Grace Nolan, a Clarkston runner and first-year medical student known for record-setting performances on the track, died before she could return to the Detroit Free Press Marathon as an elite athlete this year. She had been scheduled to compete in the race on Oct. 18.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Nolan had planned to return to the marathon as an elite athlete this year, but she died before that race day arrived. The newspaper, which first chronicled her marathon debut a year earlier, reported her death in a story published Oct. 20.
Nolan was a first-year medical student at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, according to oakland.edu. The university described her as one of two Horizon League representatives nominated for the 2025 NCAA Woman of the Year award, an honor that recognized both her academics and her standing as one of the conference's most accomplished distance runners.
A Record-Setting Runner Who Trained Before Class
Oakland University's announcement detailed just how far Nolan had pushed herself as both a scholar and an athlete. She set a Horizon League outdoor championship record in the 10K, the university noted, and earned Horizon League Conference All-Academic Team honors seven separate times. A “regular day,” per the same account, meant fitting in eight to 10 miles of running before class at OUWB.
That relentless balance between medicine and marathon training had already produced a notable result. The Free Press reported last October that Nolan, then 24, crossed the finish line of her first-ever marathon in fourth place on race day in 2025 — a debut performance that came as she was still training for her first 26.2-mile event, according to the university's own account of her preparation.
Nolan grew up in Clarkston, Michigan, the university said, and had been active in campus life well before her medical studies began. In 2022, she received Oakland University's Student Activities and Leadership Award for Outstanding Volunteer Student, recognition the university tied to her broader record of service alongside her athletic achievements.
Funeral Home Confirms Death, Sets Celebration of Life
An obituary for Grace Elizabeth Nolan of Clarkston was published by Lewis E. Wint and Son Funeral Home on Oct. 18, according to a listing on legacy.com. The listing confirms her death and schedules a celebration of life for Saturday, Oct. 31, at Oakland University, where she had been studying medicine.
The funeral home's own obituary page, hosted at wintfuneralhome.com, carries the same Oct. 18 publication date, memorializing her as Grace Elizabeth Nolan. Further details of the Oct. 31 gathering had not been made public as of this writing.
Nolan had been expected to toe the start line again this year as part of the marathon's broader elite field. The Detroit Free Press Marathon had unveiled its 2026 elite field, presented by MSU Federal Credit Union, describing a roster of runners drawn from across Metro Detroit, Michigan, Canada and the United States. Her planned return would have marked a second appearance on that elite stage, following the fourth-place finish that announced her as a marathon talent just a year before.
