Plenty of Experience Returns for Women's Cross Country

Balance will be key for The College of Wooster women's cross country team this season – balance in running, academics, development and team chemistry to name a few.

The women return four of its top five runners from the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships from a year ago as well as an All-Region selection in Dylan Kretchmar.

Kretchmar, who gave Wooster its first women's All-Region runner since 2019, also was an All-NCAC First Team honoree with a fifth-place finish. Now a senior, she'll enter as Wooster's number one runner in 2024.

"Dylan has great opportunities to challenge top runners in both conference and region," said Wooster cross country coach Dennis Rice. "We're excited to see how she progresses through the season."

Rice also is interested in seeing how his other runners develop after the women placed fifth in the NCAC Championships.

Kretchmar and Athena Tharenos earned All-NCAC honors. Jessie Breth showed improvement, finishing in 42nd, while Zanna Anderson and Reeve Helvoigt capped their first years by rounding out the team scoring in 44th and 48th, respectively.

"We're really excited," Rice said. "We got really good experience last year. They accomplished quite a bit. We're working on uniting the group in a positive way to have great team success and building the team's overall chemistry to enhance overall performances."

Tharenos, who is now studying at the University of Oxford, is a key departure who not only exceled on the course but in the classroom.

Over her cross country and track career, Tharenos was a 12-time All-NCAC and 10-time All-Ohio performer. The women's cross country and track and field program has shown consistent success academically and athletically as Tharenos followed Isabelle Hoover as back-to-back NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipients.

"We have a strong tradition of academic success, and the women work very hard in the classroom which comes from that inner drive that runners have – that self-motivation - to be successful," Rice said. "They work hard to achieve that success, and we expect that. We want our team to excel in the classroom and represent our program in a positive way on campus."

The women have 10 seniors with Breth and Isabelle Dwyer as the team captains. The sophomores fill out eight spots on the roster while the juniors and first-years each fill two.

Cross Country opens the season Aug. 30 when they host the Wooster Invitational. It's one of two home meets for the Scots, with the other being the Wooster Twilight 5K Challenge on Nov. 8.

"We're excited to kick off the 2024 season in hosting our annual meet," Rice said. "It's an amazing facility to host cross country meets. It's challenging and one of the best courses in Ohio. Having it on campus adds to the amazing tradition for our program."

Wooster will travel to DePauw University for the NCAC Championships on Nov. 3 and will make another trip to Indiana for the NCAA DIII Great Lakes Regional Championship in Shelbyville.

"I'm excited to see how this pack has progressed, and I'm expecting a big jump from this group as we head into this season in terms of their overall development and understanding of responsibility," Rice added. "We're going to continue to work on the team concepts to enhance our overall results and build off that in a positive way to be successful."