WILMINGTON, Ohio - The Wilmington College women's cross country team opened its 2019 season with three top 10 finishes and a runner-up finish at the Quaker Open on Friday evening.
The Fightin' Quakers finshed the meet with 44 points while Wittenberg won the meet with 32 total points. Wilmington finished ahead of Earlham College, Capital University and Mount St. Joseph University. The University of Mount Union, due to Columus traffic, arrived after the women's race began and ran a team time trial.
"I was really happy with our pack 1-5," Head Women's Cross Country Coach Ron Combs said. "Earlham beat us soundly at their place last year. To come back and beat them here this year really shows our progress as a team."
Freshman Milena Wahl was Wilmington's top individual finisher, claiming third place in her first collegiate race with a time of 12:45.5. She finished six seconds behind runner-up Alexis Gray of Wittenberg and less than 15 seconds behind the individual winner, Ellie Haland of Earlham. Katie Hughes was next to cross for Wilmington, completing the two-mile course in 12:53.8. Another Quaker freshman, Sydney Yontz, finished two shots behind her teammate with a time of 12:55.7.
Savannah Rhodes (13:31.2) and Allison Helmke (13:34.2) were the next two Quakers to finish and round out the top five in 13th and 14th place respectively.
"I'm excited to see where this team can go," said Combs. "We need to improve our six and seven spots going forward."
Wilmington has the next week off before heading to Ohio Wesleyan University on Sept. 14.
