The Wittenberg cross country teams competed in the Cedarville Friendship Invitational at John Bryan State Park on Sept. 20 and came away feeling pretty good about the improvement they showed in one week's time. The teams ran the same course two weeks in a row for the Wittenberg Invitational and the Cedarville competition.

While the women finished sixth in the six-team competition, all five teams above them were members of NCAA or NAIA scholarship divisions. Senior Becky Barnes (Williamsport, Ohio/Westfall) showed the way with a personal-best time of 19:45, which was good for 13th place.

That was one of five personal-best times turned in by Tiger women runners, along with seven other season-best times. The other four scorers for the Tigers were sophomore Tracy Butler (Fort Wayne, Ind./Homestead), sophomore Anna Finkelstein (Whitehall, Mich./Reeths-Puffer), freshman Sarah Yehle (West Lafayette, Ind./West Lafayette) and senior Nikki Norcia (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick). All four had either a season-best or personal-best time.

On the men's side, the Tigers again finished sixth in a field of all scholarship programs. Sophomore Chris Petrik (Highland Heights, Ohio/Mayfield) led the team with a 32nd-place finish with a time of 28:59. He was followed by two runners who finished with personal-best times, freshman Matt Dilworth (New Carlisle, Ohio/Tecumseh) and senior Jeff Domingus (London, Ohio/London). Rounding out the scorers for Wittenberg were senior Tim Damopoulos (Grove City, Ohio/Grove City) with a season-best time and sophomore John Compton (Springfield, Ohio/Shawnee). In all, six men turned in personal-best times and two others had season bests.

After a week off, the Tigers will be back in action next weekend at Dickinson College.