Callender Victorious on Opening Night
Helvoigt, Robertson runner-ups at Wooster Invitational
WOOSTER, Ohio – Will Callender and Drew Robertson made a statement to open their respective senior years with a one-two finish to cap the program's annual non-scoring Wooster Invitational. College of Wooster sophomore Reeve Helvoigt challenged for the women's individual title down the stretch before finishing as the runner-up on Friday evening at L.C. Boles Memorial Golf Course.
Callender and Robertson ran away from the rest of the 57-competitor field. Callender broke the tape at 21:55.1, while Robertson's 21:59.7 ranked 16.7 seconds ahead of the third-place time.
Four Fighting Scots were within the top-10, and the entire quartet is part of Wooster's strong senior class. Ben Nichols went 22:56.3 for a seventh-place showing. Eric Johnson started the year with a 23:04.7 on the four-mile course, which was the eighth-fastest time on the night.
Junior Joe Ahmann's 23:19.3 was Wooster's No. 5 time on the night and was good for a spot in the field's top-15. Junior Jack Schuller went 24:11.2 for a 21st-place finish. First-year Basil Keck was within Wooster's top-seven in the collegiate debut. Keck stopped the clock at 24:26.7.
Helvoigt's first top-five collegiate finish came in a time of 17:03.9 on the 4K course. Seniors Jessie Breth and Isabelle Dwyer logged their third collegiate top-10 finishes in cross country. Breth's 17:31.7 was the seventh-place time on Friday night, while Dwyer rounded out the top-10 performers with a time of 17:40.4.
Next, was a quartet of Scots who occupied places 16 through 19, and those finishers rounded out Wooster's top-seven. First-year Eilidh Horn debuted with the 16th-place time of 18:02.0. Senior Julianna Fiori was next to the finish at 18:28.8, and right behind were senior Elise Greenwald and junior Amy Gabrovsek, who crossed at 18:28.9 and 18:29.7, respectively.
Baldwin Wallace University's Katurah Plecko was the medalist, stopping the clock at 16:47.2.
Next, Wooster is off to Denison University for the Denison Invitational, which takes place on Friday, September 6 at 6 p.m.