SPRINGFIELD, OH - On the last night of a record-breaking heat wave that baked Central Ohio for almost a week, the Wittenberg men's and women's cross country teams opened the 2024 season with a pair of winning performances in the Wild Witt Exhibition races.

The races were shortened to 4K for the women and 5K for the men and the start times were pushed back almost an hour than originally scheduled for the safety of the runners, who still competed in temperatures exceeding 90 degrees. On the women's side, Wittenberg took four of the top five positions to easily claim first place as a team with 20 points, followed by Spalding with 59 and Wilmington with 65. For the men, Wittenberg took three of the top five spots to finish with 28 points, followed by Wilmington with 33 and the University of Cincinnati's Running Club with 70. Spalding and Ohio State's Running Club also had individual runners entered in the competition.

Leading the way individually for the women were Maddi Clark (Mentor, OH / Mentor) in second place with a time of 15:56, Megan Keys (Dublin, OH / Jerome) in third with a time of 16:11, Emma Hawk (Marion, OH / River Valley) in fourth with a time of 16:27, and Alex Couch (Howard, OH / Mount Vernon) in fifth with a time of 17:12. Mackenzie Kelley (Altoona, PA / Altoona Area) rounded out the scorers for the Tigers as she placed seventh in a time of 17:29.

For the men, Brandon Anderson (Dexter, MI / Dexter) had an outstanding debut for the Tigers as he took second place with a time of 15:43. He was followed by Lukas Rieben (Clayton, OH / Northmont) in third place with a time of 15:53, Lucas Eisele (Dayton, OH / West Carrollton) in fifth place with a time of 16:24, Adam Arndt (Connersville, IN / Connersville) in 10th place in a time of 16:58, and Jack Miller (Rocky River, OH / Rocky River) in 12th place with a time of 17:04.