Scots Lone Div. III Men's Team With Two Top-Five Finishers at All-Ohio Intercollegiate Challenge

CEDARVILLE, Ohio – The College of Wooster men's cross country team was the lone NCAA Div. III program to place two finishers within the top-five of the division at Friday's All-Ohio Intercollegiate Challenge. Wooster's men placed fifth of 14 scoring NCAA Div. III teams and was 10th of 26 scoring teams across all divisions. Wooster's women posted a seventh-place finish among the 13 scoring Div. III teams, and the Fighting Scots were 16th of 25 scoring women's teams overall.

Senior Will Callender led Wooster, posting the fourth-place Div. III time of 25:51.0. Callender was the No. 1 finisher from within the North Coast Athletic Conference. Overall, Callender was the 16th-place finisher.

Classmate Drew Robertson, was right behind, just one tenth of a second behind Callender. That was the fifth-best Div. III time and the 25:51.1 was 17th overall.

Senior Ben Nichols' 27:10.5 ranked 38th within Div. III and was Wooster's No. 3 time on the night. Further down was senior Eric Johnson, who crossed at 27:55.0 for 69th within Div. III. Junior Joe Ahmann's 75th-place Div. III time of 28:07.6 rounded out the scorers. First-year Basil Keck (114th, 29:09.5) and junior Zane DeMercurio (116th, 29:10.8) were within Wooster's top-seven.

Sophomore Reeve Helvoigt continued to lead Wooster's women. The sophomore was 36th within the Div. III entrants at 25:26.8. First-year Eilidh Horn was Wooster's No. 2 in the 6,000-meter race. Horn posted a time of 25:53.2 to crack the Div. III top-50. Just beyond the top-50 within Div. III was senior Jessie Breth, whose 25:57.1 was 52nd.

Senior Isabelle Dwyer emerged as Wooster's No. 4 harrier, posting a time of 26:21.5, which ranked 61st. Senior Julianna Fiori rounded out Wooster's scorers. The senior stopped the clock at 26:46.0 to post a top-75 Div. III time. Other top-seven Wooster finishers were senior Igna Mendez (81st, 27:20.5) and senior Eva Bauman (102nd, 28:33.9).

The University of Rio Grande, a NAIA program, was the men's champion. Simon Heys, a Wilmington College alumnus, was the men's top finisher at 24:23.7. Case Western Reserve University led the Div. III men's standings, while Wilmington's Noah Tobin's 24:38.8 was the winning Div. III time.

Host Cedarville University, a NCAA Div. II team, won the women's championship. Wilmington's Faith Duncan broke the women's tape with a time of 21:17.6. Ohio Wesleyan University was No. 1 Div. III team finisher.

Note, All-Ohio honors are no longer awarded to the top-20 finishers in each scoring division.

Next, Wooster competes at Muskingum University's Dan Mullen Memorial Invitational on Saturday, October 5.