Abi Gerstle
Wittenberg hosted the 19th annual NCAC Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships last Saturday at John Bryan State Park near Yellow Springs. It was the second race this season that Wittenberg hosted at picturesque the park, following the successful Wittenberg Invitational on Sept. 7.
Senior Abi Gerstle (Kettering, Ohio/Fairmont) took home the the individual NCAC women's cross country title for a second straight year, but it wasn't enought to bring victory to Wittenberg in the team standings. Her time of 18:46 was more than five seconds faster than the rest of the field. Overall, the women finished seventh of nine teams as Allegheny took the women's title.
Gerstle wasn't the only Tiger runner to post one of her best times of the season as freshmen Sarah Gearhart (Enon, Ohio/Greenon), Anna Finkelstein (Whitehall, Mich./Reeths-Puffer) and Tracy Butler (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead) all neared their career bests for a five-kilometer race and junior Becky Barnes (Williamsport, Ohio/Westfall) turned in a personal best.
The men didn't finished ninth of 10 teams, with senior Nick Dewald (Mansfield, Ohio/Senior) the highest place finisher, coming in 29th with a time of 27:34. His time was one second short of the season best for an eight-kilometer event.