Wilmington College women’s cross-country gears up for first meet Friday evening
The Wilmington College women’s cross-country team begins their 2024 season at the Clark County Fairgrounds for the Wild Witt Exhibition, hosted by Wittenberg University on Friday. The Quakers will run a 5k that begins at 6 p.m.
A Look Back
The Quakers finished ninth at the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Championships during the 2023 season and 36th at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional meet.
Key Pieces Lost
The Quakers have five runners that are gone from last season's roster. Kaitlyn Rauch competed in all seven races for Wilmington last season and was the lone senior to compete at the OAC Championships and NCAA Great Lakes Regional.
Key Returners
Sophomores Hayden Setty and Meghan Cory are back for the Quakers, as two of their best runners from last season. Setty had two Top 20 finishes and three Top-40 finishes for Wilmington. She also finished 42nd at the OAC Championships. Her season-best time in the 6k was 24:13.1 at the OAC Championships, while she ran a season best 5k of 20:40.7 at the JennaStrong Fall Classic.
Cory had one Top-50 race for Wilmington last season and finished 53rd at the OAC Championships. Her best 6k came at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional with a time of 23:40.5, while her season best 5k was 20:49.6 at the JennaStrong Fall Classic.
Newcomers
A key piece to this year's team comes in the form of junior Faith Duncan. She transferred to Wilmington ahead of the indoor track & field season in 2023 and had a great first semester as a Quaker.
She was an All-American in the 3,000 Meter Run indoors after finishing in seventh place before shocking the field in the 5,000 Meter Run during outdoor season and winning the National Championship. She became the first outdoor National Champion at Wilmington College since 2006. Duncan looks to bring that success to the course for her first season at Wilmington in cross-country.
The Quakers welcome four freshmen to the team, along with junior Abby Jo Leiss, who began her time at Wilmington as a member of the women’s basketball team. She is from Fairfield and attended Stephen T. Badin High School.
The four freshmen are Leah Gorby from Proctorville and Fairland High School. Allyson Merriman is from Xenia and Xenia High School. Sara Schwierling hails from Ripley and Ripley-Union-Lewis-Huntington (RULH) High School, and the final freshman is Anesu Zviiteyi.
Coaching Staff
Ron Combs is in his 28th season at the helm of the men's and women’s cross-country programs. Combs is a Wilmington College graduate that has coached countless All-OAC performers and All-Region performers during his time as a Quaker. Wilmington's best finish on the women’s side in the OAC was third place in 2000 and 2011. The 2000 season also saw their best regional performance in eighth place.
Tristen Durr is the head men's and women’s track & field coach, while also a cross-country assistant coach. Durr has grown the Quakers program into one of the nation's elite throws programs and a Top 10 program over the last two seasons at the outdoor National Championships.
Josh Cyrus enters year three as an assistant coach for both the cross-country and track & field programs. Cyrus is a Wilmington graduate who competed for four years within the program. Cyrus is the team's sprints coach during track & field season and works hard to get the best out of the Quakers runners.
Hannah Jones enters year one as the graduate assistant coach for the men's and women’s cross-country and track & field programs. She graduated from North Central College in 2024 and was a Second Team All-American twice during the 2023-24 season in the Pentathlon (Indoors) and Javelin Throw (Outdoors).
What to Watch For
The Quakers have seven meets on the schedule, along with Nationals, if they have a qualifier. The four meets that stand out are Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind. on Oct. 4, the JennaStrong Fall Classic in Wilmington on Oct. 18 and the OAC Championships in Tiffin on Nov. 2 before the NCAA Great Lakes Regional meet on Nov. 16.
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