TERRE HAUTE, IN - After entering the 2024 cross country season with aspirations of an All-America finish that would put an exclamation point on an incredible collegiate career, Conor Kolka (Dexter, MI/Dexter) found himself struggling with an injury that might have derailed lesser athletes. He battled back late in the season, earning his fourth straight All-North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) award, his fourth straight All-Great Lakes Region award, and his second straight berth in the NCAA Division III National Championships.

They might not have been the first-place finishes he had envisioned before the season, but he overcame adversity to achieve more than any Tiger men's cross country runner in program history. After finishing sixth in the Great Lakes Regional Championships with a time in the 8K race of 24:57.54 on Saturday, Nov. 16, Kolka placed 163rd in a field of 294 runners at the National Championship meet on Saturday, Nov. 23, crossing the finish line in a time of 25:33.3.

A year ago, Kolka placed 145th in a time of 25:58 in the NCAA Championship meet that took place at Big Spring High School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Kolka is one of just four runners to ever qualify for the national meet, joining Dale Markley in 1975, Tom Dann in 1977, and Jeremy Kaufman in 1994. Kolka is the only Tiger runner to compete in two national meets - Dann also qualified in 1975, but he was not selected to participate in the national meet.

For Kolka, the emotions after crossing the finish line of his final intercollegiate cross country race were bittersweet. But he knows he left it all on the course, and he knows the contributions he made to the Wittenberg program are significant.

"This year hasn't been the one I hoped it to be as a senior," Kolka said. "But I know I can be happy with what I have accomplished in the last four years. Knowing that I have moved this program forward in a big way still lets me keep my head high as I exit my cross country season for the final time. Here's to the glory days!"