SPRINGFIELD – The Wilmington College cross country teams began their 2024 season Friday evening at the Wild Witt Exhibition Race, hosted by Wittenberg University.
Led by Noah Tobin, Wilmington’s men finished second with a score of 33.
The Quakers had four Top-10 finishers. Tobin won the 5K race by nearly 20 seconds with a time of 15:25.0, which is a collegiate best 5K for him. Tate Yoder was fourth at 16:04.1, Gabe Moore ran a career best 5K of 16:46.0 to finish in eighth, while Tyler Parks took ninth with a career best 5K of 16:55.6.
The final finisher for Wilmington, in his first collegiate race, was Henry Hildebrandt, who finished in 17th with a time of 17:39.9. Alo running their first collegiate races were Keegan Kidd (22nd, 19:27.9) and Dominic Capocciama (31st, 21:15.2).
Parks and Hildebrandt are Wilmington High School graduates.
The women were third in the team standings as Faith Duncan won her first cross country race in 15:07.1. The second-place finisher crossed the line in 15:56.0.
Sophomore Hayden Setty finished the race in 19:54.5, which gave her 14th place. Bella Stevens finished 24th in 21:44.9, and Allyson Merriman was 25th at 22:23.1.
The final scorer for the Quakers was Leah Gorby in 27th place with a time of 23:24.1. This was the first collegiate race for Merriman, Gorby, and Abby Jo Leiss (28th, 25:26.6).
The Quakers are back on the course Sept. 7 when they race at the Grizzly Invitational hosted by Franklin College.
