A focused Joe David paced Wooster and took third out of 30 competitors in the men's four mile.

Women's 4K Results | Women's 5K Results
Men's 5K Results | Men's Four Mile Results

The College of Wooster cross country teams officially opened on Friday with the Wooster Invitational, and they showed quite a bit of promise for the season ahead by placing five runners among the top-10 individuals in the women's 4K competition as well as five of the top-10 in the men's four mile.

It was a non-scored meet, as four different events took place (women's 4K, women's 5K, men's 5K, and men's four mile) for participants from Baldwin Wallace University, Franciscan University, Hiram College, Lorain Community College, Oberlin College, Point Park University, and the host Fighting Scots.

Running on a warm day at the challenging L.C. Boles Course on campus, Wooster's Kayla Zboran and Rachelle Herrin stayed close together en route to respective fourth- and fifth-place finishes in the 4K with times of 15:55.9 and 15:57.6. First-years Gabrielle Neubauer and Mackenzie Kellar both made strong debuts, crossing seventh (16:05.9) and 10th (16:14.5), respectively, and sandwiched between them was senior teammate Erin Andrews-Sharer in ninth (16:11.4).

In the men's four mile, Joe David and Blake Pecoraro stood out for the Scots via third- and fourth-place efforts as they covered the hilly course in 21:38.7 and 21:56.7, respectively. Not far behind were teammates Derrick Marshall in seventh (22:06.7), Karl Stemen in eighth (22:14.9), and William Wojtkiewicz in 10th (22:20.6).

In other action, Lauren Buyan was fourth in the women's 5K (20:22.1) and Jairaj Ranchod seventh in the men's 5K (17:28.6) to pace the Scots in those events.

Wooster will return to action at the Great Lakes Colleges Association Championships in Delaware, Ohio, next Saturday.