This Week's Outlook: The College of Wooster men's and women's cross country teams head to Clark County Fairgrounds in Springfield, Ohio for the 2021 North Coast Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships. The meet, hosted by Wittenberg University, kicks off at 11 a.m. with the men's 8,000-meter race, and the women's 6,000-meter race is set to start at 12:15 p.m. There is a $5 (cash only) parking charge per car at the fairgrounds.

Media Coverage: On The Mark Timing will provide live results. Fans can access the NCAC Cross Country Championships webpage for additional information.

MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY NOTEBOOK

Flashback to 2019: Wooster placed ninth at the last NCAC Championships. Then-senior Aedan Pettit earned honorable mention All-NCAC honors with the 20th-place time of 27:02.79.

Wooster Forecasted to Finish Eighth by Head Coaches: Wooster received 22 points and was forecasted eighth for this Saturday's championship by the conference's nine head coaches. DePauw University was the unanimous first-place selection, while Allegheny College was second at 71 points. Wooster last won the NCAC Championships in 1989, and the Scots' last runner-up finish came in 2001.

Youth Movement: First-year Will Callender (Seattle, Wash./Roosevelt) has been Wooster's top finisher at each meet this fall. Wooster's had at least three first-years within its top-five in four of six meets thus far, including two meets – Wooster Invitational and All-Ohio Championships – where four first-years were part of the top-five.

Callender's Record-Setting Debut: Callender turned in a memorable collegiate debut back on September 1, as his 21:35.3 broke Wooster's men's cross country team's four-mile record at L.C. Boles Memorial Golf Course. Callender's time was just faster than alumnus Joe David, who crossed at 21:38.70 in 2014.

Scots Win: Wooster won the eight-team Muskingum University Invitational on October 2 in what marked the men's first title at a traditional meet since the Scots won the seven-team Otterbein University Invitational in 2014. Wooster's three through five harriers were the difference as the Scots' 33 team points edged out West Virginia Wesleyan College's 36. Senior Alex DeLong's (East Greenwich, R.I./East Greenwich) 11th-place time of 29:49.4 led that trio. Callender (fifth-place, 28:50.4) and first-year Ben Nichols (Grove City, Pa./Grove City) (10th-place, 29:48.7) were Wooster's top-two harriers on the day.

WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY NOTEBOOK

Flashback to 2019: Led by a duo of All-NCAC performers, Wooster finished fifth at the 2019 NCAC Championships. Then-sophomore Isabelle Hoover (Millersport, Ohio/Fairfield Union) earned second-team all-conference honors after posting the 10th-place time of 23:01.7, and her finish was the highest by a Scot since alumna Kayla Zboran placed ninth at the 2016 conference championships. Then-sophomore Kayla Bertholf (Ashtabula, Ohio/Edgewood) collected honorable mention honors at 23:17.8, which was the 17th-best time in the 90-harrier field.

Coaches Project Scots to Finish Third: The league's eight head coaches recently completed a pre-championship poll, and Wooster was picked to finish in third with 49 points. Allegheny was the unanimous pick to win the conference title, while DePauw was second at 53 points. A fourth-place – or better – finish would mark the best showing by the Scots since 2004.

Scots Shine at All-Ohio: Sophomore Athena Tharenos (St. Louis, Mo./Mary Institute & St. Louis Country Day School), Bertholf, and Hoover were among the All-Ohio finishers at this fall's All-Ohio Championships. Wooster, which took fourth-place of 13 teams, was one of three NCAA Div. III women's programs with at least a trio of All-Ohio honorees. Tharenos was the fifth Div. III finisher, crossing at 23:46.3. Bertholf was 10th among Div. III finishers at 24:17.4 and Hoover was 16th at 24:26.5.

Winning a Theme This Fall: Wooster is coming off a first-place finish at the JennaStrong Fall Invitational. Wooster, which led 23 women's varsity intercollegiate scoring teams with 111 points held off Centre College's 112. The first-place showing marked the Scots' first title at a meet larger than a quad since Wooster finished as the NCAC co-champion in 1998. Earlier this fall, Hoover's 23:55.6 broke the tape at the Muskingum Invitational, and three of the top four finishers led to Wooster downing Denison University 24-31 in a dual meet.

Tharenos Impresses in Debut Season: Tharenos was the top NCAC finisher in each of her first three collegiate cross country meets. That led to two NCAC Athlete of the Week honors for the sophomore. Her time of 23:39.6 at Wittenberg's NCAC Preview was second overall, and she followed that up by finishing as the top NCAC athlete at the All-Ohio Championships.