NEW CONCORD, Ohio – Four Fightin’ Quakers earned All-Ohio Athletic Conference honors Saturday as the Wilmington College men’s cross country team placed third at the 2022 OAC Men’s Cross Country Championships.

The third-place finish is the program’s highest finish at the conference meet since joining the OAC for the 2000 season. The Quakers finsihed just 7 points behind second place Otterbein, while John Carroll ran away with the conference championship.

On the women’s side, the team placed ninth while junior Milena Wahl earned second team OAC honors with her finish.

Wahl, a Lebanon High School graduate, finished the six-kilometer course in 24:26.4 to place 20th in a field of 113 runners. Macy McAdams of the host Fighting Muskies won the individual title with a time of 22:29.6.

John Carroll University won the team OAC title with 36 points.

The senior trio of AJ Houseman (Clinton-Massie), Julia Bystrom and Jordan Snarr (Wilmington HS) ran their final race together as the Quakers close out the regular season. Houseman and Bystrom finished side by side as the two claimed top-100 finishes for the team. Snarr battled through the hilly course and finished in a time of 38:39 in what may have been her last collegiate race.

“We knew the course was going to be one of the hardest we have ever raced,” said WC head coach Ron Combs. “I thought the team ran well and left everything out on the course today.”

For the men, Simon Heys (Wilmington HS), Noah Tobin and George Rickett led the way on a gruesome course where time was not the goal. Heys came away with a third-place finish in a time of 25:49. Tobin finshed close behind in sixth (26:09) while Rickett was eighth in 26:24.

Eric Reynolds had a career race as he was able to claim 18th place and second team All-OAC honors. Tate Yoder rounded out the scoring for Wilmington as the freshman finished 57th.

“At the beginning of the day, if you had told me the men’s team would finish in third, I would say that is spectacular,” Combs said. “The team ran a gutsy race, and I am proud of them.”

The Quakers take a week off to prepare for the Great Lake Regional Championships in Holland, Mich., Nov. 12.