Michigan State’s cross country teams are heading into a big Friday on familiar ground, and the setting makes the moment even bigger. The Spartans will host the 2026 NCAA Division I Great Lakes Regional at Forest Akers East Golf Course in East Lansing, with the women’s 6K set for 10:00 a.m.
ET and the men’s 10K to follow at 11:00 a.m. ET.
It’s a first for the program. Despite Forest Akers East’s long championship history, this is the first time Michigan State has served as the host institution for an NCAA Regional meet. The event is being staged in partnership with the Lansing Sports Commission, and it gives the Spartans a rare home-course advantage in one of the most important meets of the season.
The stakes are straightforward. The top two teams in each race earn automatic spots in the 2026 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships in Terre Haute, Indiana. In addition, the top four individual finishers not on an advancing team will also move on to nationals.
Forest Akers East has seen championship racing before. The course hosted seven straight NCAA Division I Men’s Cross Country Championships from 1958 to 1964 and has also been the site of six Big Ten Championship meets. Its open, rolling fairways are built for a true test, and Michigan State already has recent experience on the layout after opening the season there at September’s Spartan Invitational.
The regional field is loaded. More than 30 Division I programs from Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin are entered, making both races deep and unforgiving.
On the men’s side, No. 12 Wisconsin, No.
16 Notre Dame, No. 21 Michigan State, Butler, Notre Dame, and Indiana are among the teams in the mix.
The women’s field is led by No. 13 Notre Dame and Wisconsin, with Michigan and Indiana also in the hunt.
With only two automatic team bids available in each race, positioning and pack discipline will matter from the start.
Michigan State comes in with momentum from the Big Ten Championships in Verona, Wisconsin. The men finished third overall after putting together a tight scoring spread.
Sophomore Thomas Westphal led the way in fifth place in 23:16.1, with senior Riley Hough right behind in 12th at 23:20.3. Junior Moses Osterink placed 23rd in 23:38.7, junior Michael Hegarty was 25th in 23:42.9, sophomore Jasper Cane finished 28th in 23:47.6, freshman Beckett Crooks took 31st in a personal-best 23:49.2 to earn Big Ten All-Freshman team honors, and senior Parker Lambers came in 34th in 23:51.1.
The women were ninth in an 18-team field with 238 points. Freshman Klaire Eighner led the Spartans in 14th place in 20:13.1, good for All-Big Ten Second Team and All-Freshman Team recognition. Junior Taylor Pangburn finished 35th in 20:37.9, sophomore Maya Ledesma was 64th in 21:01.8, and senior Abrielle Schweitzer rounded out the primary pack in 72nd in 21:04.8.
The Spartan men, ranked No. 21, will move up to the 10,000-meter championship distance with the same seven-man rotation that produced the Big Ten podium finish. Westphal and Hough are expected to lead the way up front, while Osterink, Hegarty, Cane, and Lambers bring postseason experience to the longer race. Crooks, junior Seth Norder, and freshmen Aiden Pengally and Kyle O’Rourke add depth and options for the Green and White.
On the women’s side, Eighner headlines the 6,000-meter lineup after her All-Big Ten Second Team performance. She’ll be joined by Kaitlyn Reese, who enters her regional debut after winning the EMU Fall Classic and earning USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week honors. Pangburn brings course familiarity after leading MSU on this same layout at the Spartan Invitational, and Ledesma and Schweitzer are part of a deep group that also includes seniors Paige Marchant and Allison Cornell, graduate student Chloe Wall, sophomore Allie Nowak, senior Katrina Ford, and Sarah Forsyth.
Teams and individual runners advancing from the Great Lakes Regional will move on to the 2026 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Nov. 21, at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute. The full 32-team championship fields and individual at-large selections will be revealed during the NCAA Selection Show on Saturday, Nov. 14.
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