KETTERING, Ohio - The Wittenberg men's cross country team placed third and the women finished fourth on Saturday in the highly competitive Meijer Flyer Challenge hosted by the University of Dayton at Indian Riffle Park to open the season.
The men's first-place finish came behind intercollegiate division champion Shawnee State and Ohio Northern, and ahead of Rio Grande, Ohio Valley, Thomas More and Urbana. Division I competitors, scored separately for team finishes but not for individual finishes, included Miami, Dayton, IUPUI, Wright State and Moorhead State.
Pacing the men's effort was paced by sophomore Trevor Grandy (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman) who placed 41st with a time of 16:08 on the 5-kilometer course.
Grandy was followed closely by freshman Jacob Kuntz (Versailles, Ky./Woodford) in his first race as a Tiger with a time of 16:12 to finish 47th, and senior Kevin Frick (Columbus, Ohio/Grandview) in 53rd at 16:17. Other notable finishes included junior Jarrett Cowgill (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) in 59th and freshman Wade Westbrook (Columbus, Ohio/Whetstone) and sophomore Adam Markins (Chillicothe, Ohio) in 73rd and 74th, respectively.
The women trailed only Ohio Northern, Cedarville and Shawnee State in their race, and beat out Rio Grande, Thomas More, Urbana and Ohio Valley. Crossing the finish line first for the Tigers was freshman Shannon Kelleher (Hilliard, Ohio/Darby) in 44th place with a time of 19:48.
Freshman Maggie McIlvain (East Liverpool, Ohio/East Liverpool) followed Kelleher in 50th place with a time of 20:03, with freshman Molly King (Springfield, Ohio/Northeastern) close behind with a time of 20:06, good for 54th place. Sophomore Amy Stamon (Louisville, Ky./Assumption) was also not far off in 58th with a time of 20:09, while junior Anna Henry (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) was 66th at 20:30.
Now that the season is open, the Tigers head to the Great Lakes Colleges Association cross country championships on Saturday, Sept. 11, held at Liberty Park in Powell, Ohio, and hosted by Ohio Wesleyan University