Pinckney's star running trio to go separate ways in college
PINCKNEY — They’ve taken nearly every step of their running journeys together, going back to fourth grade.
From humble beginnings in a one-mile race in Pinckney on Sept. 18, 2015, to team and individual success on the state and national levels, Evan Loughridge, Paul Moore and Ethan Sandula have logged thousands of miles together.
So it was fitting that, even though they will go their separate ways after high school, they celebrated their college signings together Monday.
Loughridge signed with Michigan State, Moore with Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia and Sandula with Oakland.
“It was real important for me to do it together,” Loughridge said. “We’ve been through high school together, training together. We were just this group. We have a lot of talent, the three of us. We’ve just worked to make each other better and everything throughout high school.”
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“It means a lot to me, just because we’ve been running together for the past eight years,” Moore said. “From where we began to where we are now, it means everything to be able to celebrate this with them.”
Loughridge, Moore and Sandula form one of the greatest distance running trios in the same class ever in Livingston County. The only comparable group is Brighton’s Jack Spamer, Zach Stewart and Scott Spaanstra, who led the Bulldogs to a state Division 1 championship as seniors in 2019.
Spamer and Stewart currently are running at the University of Michigan, while Spaanstra is at Grand Valley State.
All three had high all-state finishes in cross country this season. Moore was fifth in Division 2 in 15:13.5, Loughridge was 10th in 15:28.5 and Sandula was 16th in 15:41.6. They led the Pirates to a state runner-up finish, their best showing since winning a third consecutive Division 1 crown in 2007.
As much as they would have loved to continue running together in college, that decision is too important and too personal to make based on sentiment.
“We did it more individualized,” Sandula said. “We talked about it, but Paul wanted to do industrial design, me wanting to do some computer science. The schools never aligned perfectly. It was a common joke, ‘Oh, we should all go to the same place.’”
Why Michigan State, Oakland and SCAD?
Loughridge chose Michigan State after a recruiting process that began over the summer.
“I love the coach’s running philosophy,” Loughridge said. “He reminds me of the better qualities of coaches I’ve had in the past. I like the team, too. They remind me of my current team now.
“The biggest thing he wanted to drive home when I was there is they’re really interested in my long-term growth throughout college, rather than some colleges who will just recruit a bunch of kids, put them on 90 miles a week and see who survives. It seems like he’s coaching in my best interest.”
Running at the major college level was important for Loughridge, who has been all-state twice in cross country and once on the track.
“I just felt like there would be real strong competition and resources to get better at a college like that,” he said.
Sandula will also run at the NCAA Division I level at Oakland, a school that has been on his radar his entire career.
“Coming into my freshman year, I had a coach, Michael Cox, who ran for them,” Sandula said. “He kind of inspired me to want to run in college. Honestly, I just followed in his path to go to Oakland. It just kind of ended up working out. The coaches and people are nice, it’s just a nice area.”
After competing since fourth grade, Sandula isn’t ready to quit running competitively any time soon.
“I’ve told the guys I want to do an Ironman, I want to do a marathon,” he said. “I think that would be cool. My dad’s done Ironmans and marathons. Or a triathlon, some type of endurance thing. It would be a real cool accomplishment.”
Moore, a two-time cross country all-stater with a personal best of 15:11.2, definitely has the talent to run for a Division I university.
But he was looking at life after his racing days, choosing an NAIA program that is a great fit for his career goals.
“At the end of the day, I’m going to graduate, I’m going to get a degree and (running’s) going to get put behind me,” Moore said. “I’m looking forward to the academic part of it.”
SCAD sent an email to Pinckney coach Jim Wicker, who relayed the information to Moore during the summer. Moore nearly disregarded it.
“Usually, I don’t pay too much attention to those, but I noticed it was an art school, so that really caught my attention, because I knew I was going to be an art major,” Moore said. “I just reached out to the coach, we set up some Zoom calls and it seemed like it was a good fit. After a few visits, I realized SCAD was the place for me.”
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Where will Pinckney cross country's standout runners attend college
