Sophomore Jacob Debeaux is part of a strong sophomore class that will complement Wooster's experienced juniors and seniors on the course in 2016.

The College of Wooster men's cross country team will feature a good mix of balance when it hits the course this fall, as key returning contributors with big-meet experience from each class are back in the fold, giving longtime mentor Dennis Rice plenty of optimism for the 2016 season.

"There's a great mix of leadership and younger men getting experience for the future," stated Rice. "This team shows great potential to do exciting things this fall at the championship level. Our ultimate goal is to keep everybody healthy, and to become consistent at the championship meets. Our other goal is to get all of the team members to perform at their best at the championship meet to give us the end result of challenging the top teams in the conference and the region. We have the capability of doing that with this group of men."

Rice will turn to a duo of experienced seniors in Alex Chabraja and Blake Pecoraro to lead the way and set the tone for the program. Chabraja has shown the capability to deliver big-meet performances, evidenced by a 26th-place showing at last year's North Coast Athletic Conference Championship. Pecoraro's consistency has been evident through his career, and he has a pair of all-region and all-conference certificates to his credit in cross country, including one via a 10th-place showing at the NCAC meet last year.

"Blake and Alex, in terms of what they accomplish in training and during certain meet situations, there's no doubt they can be two of the top runners not only in the conference, but in the region," commented Rice.

Several other seniors have shown steady progression throughout their careers and now will be looking to take another step for the upcoming campaign.

"I feel that our senior class has all indicated that they can be a big part of not only our conference team, but our regional squad," added Rice. "The seniors could potentially close the gap in our top seven, and will strengthen the aspect of the whole program."

James Ferritto stepped up with a seven-meet slate last fall, and earned his first letter by running as part of the 12-man contingent at the NCAC Championships. Earlier in the season, he delivered a 28:32.95 at the All-Ohio Championships.

Roy Hadfield is also part of the experienced group of seniors. He delivered a strong bounce-back season last year, and will look to carryover the positive progression into 2016. The senior emerged as a regular top-seven contributor, and earned a start at the NCAA Div. III Great Lakes Regional Championships to end last year.

Classmate Herbert Sizek made big strides as well in 2015, and consistently earned top-seven team finishes. In fact, Sizek was the fourth Fighting Scot harrier to cross at the regional meet, turning in a 28:00.4.

Jason Solinsky rounds out the seniors, and like Ferritto, earned his first letter last year by competing at the conference meet.

Wooster's talented class of sophomores will provide a strong foundation not only to the future, but will be a key piece to complementing this year's experienced group of seniors. The sophomores' overall potential was on full display especially during the track & field portion of the year as a then all-freshmen quartet teamed up to earn all-conference honors during a school-record time in the distance medley relay at the NCAC Indoor Championships, and the class later earned a pair of individual all-conference certificates at the outdoor conference meet.

A quintet consisting of Jacob Denbeaux, Cullen King, Brian Lief, David Westcott, and Simon Weyer makes up the core of the class, while Jackson Feinknopf continued to showcase rapid progression throughout the 2015-16 cross country and track & field season. Lief made the biggest contributions to the cross country team as a first-year, crossing as Wooster's third finisher at both the conference and regional meet. Westcott also had a strong cross country debut season, and earned one of the seven spots for the regional championship. However, all six of these talented sophomores have the potential to regularly challenge to finish among Wooster's top seven on a consistent basis in 2016.

Not to be overlooked is Wooster's veteran junior class, a group that provides both experience and depth.

Both Geoffrey Carney-Knisely and Kent Nakamoto have big-meet experience, and competed at the NCAC Championships in the past.

Other non-letterwinners and first-years could also potentially play a prominent role for the team in 2016.

Wooster will host three meets this season, including its season lid-lifter on Sept. 1 when the Scots compete at the Wooster Invitational at the L.C. Boles Memorial Golf Course.