WILMINGTON, Ohio – The Wilmington College women's cross country team hosted the sixth annual JennaStrong Fall Classic on campus on Friday afternoon.
"It was a great day for the cross country program to run in front of the crowd," Head Coach Ron Combs said. "It's excited to see how much both teams have improved from this event last year."
Thirty-five teams showed up to compete in the seven named after former Fightin' Quaker Jenna Parlette, who collapsed while leading a race at Franklin College in 2013 and passed away several days later. Wilmington finished 20th at the classic with 597 points. NCAA Division I institution Ball State University won the race with 48 team points while Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) member Ohio Northern University was the highest finishing NCAA Division III school, placing fifth with 206 points.
Savannah Rhodes was the top Fightin' Quaker to finish the five-kilometer course individually, doing so in 20:12.9 for 79th place. Katie Hughes finished next with a time of 20:57.7 in 118th place. Allison Helmke followed in 145th with a time of 21:30.9. Rounding out Wilmington's top five were Kendra Stahl (22:06.7) and Kelly Rice (22:54.9).
Anna Brandt of Cleveland State University won the race with a time of 17:55.6, beating the entire field by over 17 seconds. Arig Tong of Hanover College was the top NCAA Division III finisher, completing the course in 18:28.4.
Wilmington will have a week off before competing in the OAC Championships on Oct. 27.
