Morgan Clark (pictured), a senior, is expected to be one of the leaders for a Wooster team that has set very high goals for 2013.

A strong returning core, headlined by seniors Luke Hutchings-Goetz and Morgan Clark, paired with "one of (our) best recruiting years ever," has head coach Dennis Rice and The College of Wooster men's cross country team thinking big for the 2013 season.

"We're setting our goals high," said Rice. "As a team, the volume we put in this past summer is the best aerobic work we've put in as any team we've had here at Wooster. Really increased the workload mileage-wise, which indicates the guys have made a strong commitment to achieve great success."

Hutchings-Goetz has not only been the Fighting Scots' No. 1 runner the last couple of years, but one of the best in the North Coast Athletic Conference and the region. He earned his second all-region award by finishing in 19th-place at the 2012 NCAA Div. III Great Lakes Regional Championships (25:43.29), following a ninth-place showing at the NCAC meet, good for second-team all-conference honors. Now, the standout aims to cap his career with first-team all-NCAC status, a third all-region run, and possibly more.

Sometimes overshadowed by Hutchings-Goetz, Clark has carved out a nice career himself. He was just one spot shy of the All-NCAC Team a season ago, taking 22nd in the conference while running on Wooster's very challenging 8K course (27:28.8). His goal is certainly to break into the top-20 this year.

"Luke and Morgan are going to set the tone up front for us," Rice confirmed.

The Scots' next top returnees, based on their previous work, are juniors Joe David, Derrick Marshall, and Karl Stemen. Marshall scored at the conference meet in 49th (28:28.8) with Stemen just seconds behind (28:30.9), and they were both part of the regional team, while David was a factor during his initial year with the program after playing soccer as a freshman.

"Those three guys work very hard. They put the workload in to be successful," added Rice.

Other veterans to note are seniors Gabriel Abud and Michael Terribile, and Albert Darling, a rising sophomore who Rice believes could become an impact runner. All three gained experience at the 2012 NCAC Championships.

Add in a highly-touted freshmen class, with Blake Pecoraro, Alex Chabraja, Roy Hadfield, Jason Solinsky, and Patrick Scanlon among the nine-member group, and Wooster feels it has the makings for a breakthrough year. The Scots are coming off a seventh-place conference finish, but potentially could return to the top-three, which they have accomplished 10 times previously over the NCAC's 29-year history.

"The conference is very challenging. We could certainly move up the ladder pretty quickly, depending on what other teams have lost. We're going to be a much improved team from last season, and we'll have some great opportunities at those championship meets come late October, early November. It should be a lot of fun," summed up Rice.