Tiger Cross Country Teams Looking for Another Big Year
After a strong finish last season Wittenberg’s men’s and women’s cross country teams are looking for more big things in 2025.
Both teams captured second-place finishes in the 2024 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Championships. On the men’s side, the Tigers were just 10 points behind leader Oberlin for the team title in the event that took place at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute, Indiana. It was the program's best performance since capturing the crown in 1996.
Wittenberg's women were looking for their third-straight NCAC cross country title. Despite significant graduation losses from the 2023 championship team, the Tigers came up just short in 2024 as the Tigers placed second in the eight-team field after scoring 49 points. Pre-championship favorite and event host DePauw won the conference title with 26 points.
Both squads have several top finishers to replace in order to duplicate such success in 2025.
Wittenberg’s men have five returning letterwinners, led by junior Lukas Rieben (Clayton, OH/Northmont), who made his All-NCAC debut in 2024 by placing sixth individually. Senior Lucas Eisele (Dayton, OH/West Carrollton) also picked up All-NCAC honors with a 13th-place finish last season. They will be joined in the lineup by sophomore Kamren Graham (Shaker Heights, OH / Shaker Heights), senior Taylor Insyxiengmay (Cincinnat, OH / Little Miami), and senior Zayden Taylor (Springfield, OH / Kenton Ridge), as well as several promising first-year college runners.
For the women, junior Maddi Clark (Mentor, OH/Mentor), who made her All-NCAC debut with a fifth-place finish in a time of 22:32.04 in 2024, will be one of the team leaders, along with senior Emma Hawk (Marion, OH/River Valley), who rounded out Wittenberg's top-10 finishers in the NCAC Championships, placing seventh with a mark of 22:55.55 to earn first-team All-NCAC honors. Hawk repeated as a first-team honoree from 2023 after also collecting second-team laurels in 2022. Witt also returns senior Mackenzie Kelley (Altoona, PA/Altoona Area), who notched a 14th-place finish at the NCAC Championships and tallied second-team All-NCAC accolades with a time of 23:30.31 last season.
Also back for Wittenberg’s women are junior Alex Couch (Howard, OH / Mount Vernon), sophomore Svetlana Daniels (London, OH / Madison Plains), sophomore Abigail Davison (Reynoldsburg, OH / Reynoldsburg), junior Aly Kolonchuk (Canal Winchester, OH / Canal Winchester), and sophomore Rachel Lahrmer (Sagamore Hills, OH / Nordonia).
Led by coach Paris Hilliard, who took the helm of both the cross country and track & field programs in 2019, and Chris Marco, who became the associate head coach for cross country in 2023, both teams open at Kenyon College on Friday, Aug. 29, beginning at 6:30 p.m. The regular season races will prepare the Tigers for the NCAC Championships, also at Kenyon, on Saturday, November 1, and the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Championships in Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday, November 15.
Written By: Cindy Holbrook
Graphic By: Ally White