Sept. 6, 2008

The Wayne State University Men's Cross Country team had three competitors finish in the top 10 joining the Warrior women with a fourth-place finish at The 22nd Annual Running Fit-Detroit Invitational.

Abdullah Saleh (Dearborn, Mich.) crossed the finish line second 13 seconds behind Oakland University's Zack Jones. Saleh's time of 20:12 is his best performance in meet history.

Dan Kapadia (Canton, Mich.) and Nick Krol (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) also placed in the top 25. Kapadia finished seventh with a time of 20:39 while Krol ran 20:54 and finished 19th.

Coach Rick Cummins on the Running Fit-Detroit Invitational:

"Today was a solid day in our progression. We don't get excited or dejected about early season races. They really don't matter. We got solid workouts in for most of our athletes and that is what counts. Tactically we made some mistakes that we won't make later in the season. I'm to blame for that. The fields were larger than normal for this race and we had some people way too far back for the first third of each race. This isn't a mistake that is made in a race at the end of the season. The relevant observations are that our new guys are tough, our sophomore guys have learned a ton from last year, and that Kristi Werner and Annie Magin are mentally in it this year. We still have a long way to go this year but I like what I see ahead. We have a deep guys team that works hard and a talented women's team, albeit small in numbers. This year is going to be fun."

The Warriors will compete this Saturday, September 13 at the Mel Brodt Invitational in Bowling Green, Ohio. The race is scheduled to begin at 10:45 a.m.