Jessica Rizzo
Ben McCombs
Springfield, Ohio — The Wittenberg University men's and women's cross country teams continue the 2007 season with the annual Wittenberg Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 8, at the Springfield Masonic Home. Six schools - Capital, Cedarville, Central State, Muskingum, Wilmington and Rio Grande - are scheduled to join the host Tigers in the competition, which starts with the men's eight-kilometer race at 10:15 a.m. and concludes with the women's five-kilometer race at 11:15 a.m.
Wittenberg kicked off the 2007 campaign with a solid race at the University of Dayton's Meijer Flyer 5K on Sept. 1. Wittenberg's men and women both finished third in their first competition under second-year Head Coach Craig Penney. In a race that included six NCAA Division I or II scholarship programs, Wittenberg scored top-70 finishes overall from Kevin Frick, class of 2011 from Columbus, Ohio in 56th in the men's race and Katie McIlvain, class of 2009 from East Liverpool, Ohio in 68th in the women's competition.
The Tiger men have 13 returning letterwinners, while the Tiger women have nine in 2007 to go along with an outstanding recruiting class. Wittenberg placed second in the men's Wittenberg Invitational competition a year ago, 14 points behind Wilmington, while Wittenberg's women captured the top spot on the strength of four individual top-10 finishes. The Tiger men went on to finish ninth in the North Coast Athletic Conference championships for a third straight year and the Tiger women placed seventh, up one spot from the previous two seasons.
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