Blake Pecoraro

Lauren Buyan

Men's 8K Results | Women's 5K Results

The College of Wooster's men's and women's cross country teams continued their strong starts to the 2014 season, as the men took first-place for the second straight meet while the women placed third at the Otterbein Invitational on Saturday in Westerville, Ohio.

The men, which are ranked 10th in the Great Lakes Region in the latest United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll, won the 8K race in convincing fashion. Four of the first seven runners to cross the finish line were Fighting Scots, and Wooster's fifth and final scorer was 15th out of 112 competitors.

Leading the Scots was Blake Pecoraro in third-place (26:50.8), while Joe David came in a step or two behind his teammate in fourth (26:51.3). Shortly after that, Alex Chabraja and Derrick Marshall came through in sixth- (27:02.6) and seventh-place (27:05.2), respectively, with William Wojtkiewicz rounding out those contributing to Wooster's team score via a 15th-place finish in 27:48.1.

The women's team made some noise as well, with its first top-3 finish since the 2011 season. Each of Wooster's scorers placed 17th or better, highlighted by Lauren Buyan's fifth-place time of 23:58.5 – which was just six seconds behind the third-place runner.

Two of the Scots' next four in line were first-years, with newcomer Mackenzie Kellar in 11th (24.29.9) and Gabriella Neubauer in 15th, while surrounding them were seniors Rachelle Herrin in 13th (24:44.0) and Erin Andrews-Sharer in 17th (24:57.9).

Wooster now takes a week off to prepare for the All-Ohio Championships, which take place Oct. 3 at Cedarville, Ohio.