KETTERING, Ohio – The Wittenberg men's and women's cross country kicked off the 2013 season with a pair of fine performances at the Meijer Flyer Invitational, hosted by the University of Dayton at Indian Riffle Park.
The meet primarily included NCAA Division I scholarship programs, with Ohio State taking the top spot in both "Class A" competitions. Wittenberg and Denison were the only complete teams entered in the "Class B" races, with the Big Red winning the women's meet and the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) rivals tying in the men's race.
Wittenberg's men were paced by freshman Jon Osman (Troy, Ohio/Troy), who covered the 5K course in a time of 16:30 to finish first overall in the Class B standings. He was followed by senior Jacob Kuntz (Versailles, Ky./Woodford) in fifth place with a time of 17:09, freshman Nick Molnar (Mansfield, Ohio/Lexington) in sixth in 17:10 and senior Wade Westbrook (Columbus, Ohio/Whetstone) in seventh in 17:12. Rounding out the scorers for Wittenberg was junior Adam Kapuscinski (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore) in ninth place with a time of 17:36.
For the women, the leader was senior Shannon Kelleher (Hilliard, Ohio/Darby) in sixth place with a time of 21:28. Next up was freshman Erin Hord (Madison, Ohio/Madison) in eighth in 22:01, senior Maggie McIlvain (East Liverpool, Ohio/East Liverpool) in 10th in 22:31 and freshman Hannah Meier (North Muskegon, Mich./North Muskegon) in 11st in 22:58. The Tigers' scoring was capped by sophomore Sarah Webb (Twinsburg, Ohio/Twinsburg) in 12th place with a time of 23:15.
Head Coach Craig Penney said he was pleased with the results and looks forward to seeing his relatively young team develop, starting with the GLCA Championships at Ohio Wesleyan on Saturday, Sept. 7.