GATES MILL, OH – Senior Jake Simpkins earned second team All-Ohio Athletic Conference honors Saturday at the OAC Cross Country championships at Gilmour Academy. As a team, Wilmington was tied for sixth of 10 teams.  

Simpkins (Germantown, OH/Valley View) finished 17th with the time of 27:56.27 to earn all-conference honors.

"Jake Simpkins ran a nice race," said Wilmington head coach Ron Combs. "For him to be second team all-conference is a huge accomplishment for him compared to what he did as a senior in high school. For the rest of the guys, it was a struggle for us today. We just didn't put it together. I was disappointed in sharing sixth; I thought we should have had it all by ourselves. We didn't handle the course conditions well. It made things more of a challenge, and we didn't handle that challenge well."

Mount Union won the league championship with 23 points, followed by John Carroll (54), Ohio Northern (81), Otterbein (121), Heidelberg (149), Wilmington (195), Muskingum (195, Baldwin Wallace (231), Marietta (259) and Capital (259).

Junior Dominic King (Bettsville, OH/Bettsville) was the next Wilmington runner to finish the 8K course, placing 41st with the time of 29:47.36. Freshman Hunter Stith (Batavia, OH/Batavia) placed 44th with the time of 30:02.37, followed by senior Scott Blubaugh (Kingston, OH/Logan Elm), who was 46th in a time of 30:10.29.

The final WC harrier to score was freshman Griffin Stith (Batavia, OH/Batavia), who finished 47th with the time of 30:12.15.

Wilmington will compete at the Great Lakes Regional meet at The Golf Center at Kings Island November 15.