CEDARVILLE – The Wilmington College men's cross country team finished 14 of 21 Division III teams at the 2013 All-Ohio Cross Country championships at Cedarville University Friday.

Senior Alek Erwin was 10th in the Division III race, and seventh out of Ohio Athletic Conference runners, with the time of 26:29.96. It's a major improvement from his 21st place finish a season ago.

"Alek is running with a lot of confidence right now," said head coach Ron Combs. "He ran right there with the guys in the OAC. We have a month to figure it out, and he is gonna have a chance to win (the OAC Championships)."

With one month left before the OAC Cross Country meet, the Quakers have to push through some fatigue.

"We are really in the tough part of our training," said Combs. "We usually go into the All-Ohio meet flat. We have more aggressive work outs in preparation for the OAC's. I am looking forward to big improvements out of the team in general."

Freshman Tommy Looby was 68th, and the next WC runner to finish, with the time 28:18.50. The next three Wilmington runners to score were soon thereafter as juniors Miles Corcoran (28:39.39), Jake Simpkins (28:41.39) and Jacob Boehm (28:47.56) finished in 75th, 76th, and 78th, respectively.

Combs believes that the pack of four runners need to pull closer to Erwin.

"We need to cut (the time difference between Erwin and the pack) down to about a minute instead of two minutes," he said. "I saw good improvements from Miles and Tommy. We need to get Brad Kline and Dominic King right in the mix, and I have told them that. We have a month."

Wilmington returns to the course next week at the Benedictine Invitational in Naperville, IL.