Tiger Track & Field Teams In Contention After Day 1 Of NCAC Indoor Championships

SPRINGFIELD, OH - Competing in their home facility, the state-of-the-art Steemer fieldhouse, Wittenberg's men's and women's track & field teams put together an outstanding opening day of the 2026 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Indoor Championships.

Thanks to a pair of first-place finishes, in addition to a win in last week's pentathlon by Nicolas Farfoglia (Manchester, MD / Manchester Valley), the Tiger men are in the hunt for a second straight team title. Wittenberg is in second place with 43 points, three points behind Wabash for the lead, and 14 points ahead of third-place DePauw with 29. On the women's side, the Tigers are hanging tough in third place with 46 points, six back of the leader, John Carroll, and four behind defending champion DePauw.

The final day of the championships takes place in The Steemer on Saturday, Feb. 28. Events start at 10 a.m.

Event winners for Wittenberg's men were freshman Antonio Weaver (Columbus, OH / Independence), who took the top spot in the long jump with a mark of 7.04 meters, which tied the meet record, and junior Lukas Rieben (Clayton, OH / Northmont) finished first in the 5000 meters with a time of 14:56.28.

In addition to the big points earned for the team by the event-winners, the Tigers added to their totals thanks to strong finishes by Neal Godfrey (Columbus, OH / St. Francis DeSales), who placed sixth in the long jump with a mark of 6.81 meters, and a trio of top-eight finishers in the men's weight throw. Max Green (Centerville, OH / Centerville) finished fourth with a mark of 15.97 meters, Max Martindale (Mason, OH / Lakota West) finished sixth with a mark of 15.37 meters, and AJ Sutherly (Marysville, OH / Marysville) finished seventh with a mark of 15.34 meters.

Most of the running events on Day 1 were prelims. Numerous Wittenberg runners advanced to the finals races scheduled for Saturday, highlighted by Cameron Elliott (Springfield, OH / Springfield), who set a school record in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.71.

For Wittenberg's women, freshman Rebekah Case (Mansfield, OH / Lucas) was the top point-scorer as she finished second in the pole vault with a mark of 3.45 meters, followed by senior Tiffany Hix (Prospect, OH / Elgin) in third place, also with a mark of 3.45 meters, and Story Laing (Granville, OH / Granville) in seventh with a mark of 3.25 meters.

Elsewhere, freshman Kerrington Harper (Mason, OH / Mason) finished fourth in the long jump with a mark of 5.37 meters and freshman Tyra Jackson (Lorain, OH / Lorain) placed seventh in the long jump with a mark of 5.19 meters, and Maddi Clark (Mentor, OH / Mentor) finished eighth with a time of 18:11.54.

Written By: Ryan Maurer

Story Laing, Tiffany Hix, and Rebekah Case, Wittenberg's pole vault trio | Photo by John Coffman