Alexander DeLong

Rachel Osterhouse

This Week's Outlook: The College of Wooster men's and women's cross country teams head to Northview Christian Church in Carmel, Indiana for the 2019 North Coast Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships. The meet, hosted by Wabash College, 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 noon.

Media Coverage: Fans can access Wabash's championship central webpage and follow the team's Twitter account @WoosterXCTF for updates.

MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY NOTEBOOK

Flashback to 2018: Led by national qualifiers David Westcott and Brian Lief, Wooster placed third at the 2018 league championships, which marked the Scots' highest finish since 2013. Westcott, a 2019 alumnus, crossed at 25:53.8, which was the fourth-place time, and marked the highest finish on the men's side since Matthew Linman was third at the 2004 championships. Lief, a fellow alumnus, also claimed All-NCAC honors. His 16th-place time of 26:50.9 equated to a spot on the honorable mention podium.

Wooster Forecasted to Finish Eighth by Head Coaches: Wooster received 15 points and was forecasted eighth for this Saturday's championship by the conference's nine head coaches. DePauw University was the unanimous pick to finish first, while Denison University was forecasted to finish second. Wooster last won the NCAC Championship in 1989, and the Scots' last runner-up finish came in 2001.

Pettit, Rae Leading Wooster as Seniors: Aedan Pettit (Round Hill, Va./Woodgrove) and Miki Rae (Capitol Heights, Md./St. Albans School) project to be the tone setters for the Scots come Saturday, as the senior duo finished as Wooster's top harriers in the two meets leading up to the NCAC Championships. Pettit's career-best championship-length time of 26:44.5 came at the 2017 NCAC Championships, and he was just off that pace with a 26:46.0 at a dual meet with Kenyon College back on October 19. Pettit was Wooster's top finisher in the dual meet. A meet prior, he was the second Scot across the finish at the Jenna Strong Fall Classic (27:44.0). Rae's covered the 8,000 meters in just over 27 minutes in his last two outings. He was 55th overall, and Wooster's No. 1 finisher at the Jenna Strong Fall Classic (27:00.1) and was fourth overall in the Kenyon dual meet (27:05.0).

DeLong Steps Up: Sophomore Alexander DeLong (East Greenwich, R.I./East Greenwich) has emerged as a big-time contributor for the Scots this year. Most recently, he lowered his personal-best championship-length time to 29:05.7 at the Jenna Strong Invitational, and his 29:27.5 was the top mark within the program at the All-Ohio Championships.

WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY NOTEBOOK

A Look at Last Year's NCAC Championship: Led by a pair of All-NCAC performers, Wooster's women placed fifth at the NCAC Championships, in what marked the program's highest finish since 2009. Then-first-year Isabelle Hoover (Millersport, Ohio/Fairfield Union) debuted at the NCAC Championships with a 14th-place showing (23:36.1), and that was the second-fastest among newcomers. Alumna Emani Kelley earned honorable mention All-NCAC honors following her 17th-place time of 23:51.9.

Coaches Project Scots to Finish Fifth: The league's eight head coaches recently completed a pre-championship poll, and Wooster was picked to finish in fifth-place with 31 points. Oberlin College appeared at the top of all eight ballots and totaled 64 points, while Allegheny College was picked to finish as the runner-up. A fourth-place – or better – finish would mark the best showing by the Scots since 2004.

Hoover Doing it All This Fall: Hoover's turned in an impressive fall thus far for Wooster and will be looking to keep that going this week. She won the women's race in a dual meet with Denison for the second straight year and was subsequently tabbed as the NCAC's Athlete of the Week. Hoover covered the 6,000 meters course at the All-Ohio Championships in 23:41.8, and she earned All-Ohio honors with her time ranking sixth among Div. III harriers and 44th overall.

Sophomores Leading the Way for Wooster: In addition to Hoover, several other sophomores have made big contributions within the program over the last two seasons, with three – Kayla Bertholf (Astabula, Ohio/Edgewood), Rachel Osterhouse (Wadsworth, Ohio/Wadsworth), and Amirah Yessoufou (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) standing out in particular. Bertholf nearly earned All-Ohio honors, as she finished 25th (24:20.4) among Div. III harriers at the All-Ohio Championships. Osterhouse is coming off back-to-back top-four finishes within the team, while Yessoufou, who is returning to the course for the first time since mid-September, has the potential to finish within the top-three on Wooster's team.

Senior Duo Stepping Up: Seniors Audrey Cordova (Littleton, Colo./Heritage) and Cobi Warstler (New Albany, Ohio/Columbus Academy) have developed into solid contributors over their four-years donning the Black and Gold. Cordova rapidly ascended the Scots' ranks and was a top-seven harrier as a sophomore, evidenced by running at the Great Lakes Regional. Last year, she was Wooster's No. 3 at the NCAC Championships after a time of 24:25.6. Warstler was a top-seven harrier as a rookie and will be making her third start at the NCAC Championships this week.