to finish in the top eight or top 10.”
Volleyball
WSU volleyball swept its final regular-season weekend, defeating Findlay 3-0 on Nov. 7 and Hillsdale 3-1 on Nov. 8.
The win over Findlay was the third straight shutout for the Warriors, who were led by Candis Jenich (10 kills) and Mayssa Bazzi (13 digs).
WSU extended its win streak to four in a row against Hillsdale and won its ninth conference game of the season, good enough to earn second place in the GLIAC South Division. Sarha Gosselin had 18 kills and Lauren Mallast recorded nine blocks.
The two victories mean that Wayne State will host a quarterfinal match, against Hillsdale again nonetheless, on Nov. 12. The winner will advance to the semifinals on Nov. 15 at a to-be-determined campus site.
Hockey
Women’s hockey completed the sweep against Vermont on Nov. 7 and Nov. 8, taking the first game 5-3 before demolishing the Catamounts in the second game 7-0.
Game one featured four power play goals by the Warriors. Lindsay DiPietro and Sam Poyton each netted two goals and Delayne Brian made 30 stops in net.
In the finale, Melissa Boal had two goals and four points while Brian earned her first career shutout.
The Warriors return home for two games against Northeastern on Nov. 14 and 15.
Fencing
At Penn State’s Garret Open, six WSU fencers competed in three events. Mykhaylo Mazur had the best finish of the day, placing second in the epee. The next event for the Warriors is the Michigan Open, which they will host on Dec. 8.
Swimming
After a week off, WSU returns to the pool for one of two home meets in the 2008-2009 season. The Warriors will host Calvin and Denison on Nov. 15 at 1 p.m. After locking up several NCAA qualifying times during its first two meets, WSU looks to build on those numbers in its first tri-meet of the campaign.
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