Sheamus Dalton
Sports Editor
Today, the Wooster cross country team will compete in its biggest meet of the season. The team will travel to Wilmington, Ohio, where it will compete in the WC Fall Classic.
Not only will the team be going up against stiff competition at the Classic, but they will also be competing within the squad to decide the “Conference Top 12.” The runners that have the top 12 finishes within the squad will be chosen as representatives to compete in the NCAC Conference Championships, which will occur on Nov. 2.
Leading up to the Fall Classic, the Scots have seen great success on both the men’s and the women’s teams. The men’s team has recorded back-to-back second-place finishes at the OWU Invitational and the Otterbein Invitational, along with a solid finish at the All-Ohio Championships in Cedarville, Ohio, coming in sixth out of 21 teams.
The women’s team also shared similar success this season, finishing in the top half of the teams in each of their meets to this point.
Chelsea Denlinger ’14, a standout for the women’s team this season, has been impressed by the performances of her teammates over the course of the season.
“This years team has exceeded my expectations. Although we lost a few standout runners this year, as a whole team we are stronger, more driven and more focused than I have ever seen.”
Individual standouts among the men’s team this year have not been hard to come by. Luke Hutchings-Goetz ’14 has led the team most of the way, alongside Morgan Clark ’14 and Joe David ’15. These three runners have been consistent scorers for the team. At the OWU invitational, Hutchings-Goetz finished an impressive sixth place with a time of 26:07.9, followed by Clark and David who placed 19th and 20th, respectively.
On the women’s side, a variety of runners lead the team. Veterans Allison Chin ’14 and Lauren Buyan ’15 have provided solid finishes for the team.
Newcomers to the team Kayla Zboran ’17 and Emily Reid ’17 have also added a considerable boost to the squad. At the Otterbein Invitational, Reid led the Scots with a 22nd place finish with a time of 24:59.6 in a field of 199 competitors. Buyan crossed the line next for Wooster in 25th in 25:06.5. Zboran and Chin also scored notable finishes of 55th and 65th place in the meet.
Today, the Scots will look to better all of these finishes at the WC Fall Classic. With the top 12 spots for the conference team on the line this weekend, the Scots will all try to score their best individual finishes of the season.
While this may create a sense of animosity among some teams, Denlinger commented that everyone knows what they have to do in order for the team to succeed this season.
“Everyone is really pulling their weight on our team this season,” said Denlinger. “The improvement is fantastic to see! This will serve us well as we enter into the conference meet.”