Story by David Wahl III
(Norton, Ohio) - The Wilmington College men's cross-country team traveled to the home of John Carroll University for the Great Lakes Regional Championships on Saturday. The Quakers finished the season as a team with a 13th-place finish with 428 points. Hosts, John Carroll, came away with the championship win with a score of 69. Calvin(82) and Mount Union(97) rounded out the top three for teams respectively.
Simon Heys has been the man of the year for the Quakers. The senior broke his own school record in the 8,000-meter win today. After crossing the line in 23:46.7, he won his first regional championship of his career and he punched his ticket to his third straight DIII National Championships. "It's a great feeling to show up the past three years and get the job done to get back to the National Championships," commented Heys after the race. "The goal has been to take everything week-by-week up until this point, and now with one week to go I can put absolutely eveything into one day." After the victory today, Heys continues his undefeated win streak against Division III competition during the 2023 season.
The Quakers had two other runners finish in the top-100 on the day. Noah Tobin finished number two on the team for the team and 18th-overall in the race. The junior crossed the line in a new personal best time of 24:28.7. Tobin will await the final announcements tomorrow to know if he qualified for the National Championships. Rounding out the top three is Tate Yoder with a 67th-place finish. The sophomore ran a personal best time to end the season, with a time of 25:07.4. "I am proud of the entire team and the effort they gave today," said Head Cross-Country Coach Ron Combs. "This group has shown a tremendous amount of improvement and growth throughout the season."
The Quakers will travel to Newville, Pennsylvania on November 18th for the Division III National Championships.
