Tigers Preview NCAA Course At King's Island

MASON, Ohio – The Wittenberg cross country teams ran the 2014 NCAA Division III national championship meet course today at Wilmington College's Pre-National Championship Meet at The Golf Center at King's Island.

Both the men and women trotted to a 21^st-place finish, the men among a field of 31 teams and the women a field of 27.

Leading the men was sophomore Jon Osman (Troy, Ohio/Troy) in 34^th on a time of 24:50.08 at a pace of 4:59.8 per mile on the 8-kilometer course. He was followed by senior Andrew Ziminski (New Albany, Ohio/New Albany) in 166^th in the 375-runner field on a time of 26:35.25.

Other scorers for the Tigers included sophomore Chase Gage (Columbus, Ohio/Grandview) at 26:44.43, sophomore Ethan Raines (Maineville, Ohio/Little Miami) at 27:04.46 and sophomore Kevin Stewart (Springfield, Ohio/Emmanuel Christian) at 27:16.17.

For the women, sophomore Erin Hord (Madison, Ohio/Madison) crossed the finish line first, taking a final place of 74^th in a field 321 runners deep. She covered the 6-kilometer course in a time of 22:59.48. Junior Lorin Conti (Milford, Ohio/Milford) pulled in next, finishing 132^nd on a time of 23:50.70.

Other scorers for the women included junior Megan Heitkemper (Maineville, Ohio/Kings) at 24:37.67, sophomore Hannah Meier (North Muskegon, Mich./North Muskegon) at 24:41.90 and freshman Stephanie Atkinson (Lebanon, Ohio/Lebanon) at 24:57.96.

Head coach Craig Penney was pleased with the teams' performance.

"That was some solid racing by the Tiger squads. We're very excited as we move forward to the All-Ohio meet at Cedarville on Friday. This was a nice step forward, and we as a coaching staff are thrilled with the overall performance out here today."

John Strawn '07