Five Tigers earn CSC Academic All-District honors in Women’s Cross Country and Track and Field

| 2023-24 CSC Academic All-District Women's Cross Country and Track and Field release | 

SPRINGFIELD — Wittenberg junior Meghan Frazier (Alliance, Ohio/Alliance) and sophomores Tiffany Hix (Prospect, Ohio/Elgin), Emma Hawk (Marion, Ohio/River Valley), Aidan Orth (Cincinnati, Ohio/Anderson) and Ziciah Gibson (Cambridge, Ohio/Cambridge) were named to the College Sports Communicators NCAA Division III Women's Cross Country and Track and Field Academic All-District Team for the 2023-24 season, the organization announced on Tuesday.

The CSC Academic All-District Team recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances in athletics and in the classroom. To earn CSC Academic All-District distinction, student-athletes must be a sophomore or above in class standing with a cumulative GPA of at least 3.50 while ranking inside the top 50 in a single event in their respective region. Academic All-District honorees advance to the CSC Academic All-America ballot. First, Second and Third Team Academic All-America honorees will be announced on July 9.

Frazier, a biology major, boasts a 4.00 GPA and is coming off a spectacular season that saw her earn the North Coast Athletic Conference Scholar-Athlete Award and be named to the NCAC 40th Anniversary Women's Outdoor Track and Field All-Decade Team. She qualified for the NCAA Division III Championships in the 400 meters in both the indoor and outdoor seasons and was a USTFCCCA Second Team All-American in the indoor 400.

Frazier earned five USTFCCCA All-Great Lakes Region accolades, doing so in the 60, 400 and 4x400 relay indoors and the 400 and 4x100 relay outdoors. She was named NCAC Indoor Sprinter/Hurdler of the Year and was a four-time NCAC champion (indoor 60, 200 and 4x400 relay and outdoor 4x100 relay) while also earning All-NCAC recognition in outdoor 100 and 200. A three-time NCAC Athlete of the Week this season, Frazier broke the school record in the outdoor 400 with a time of 55.82 seconds.

She closed the season with eight top-50 regional rankings. Indoors, she was third in the Great Lakes Region in the 60 and 4x400 relay, fourth in the 400 and eighth in the 200. Outdoors, she ranked third in the 4x100 relay, fourth in the 400, seventh in the 100 and 11th in the 200.

Hix, an exercise science major, boasts a 3.84 GPA and is coming off a record-breaking year that saw her sweep the NCAC championships in the pole vault during the indoor and outdoor seasons and earn an All-NCAC accolade in the outdoor triple jump. The two-time NCAC Athlete of the Week honoree earned USTFCCCA All-Region recognition in the outdoor triple jump and broke school records in the outdoor pole vault (3.60 meters) and outdoor triple jump (11.59 meters).

She closed the season with four top-50 regional rankings. Indoors, she was seventh in the pole vault and 21st in the triple jump. Outdoors, she ranked fourth in the triple jump and sixth in the pole vault.

Hawk, an education major, boasts a 3.75 GPA and succeeded had a successful season in both cross country and track and field in 2023-24. In cross country, she was named to the All-NCAC First Team after a sixth-place finish with a time of 22:45 at the NCAC Championships and went on to place 55th of 269 runners at the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Championships with a time of 22:23. She was also recognized as a USTFCCCA All-Academic Athlete. In track and field, she broke the school record in the outdoor 10,000 meters with a time of 36:58.51, earned All-NCAC recognition in the outdoor 5,000 and 10,000 and was a one-time NCAC Athlete of the Week selection.

Hawk closed the season with four top-50 regional rankings. In indoor track and field, she was 13th in the 5,000 and 18th in the distance medley relay. Outdoors, she ranked seventh in the 10,000 and 22nd in the 5,000.

Orth, a music major, boasts a 4.00 GPA and was a three-time All-NCAC performer this year, earning the accolade in the weight throw and shot put during the indoor season and the discus during the outdoor season. She was also a one-time NCAC Athlete of the Week honoree.

Orth finished the season with five top-50 regional rankings. Indoors, she was 12th in the weight throw and 15th in the shot put. Outdoors, she ranked 14th in the discus, 17th in the shot put and 27th in the hammer throw.

Gibson, an education major, boasts a 4.00 GPA and earned USTFCCCA All-Region accolades in the indoor pentathlon and outdoor heptathlon this year and was an All-NCAC performer in the javelin during the outdoor season.

She finished the year with six top-50 regional rankings. Indoors, she was fifth in the pentathlon and 46th in both the high jump and shot put. Outdoors, she ranked fourth in the heptathlon, 21st in the javelin and 35th in the high jump.

Under head coach Paris Hilliard, the Wittenberg women's track and field team swept the NCAC titles in the indoor and outdoor seasons in 2024 and had three national qualifiers during each season after winning the 2023 NCAC championship in cross country. In track and field, the Tigers finished the year with a combined 18 All-Region accolades among 11 student-athletes in the indoor and outdoor seasons along with conference titles in six individual events and two relays. Hillard and his staff were named NCAC Women's Cross Country Coaching Staff of the Year for 2023 and Women's Track and Field Coaching Staff of the Year for both the indoor and outdoor seasons in 2024.