EAST GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Wittenberg cross country teams made their time in Michigan worthwhile with some productive performances. The men finished 15th of 19 teams in the Calvin Invitational and the women placed 19th of 22, but the real progress was indicated in the individual results.
"We're young, but we're getting better every week," head coach Craig Penney said. " I'm pleased at the progress we're making but we've got a long way to go and we're excited to continue to improve."
According to Penney, many of the Tiger women posted personal records in the meet, including junior Molly King (Springfield, Ohio/Northeastern) who finished in 48th place on a time of 19:13.7 among a field of 313 runners. Freshman Sarah Ellis (Grove City, Ohio/Grove City), finished the five-kilometer course in 21:38.5 to set a lifetime best.
Also establishing personal bests were senior Chelsey Williams (Fort Wayne, Ind./Canterbury) at 20:47.0, freshman Sarah Webb (Twinsburg, Ohio/Twinsburg) at 20:54.9, freshman Megan Heitkemper (Maineville, Ohio/Kings) at 22:34.8, senior Alyssa Hamilton (Parker, Colo./St. Mary's) at 21:14, sophomore Deanna Iwanyckyj (Water Mill, N.Y./Southhampton) at 22:59, junior Becca Agnor (Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Watkins Memorial) at 23:37, junior Danielle Mogle (Liberty Township, Ohio/Lakota West) at 24:28, freshman Jessica Jeffries (St. Mary's, Ohio/Memorial) at 24:12 and freshman Jordan Crow (North Las Vegas, Nev./Palo Verde) at 24:48.
The men had a solid nine finishes under 30 minutes in their first eight-kilometer race of the year, led by a 60th-place finish and final time of 26:26.9 by junior Jacob Kuntz (Versailles, Ky./Woodford).
Senior Trevor Grandy (Columbus, Ohio/Grandview) pulled in behind Kuntz in 81st on a time of 26:47.0, followed by sophomore Adam Kapuscinski (Cincinnati, Ohio/Sycamore) at 28:20.1, senior Aaron Long (Columbus, Ohio/Worthington Kilbourne) at 28:34.3, senior Adam Markins (Chillicothe, Ohio/Union Scioto) at 29:01.3, sophomore Andrew Ziminski (New Albany, Ohio/New Albany) at 29:05.2, sophomore Austin Butler (Carroll, Ohio/Bloom-Carroll) at 29:07.9, junior Chris Navarre (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington) at 29:19.5 and junior Sean Redfield (Fredonia, NY/St. Francis) at 29:36.1.
Heading into their next meet, the Pre-North Coast Athletic Conference Invitational, hosted this year by Wooster on Saturday, Sept. 15, Penney said the team is in good spirits.
"The attitude's really good and their work ethic is phenomenal. It's really fun right now."
John Strawn