CLEVELAND, OH – The 2024 North Coast Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships will be held Friday-Saturday, Feb. 23-24, at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. The Wittenberg men and women, under the direction of ninth-year head coach Paris Hilliard, have been selected as the favorites heading into this year's meet based on pre-championship balloting by the league coaches. The women are seeking their second consecutive and third overall NCAC crown, while the men are in search of their third overall and first title since winning back-to-back seasons in 1996-97.
 
Wittenberg unanimously topped the pre-championship poll on the women's side by earning all eight first-place votes for 64 total points, while DePauw finished second overall with 55 points. Ohio Wesleyan, the 2023 runner-up, was predicted to finish third with 47 points, while Wooster (37) was selected fourth, and Oberlin was tabbed fifth (31). Denison (28), Kenyon (18), and Hiram (8) rounded out the eight-team field earning sixth, seventh, and eighth, respectively.
 
In the men's poll, Wittenberg (76) edged out the 2023 defending champions, Wabash (75), by a single point. The Tigers garnered five of the possible nine first-place votes while the Little Giants collected the remaining four first-place nods. Denison, the 2023 runner-up, collected 53 points for third, while Oberlin and Wooster tied for fourth with 51 points apiece. DePauw (41) placed sixth, Ohio Wesleyan (26) was tabbed seventh, Kenyon (23) was selected eighth, and Hiram (9) rounded out the nine-team field.
 
The Wittenberg women enter the championship meet with several student-athletes owning a top-eight performance in the NCAC. Juniors Meghan Frazier (Alliance, OH/Alliance), Zora Shakhan (Pickerington, OH/Pickerington Central), Haleigh Willison (Crooksville, OH/Crooksville), Lindsey Magoteaux (Sidney, OH/Lehman Catholic), and Taylor Weiss (Powell, OH/Olentangy Liberty) own five of the league's top-eight times in the 60-meter dash. Frazier, who was runner-up last year, holds the league's top 60-meter time at 7.82 seconds. Shakhan, the 2023 60-meter dash champion, sits third in the league (7.95), while Willison (7.97) ranks No. 4, Magoteaux (8.05) holds the No. 6 spot, and Weiss (8.13) sits in eighth. Frazier (25.70), Willison (26.66), and Magoteaux (26.78) also rank within the NCAC's top times in the 200-meter dash with the first, third, and seventh best times, respectively. At last year's championships, Willison and Frazier placed first and second in the event and are looking to repeat for the second consecutive year.
 
In the 400-meter dash, Frazier finds herself on the top of the list for the third time. The junior owns the league's best time at 58.03 seconds, while sophomore Tymeerah De'Armond (Springfield, OH/Springfield), last year's runner-up, holds the third best NCAC time this season at 59.21. Sophomore Ella Webster (Van Buren, OH/Van Buren), who earned second-place in the 3,000-meter run last season, has the league's fastest time this season at 9:58.67, while junior Megan Keys (Dublin, OH/Jerome) and first-year Maddi Clark (Mentor, OH/Mentor) and have recorded the NCAC's No. 4 (10:43.62) and No. 8 (10:48.34) times in the event. Webster also owns the fourth-best 800-meter run time (2:22.87), while classmate Delaney Tackett (Waverly, OH/Waverly) joins Webster among the league's best at 2:25.03 to rank seventh. In the mile, Wittenberg is highlighted by first-year Maddi Clark (Mentor, OH/Mentor), who leads the Tigers with a time of 5:35.31, good for 18th in league rankings. Sophomore Emma Hawk (Marion, OH/River Valley) is joined by Keys and Clark among the top-NCAC 5,000 meter run rankings, checking in third (18:09.48), seventh (18:38.56), and eighth (18:51.27), respectively. Hawk enters the meet with hopes to improve on her second-place finish from a season ago. Junior Reese Neumeyer (Whitehouse, OH/Anthony Wayne) and first-year Haley Troy (West Chester, OH/Lakota West) own top league times in the 60-meter hurdles as Neumeyer clocked in at 9.44, good for third, and Troy sits in sixth at 9.58. The Tigers have recorded the top NCAC time in the 4x400 relay (4:05.28) to go along with a No. 2 ranked 4x200 relay (1:47.66) and No. 3 ranked distance medley relay (13:15.00).
 
In the field events, Wittenberg junior Julissa Williams (Lorain, OH/Lorain) has produced the top mark in the high jump (1.67 meters) and the second-best distance in the long jump with a leap of 5.18 meters. Weiss joins Williams in the high jump with a No. 2 NCAC mark of 1.64 meters, while a trio of rookies, consisting of Jenna Delp (Canton, OH/GlenOak), G'Niyah Brown (Dayton, OH/Wayne), and Michaela Stroder (Springfield, OH/Springfield), join Williams in the league's top-8 in the long jump. Delp enters her first championships leading the pack with a jump of 5.54 meters while Brown ranks fourth (5.13m) and Stroder sits in sixth (5.03m). Sophomore Tiffany Hix (Prospect, OH/Elgin) and first-year Story Laing (Granville, OH/Granville) rank No. 1 (3.55m) and No. 5 (3.16m) among league foes in the pole vault. Hix also leads the Tigers and ranks No. 2 in the NCAC in the triple jump at 10.50 meters and is joined by Weiss (10.29m) and Neumeyer (10.24m), who rank seventh and eighth, respectively. Sophomore duo Aidan Orth (Cincinnati, OH/Anderson) and Emma Doerman (West Chester, OH/Lakota West) sit among the league's best in the shot put, tossing 12.25 meters and 11.78 meters to hold the third and fourth-place spots. Orth also owns the NCAC's fourth best toss in the weight throw this season, measuring 14.79 meters. Junior Lainee Valentine (Marion, OH/River Valley) has earned the most points in the pentathlon for the Tigers and sits in second among conference competitors, tallying 2,624 points.
 
On the men's side, the Tigers will be led by a mix of veterans returning to the 2024 NCAC Championships as well as a group of talented underclassmen that are primed to earn the team's first title in 27s years. On the track, Wittenberg holds a top-8 time in every event, except one, proving to hold a good balance of runners between the sprint and distance events. Senior JJ Weisenberger (Collins, OH/Western Reserve) owns the No. 7 top-time in the 60-meter dash (7.08), while sophomore Grayson Ring (Tipp City/Tippecanoe) and junior Cameron Elliott (Springfield, OH/Springfield) hold the second (22.67) and third (22.73) best 200-meter dash times in the league this season. In the 400-meter dash, Elliott, who finished third a season ago, also claims the conference's second-best time this season (49.69) while senior Zeke Bennett (Hilliard, OH/Bradley), the defending champion, follows closely in fourth (50.80).
 
In the 800-meter run, senior Ian McCandlish (Lancaster, OH/St. Francis DeSales) and sophomore Zayden Taylor (Springfield, OH/Kenton Ridge) rank among the league's best. McCandlish produced a 1:55.12 to sit second in the conference while Taylor sits in eighth at 1.58.94. Junior Conor Kolka (Dexter, MI/Dexter) is the owner of the fastest conference time in both the 3,000-meter (8:25.68) and 5,000-meter (14:56.36) runs and will look to improve on his second-place finish in the 5,000 from a season ago. Kolka has also recorded the fifth-best league time in the mile (4:25.29). Freshman Lukas Rieben (Clayton, OH/Northmont) joins Kolka as a top-8 runner in both the 3,000- and 5,000-meter runs ranking eighth (8:50.71) in the 3,000 and fourth (15:33.27) in the 5,000, while sophomore Lucas Eisele (West Carrollton, OH/West Carrollton) follows closely behind in the 5,000 with the fifth-fastest time at 15:36.23. Senior Sam Callinan (Kettering, OH/Fairmont) enters the championships with Wittenberg's best 60-meter hurdle time (9.31). In the relays, the Tigers own the No. 2-ranked 4x400 (3:25.21), the fourth-quickest 4x200 (1:32.00), and the fifth-best distance medley relay (10:54.94).
 
In the field events, Wittenberg owns three of the conference's top-six marks in the pole vault, as sophomore Jeremy Watson (Sugar Grove, OH/Berne Union) has the second-best vault at 4.55 meters, freshman Kane Cissell (LaGrange, KY/Oldham County) owns the fifth-best height at 4.17 meters, and senior Sam Callinan (Kettering, OH/Fairmont) follows closely behind at 4.16 meters, good for sixth. Cissell also sits among the league's best in the triple jump at No. 3 (13.17m). Ring leads the conference in the high jump with an impressive 2.01 meters while junior Justin Norris (Middletown, OH/Middletown Christian) owns the No. 4 mark at 1.92 meters. In the long jump, Weisenberger holds the No. 2 NCAC mark with a leap of 7.01 meters and junior Bryce Ray (Sun City, FL/Sumner) owns the conference's eighth-best leap at 6.44 meters. Freshman Jayden McKinster (Springfield, OH/Springfield) will make his conference debut in the shot put as he leads the Tigers and ranks sixth among competitors with a toss of 14.03 meters. A little over half a meter separates sophomore Max Green (Centerville, OH/Centerville) and freshman Zeth Cowin (Wilmington, OH/Wilmington) in the weight throw as they enter the meet ranking sixth (14.68m) and eighth (14.16m) in league standings. Freshman Luke Amburgey (LaGrange, KY/Oldham County) and Callinan have the second- and third-best performances in the heptathlon so far this season after compiling 3,856 and 3,311 points, respectively.
  
The first scoring events of the 2024 meet, the heptathlon and pentathlon, will take place this coming Saturday and Sunday, February 17-18 at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio.
 

2024 NCAC Indoor Track & Field  Pre-Championship Coaches Polls
WOMEN				MEN
Rank	School (1st place votes)	Points		Rank	School (1st place votes)	Points
1.	Wittenberg (8)	64		1.	Wittenberg (5)	76
2.	DePauw	55		2.	Wabash (4)	75
3.	Ohio Wesleyan	47		3.	Denison	53
4.	Wooster	37		T4.	Oberlin	51
5.	Oberlin	31		T4.	Wooster	51
6.	Denison	28		6.	DePauw	41
7.	Kenyon	18		7.	Ohio Wesleyan	26
8.	Hiram	8		8.	Kenyon	23
				9.	Hiram	9