Record-Breaking Day at NCAC Outdoor Championships as Tigers Place Second
GAMBIER, OH - After a successful day one of competition at the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Outdoor Track and Field Championships, the Tigers continued to perform well in day two, headlined by a host of winning and record-breaking performances.
As a team, the Tigers placed second with 156 points, 7.5 behind John Carroll for the top spot. Wittenberg passed Wabash in the final two events, similar to what occurred at the Indoor Championships, putting the Little Giants in third place in the final standings with 145.5.
In the 400-meter dash, Jack Kittle (Chagrin Falls, OH / Chagrin Falls) broke the NCAC and Wittenberg program records with a time of 46.56 seconds, becoming the first person in Wittenberg history to finish the 400 in under 47 seconds. Lukas Rieben (Clayton, OH / Northmont) won the 5,000 meter run in a school and conference record time of 14:32.25 seconds, breaking the NCAC record by eight seconds and the school record by 12 seconds. After his record-breaking performance in the 110 meter hurdle prelims yesterday, Kory Davis (Brookville, OH / Brookville) took first in the finals with the second best time in the NCAC, with his time of 14.19 seconds.
For the first top finish three of the day, Jeremiah Owusu (Columbus, OH / Thomas Worthington) took the third spot in the high jump with a leap of 1.93 meters, also leaping into the top 10 in program history. In the next field event for the men, Max Green (Centerville, OH / Centerville) took finished third in the hammer throw with a toss of 50.99 meters to launch him into the top three in school history. In the first running event of the day, the 4x100 meter team of Kittle, Cameron Elliott (Springfield, OH / Springfield), Neal Godfrey (Columbus, OH / St. Francis DeSales) and Elijah Simmons (Jacksonville, FL / Groveport Madison (OH)) added another third-place finish in a time of 41.42 seconds, just over three tenths of a second from the program record. Along with the number one finish for Davis in the 110 meter hurdles, Riley Payne (Hamilton, OH / Trenton Edgewood) added another third place finish for the Tigers with a time of 14.71 seconds. Simmons then took second place in the 100 meter final in 10.64 seconds, less than two tenths of a second behind school record time. The Tigers also went one-two in the 400-meter hurdles and Davis took first in time of 53.80 seconds and Owen Bier (Elyria, OH / Midview) was right on his tail in 53.81 seconds, both putting themselves into the program's top-10 list. The Tigers went one-two back to back, as Kittle was first in the 200-meter dash in 21.06 seconds to break his own NCAC and school records, and Simmons was second in 21.52 seconds. The Tigers closed out the meet by taking first in the 4x400-meter relay team of Simmons, Kittle, Bier and Jhoodley Tilien (Springfield, OH / Springfield) with the time of 3:16.45 to add another time to the Wittenberg top 10.
The Tigers racked up some individual hardware at the event of the meet as Kittle earned NCAC Outdoor Sprint/Hurdles Athlete of the Year and Rieben claimed NCAC Outdoor Distance/Mid-Distance Athlete of the Year honors. Kittle won the same award in 2025, while Rieben made a 2026 sweep of his award after also earning it in the Indoor Championships.
Next week, a small number of athletes will travel to Illinois to compete in the University of St. Francis Fighting Chance Invite to compete with a chance to improve on or reach a time to qualify for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships. Kittle is currently in good shape to qualify for the national event in the 200-meter dash, 400-meter dash, and the 4x400-meter relay, and Davis is in good shape to advance in the 110-meter hurdles and as a member of the 4x400-meter relay.