Hosting the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships at Forest Akers East is a massive undertaking, and Michigan State has spent months getting ready for it.
The meet is set for Nov. 13, 2026, and the job behind the scenes stretches far beyond simply laying out a course. MSU, the Lansing Sports Commission and Forest Akers have been working together since spring 2026 to prepare for more than 60 cross-country teams and roughly 450 runners.
Barbara Powers, a sports event manager for the Lansing Sports Commission, said the scale of the operation depends on a lot of moving parts coming together at once.
"It takes an army of people to bring all the logistics of this meet together," Powers said. "We rely on staff from MSU, the Lansing Sports Commission, Playmakers, Forest Akers, officials, and dozens of volunteers. Everyone has a specific role, and it only works when all those pieces come together."
That work includes making sure the course meets NCAA standards, lining up officials, handling parking and shuttle service, finding volunteers, and coordinating medical support and media coverage.
At Forest Akers, the course itself needs a long checklist before runners ever arrive. Jason Edick, an operations manager for Forest Akers, said the process starts with measurements and course markings, then moves into the details that help runners stay on track.
"We have a committee come out, take all the measurements to get the race length set properly, go through and paint all the various lines for the course, and then just add any necessary signage to tell runners where to turn," Edick said.
November weather adds another layer of uncertainty. Edick said Forest Akers dealt with about 10 inches of snow during its last similar event, and staff had to use smaller utility vehicles to clear paths around the course. That kind of experience has shaped the planning for whatever conditions show up this time.
Contingency plans include snow removal, heating and safe footing for both runners and spectators. Edick said heaters have already been added to the tent areas.
"We added heaters to all the tent areas so that the runners could stay warm prior to the race and after the race," Edick said. "We just have to be prepared, because you can have 70 degrees and clear skies, where you don't have to do anything special, or you could run into rain or snow, which drastically changes the course conditions."
MSU’s hosting of the Big Ten Championships last season also gave organizers a useful reference point. Powers said teams were pleased with the layout and setup, and that event helped staff see what worked, what needed tweaking and what to expect when another championship-level meet came to campus.
The regional will use a similar setup, though spectator traffic and shuttle service will be handled differently. Fans will be shuttled directly to the course.
For the people putting it all together, the goal is bigger than just getting the race off the ground. The idea is to handle the logistics so well that athletes can focus entirely on competing, with the whole event feeling like a championship from start to finish.
In Other News...
Michigan State Just Gave Pat Fitzgerald His First Defining Win
Michigan States 15-6 win over Michigan gave Pat Fitzgerald a signature moment early in his tenure, and it came in the kind of game that can tell you a lot about a programs direction. The Spartans had to piece things together through injuries and roster challenges, but they still found enough from Tommy Carr, Brandon Tullis, Chrishon McCray and a steady special teams effort to grind out a result that felt bigger than a single rivalry game.
For Fitzgerald, the value of the victory goes beyond the scoreboard. Michigan State did not just survive a difficult afternoon, it showed the sort of toughness and structure that coaches spend months trying to build, especially when the roster is stretched thin. A win like this can become a reference point for a new era, and the Spartans now have one to point to as they keep shaping what this team is supposed to look like. [Read more 🡒]
Mark Dantonio Had The Perfect Reaction To Michigan State's Rivalry Win
Michigan States rivalry win over Michigan landed as one of those results that instantly travels beyond the box score, especially with the Spartans pulling it off as a double-digit underdog. The game had the kind of defensive edge that tends to define this matchup, and for a program still measuring itself against its biggest in-state rival, it carried the sort of weight that goes well beyond one afternoon.
Mark Dantonio noticed. The former Michigan State coach took to social media to celebrate the upset, nodding back to his famous line about the rivalry and reminding everyone how deeply these games can resonate around East Lansing. Under current coach Pat Fitzgerald, the Spartans now have a victory that fits squarely into the programs larger culture, even if the conversation around it is still very much alive. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan Just Exposed A Bigger Problem Than Losing To Michigan State
Michigans 15-6 loss to Michigan State did more than flip the scoreboard in a rivalry game where the Wolverines were favored by two touchdowns. It put a spotlight on the kind of offensive unraveling that has followed Michigan through stretches of the 2026 season, with just 192 total yards, four turnovers and a ground game that was outperformed by the Spartans.
For Michigan State, the win was the cleanest possible answer to a game the Wolverines were expected to control, but the bigger takeaway for the maize-and-blue side is how many problems surfaced at once. The offense never found rhythm, the coaching decisions came under scrutiny and even special teams became part of the conversation, leaving Michigan with more to sort through than a single bad result. [Read more 🡒]