Luke Hutchings-Goetz

Emily Reid

Making their final tune-ups prior to the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships, The College of Wooster cross country teams performed well in a very large field at Wilmington College's #JennaStrong Fall Classic on Friday in southwestern Ohio.

Thirty-six teams from across all NCAA divisions came to the annual event, previously named the WC Fall Classic, to honor the memory of a Wilmington runner, Jenna Parlette, who collapsed at a meet earlier this season and passed away three days later.

Wooster's men's team placed sixth overall, with all five of its scorers placing among the top 20 percent of the 416 individuals, led by Luke Hutchings-Goetz in 11th-place overall with a time of 25:34.54 over the 8K course. Fellow senior Morgan Clark and freshman Blake Pecoraro ran together, crossing 43rd (26:25.41) and 44th (26:27.10), respectively, while juniors Derrick Marshall followed in 61st (26:47.21) and Joe David in 72nd (26:55.77).

In the women's 5K, there were 398 participants and the Fighting Scots' top-five were all among the top half of the field en route to a 14th-place team finish. Lauren Buyan paced Wooster for the second-straight meet and was 32nd overall with a 19:17.42 time, while first-year Emily Reid also came in under 20 minutes and took 73rd-place (19:55.53). Rounding out the team scorers were rookies Kayla Zboran and Katherine Wittig in 106th (20:16.24) and 143rd (20:48.08), respectively, and senior Ann Berkow in 172nd (21:13.24).

The Scots will make final preparations over the next two weeks for the NCAC meet, being hosted by Allegheny College this fall.