There is always a clear set of objectives for head coach Dennis Rice and his College of Wooster track and field teams.

This year will be no different as he enters his 39th year at The College.

"Our goal is always to challenge the top teams in the conference," Rice said. "We've had great success with that in the past. Obviously, to be able to do that we have to stay healthy throughout the season, we have to make a strong commitment to the work ethic and we have to be consistent with our workload and training cycles that we go through."

Rice returns a solid men's core who will be looked upon for guidance and top performances entering the 2024 indoor and outdoor seasons with the North Coast Athletic Conference Indoor and Outdoor Championships as key bookmarks for the season.

Most notably, it will be the senior campaign of Dylan Garretson who is one of the most accomplished pole vaulters in Wooster history. Garretson holds the program record for the indoor (16'2.5") and outdoor (16'1.25") pole vault and was the first Wooster male to win the same event at the NCAC Outdoor Championships three separate times.

He was Wooster's first male indoor All-American after placing fourth in the event last year. Then in the outdoors, he fell on the low range of placement at 16th, after he was one of the 15 competitors who failed to cross the mark of 16'.75."

"It was so tight that he could have been anywhere from top three to top 18," Rice said. "Dylan can challenge to be a National Champion. He has the capability of doing that. He's continued to get that experience at the national level, and we're confident now that we will be able to carry that through not just from the indoor season but also into the outdoor season."

Will Callender is only a junior but is another name to watch for after being named NCAC Indoor Distance Athlete of the Year in 2023. He was the NCAC champion in the 3K with a school record time of 8:40.60 and claimed All-NCAC honors in the 5K.

In the outdoors, he also took third in the 5K for All-NCAC honors.

In this past cross country season, Callender had plenty of competition from junior Drew Robertson.

Robertson has made strides every year, and Rice is hoping the junior can follow in the footsteps of alum David Westcott in the steeplechase, who broke the school record in 2019 at 9:02.96. 

Robertson reached 9:16.35 last year for the program's third best time.

"Last track season he had a big jump in the steeplechase, and then had another huge jump in cross country, and now it's exciting to see if he can continue to jump to make that opportunity to get to the national championship in the steeplechase."

Senior Luke Henke will look to lead the squad at the high jump, while Echo Kidd will look to do the same in the long and triple. 

Henke reached runner up honors in the indoor season to earn All-NCAC honors, while Kidd collected his fourth All-NCAC honor after placing third in the long jump in the outdoor season.

Lorenzo Freeman is looking to follow up a fine first-year campaign in the hurdles. He was the 60 hurdles runner up in the indoor season with a school record time of 8.46 seconds for his first All-NCAC claim. In the outdoors, he raced to a collegiate best of 15.15 seconds in the 110 hurdles prelims.

Classmate Khaleel Manderson continues to make the transition into sprints. He ended up being one of Wooster's bests in the indoor season, qualifying for the 60 finals at the NCAC Championships and finishing seventh overall with a collegiate-best time of 7.14 seconds.

Junior Cam Ray will continue to be a key in the relays after being a part of the All-NCAC 4x400 squad in both the indoor and outdoor season. Rob Mays III should lead the throwers after putting forth a collegiate-best 45 feet, 1 inch in the shot put last season.

"We're excited about the talent we have on the men's side," Rice said. "It's a mixture of experience and younger team members coming into the program. We graduated quite a bit from the last couple of years, but we feel strongly that we have a nice, strong core group of people in place who have great potential to do amazing things."

The Scots will open the season with three consecutive indoor home meets, starting Jan. 13 with the Wooster Invitational.