Alex’s Great State Race returns to honor MSU student’s legacy
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — It’s not every day that Spartans and Wolverines run side by side, but every year, the two rivals team up for something much bigger. Alex’s Great State Race returned for its 12th year Friday to unite Michigan State University and the University of Michigan in a 64-mile run of the official game ball from Ann Arbor to East Lansing.
The race honors the legacy of Alex Powell, an MSU student and sports enthusiast, who was supported by the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities at Michigan State University while undergoing cancer treatment at Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor. Powell passed away on May 8, 2011, but his spirit lives on through this annual event.
“Continuing this race year after year is really important for expanding awareness around disability initiatives around Alex’s legacy as we continue to have students that, and employees for that matter, that have disabilities,” said Associate Director of the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities at MSU Shelby Gombosi.
ROTC Cadets began the race at midnight in Ann Arbor and ended Friday morning in East Lansing.
Event officials say the race not only commemorates Powell’s legacy but also serves as a platform to highlight the importance of student disability services at both universities.
ROTC Cadets running game ball from Ann Arbor to East Lansing
“It’s also an opportunity to bring awareness to disability in general about inclusive practices and let folks know in an arena like such as athletics that you don’t often talk about the disability, that this is a part of human nature,” Gombosi said.
New RCPD director Allen Shefield ran the race for the first time this year, and says the highlight was seeing MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz and Athletic Director J. Batt join the runners for the final mile.
“To have two schools come together for 12 years and be doing this like on such a momentous occasion like the rivalry game. It just stays with you,” Shefield said.
Shefield says the resilience and competitive energy the cadets displayed during the run overnight and throughout the morning resembled traits Alex carried throughout his life and his battle against cancer.
“They’ve been running. They’ve been in the dead of night. They had an energy that I couldn’t imagine,” Shefield said. “I think that speaks a lot to the strength of our students, regardless of the school.”
According to MSU, in 2024, the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities at MSU served nearly 5,000 students with accommodations to support their academic success.
