GRANVILLE — Junior Conor Kolka (Dexter, Mich./Dexter) was named the North Coast Athletic Conference Mid-Distance/Distance Athlete of the Year and junior Cameron Elliott (Springfield, Ohio/Springfield) broke a school record as the Wittenberg men's track and field team closed out the NCAC Outdoor Championships in second place on Saturday at Denison. Kolka, Elliott and sophomore Grayson Ring (Tipp City, Ohio/Tippecanoe) all won titles on Saturday.

The Basics

• Venue: Piper Stadium - Granville, Ohio
• Wittenberg scored 144 points to place second in the nine-team field. Wabash won the team title with 156 points, and Denison was third with 135 points. Wittenberg entered Saturday tied with Denison for the lead with 48 points each.
• The top three finishers in each event earn All-NCAC honors, and the top eight finishers score team points.

Wittenberg's Top Performers

• Elliott won the championship in the 400 meters in a school-record time of 47.88 seconds. The prior school record was 47.90 seconds set by Justin Yates in 2014.
• Kolka won the championship in the 5,000 meters in 14:47.83. He was also the champion in 10,000 meters on Friday.
• Ring won the high jump championship with a mark of 1.97 meters.
• The Tigers posted seven additional All-Conference finishes.
• The team of Elliott, Ring and seniors Zeke Bennett (Hilliard, Ohio/Bradley) and Ian McCandlish (Lancaster, Ohio/St. Francis DeSales) placed third in the 4x400 relay in 3:19.44.
• The team of Ring, senior Matt Drovdlic (Hilliard, Ohio/Bradley) and freshmen Neal Godfrey (Columbus, Ohio/St. Francis DeSales) and Caiden Allen (Ontario, Ohio/Plymouth) placed third in the 4x100 relay in 42.56 seconds.
• Bennett was third in the 400 in 48.51 seconds, junior Justin Norris (Middletown, Ohio/Middletown Christian) was third in the high jump with a mark of 1.94 meters, freshman Jayden McKinster (Springfield, Ohio/Springfield) was third in the shot put with a mark of 15.01 meters, freshman Owen Bier (Elyria, Ohio/Midview) was third in the 400-meter hurdles in 54.99 seconds, and sophomore Lucas Eisele (West Carrollton, Ohio/West Carrollton) was third in the 5,000 in 15:16.30.
• The Tigers posted seven additional top-eight finishes.
• Allen and Drovdlic were fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 100 in 11.15 seconds and 11.25 seconds.
• Bennett and Elliott were fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 200 in 22.23 and 22.54 seconds.
• In the hammer throw, sophomore Max Green (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) was sixth with a mark of 45.89 meters, freshman Zeth Cowin (Wilmington, Ohio/Wilmington) was seventh with a mark of 42.98 meters, and sophomore AJ Sutherly (Marysville, Ohio/Marysville) was eighth with a mark of 40.34 meters.

Quote - Junior Conor Kolka

• "Going 1 and 3 in both the 5k and 10k with Lucas was truly amazing. But behind those top places, people didn't see the miles we put in to get there and I couldn't be more proud of that. Because of all that work, getting recognized as Distance Athlete of the Year made it all worth it."

Up Next

• The Tigers return to action on May 10 at the Harrison Dillard Twilight meet at Baldwin Wallace.