WC's Duncan makes history Saturday afternoon at the OAC Championships

The Wilmington College women’s cross-country team finished in 10th place as a team with a score of 244 Saturday afternoon at the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Championships, hosted by Heidelberg University at Hillcrest Golf Course in a 6K race.

Faith Duncan (Lebanon HS/Lebanon, Ohio) had a historically good day for the Quakers. Not only did she win her sixth race of the season and become First-Team All-OAC, she did something that only two other girls in the history of Division III cross-country have achieved before her. She ran a time of 19:49.2, becoming just the third runner ever to finish a 6K race under 20 minutes.

The last to do it was Fiona Smith of the College of Saint Benedict, achieving the feat three times during the 2023 season, with a career best time of 19:51.1. Smith was the runner that Duncan defeated to win the 5K National Championship during the 2024 NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships in May. Missy Butry of Wartburg College was the other Division III female to finish a 6K cross-country race in under 20 minutes.

Other accomplishments for Duncan included becoming the Quakers first ever individual OAC cross-country champion and the first one to be a First Team All-OAC performer since Tricia Steffen finished seventh in 2014.

Sophomore Hayden Setty (Bethel, Ohio/Bethel-Tate HS) was the Quakers second finisher with a time of 25:20.2 and an 83rd place finish. Freshman Allyson Merriman (Xenia, Ohio/Xenia HS) was 109th, crossing the line in 27:55.1. The final three runners for Wilmington all finished next to each other in senior Bella Stevens (Kitts Hills, Ohio/Rock Hill HS, 30:09.1), junior Abby Jo Leiss (Fairfield, Ohio/Badin HS, 31:51.1) and freshman Leah Gorby (Proctorville, Ohio/Fairland HS, 32:12.8).

Every runner for the Quakers Saturday ran either a season-best or a career-best time.

The Quakers travel to Shelbyville, Ind. and Blue River Park for the NCAA Great Lakes Regional race on Nov. 16, scheduled for 11 a.m.

The Quakers ran this course earlier in the season in a meet at Franklin College at the beginning of September.
 

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