Wimington Senior Simon Heys Named Printing Concepts Scholar Athlete of the Month

Story by Wilmington College Athletic Communications Office

After becoming a three-time All-American at the NCAA Cross Country Championships a few weeks ago, Quakers senior Simon Heys has been named the Ohio Athletic Conference’s (OAC) Printing Concepts Scholar-Athlete of the Month for the month of November. The Sport Management & Communication Arts-Digital Media Production major holds a 3.81 cumulative grade point average (GPA).

It wasn’t always the plan for Simon to stay in his hometown and come to Wilmington College, however. “He made it very clear to me from the start that he wasn’t interested in coming to Wilmington” said Quakers long time head cross country coach Ron Combs. In Simon’s words, “Having grown up my whole life in Wilmington and going to Wilmington High School, one of the last things I wanted to do was stay in my backyard and go to Wilmington College.”

The two have had a relationship for years dating back to Heys childhood since he was friends with Ron’s son. Combs shared an interesting note, “I actually took Simon to his first ever cross country meet with my son, I wish I still had the picture, they were so small standing there with their medals around their necks,” said Combs.

The further along in the recruiting process however, Simon started to soften his stance on not being a Quaker and was open to the possibility, as Combs kept in touch, but wasn’t overbearing in his pursuit of Heys. Eventually, Simon was told that he would quit bugging him about coming to Wilmington if that’s what he wanted. After visiting and talking with a few other schools, Simon realized that Wilmington wasn’t so bad after all, as he already a great connection with the Quakers head coach dating back years and they had the solid sport management program he was looking for. “The sports management program was a big reason why I ended up coming to Wilmington, getting told I would be able to have some awesome experiences that would look great when I was looking for jobs in the future was a tough opportunity to pass up.” Therefore, Simon Heys was in, he was going to be a Quaker.

This turned out to be the right decision, as Simon Heys is now a five-time All-American across his three sports. He is a three-time All-American in Cross Country with finishes of fifth (2021), 15th (2022), and 33rd (2023) at the national championships. He is the only All-American in cross country program history.

Heys also got his first taste of All- American success on the track in 2023. After competing at the NCAA outdoor national championships in the 10k in 2021 and 2022, he finally broke through in 2023 with a fourth-place finish, at 29:12.62, to be named an All-American. At his lone indoor national championship appearance in 2023, Heys finished fifth in the 5k with a time of 14:11.96.

All this athletic success didn’t come without hard work though, as Simon has consistently kept a busy schedule throughout his collegiate career. In 2014, the Heys family opened a local coffeehouse called the Kava Haus in Wilmington, and Simon has been working there ever since. Not only has he been working at Kava Haus for about 20-30 hours a week, he is a double major with a coaching minor, and a three-sport athlete that has been running up to 110 miles a week.

Simon summed it up this way, “This is my lifestyle, running is a part of my everyday routine and working this hard is just part of the process, if I want to get where I want to be in life, this is how hard I have to work on a daily basis.”

Speaking of his future, Heys was thankful for the opportunities he was given in the Wilmington College sport management major. He got an opportunity to work and experience Super Bowl 56 between the Rams and Bengals, go to the College Football Playoff, and be a part of the NFL Draft in Cleveland in the spring of 2021. He spoke about realistic expectations, but he would love to continue running professionally, while having a job. Simon’s ideal job would come in social media marketing and management.

Simon will look to make some noise this Track & Field season and looks to add an individual National Championship to further cement his legacy as the greatest runner in Wilmington College history.