Colleen O'Neil

Sarah Appleton

Colleen O'Neil and Sarah Appleton each ran their way to all-league recognition, highlighting The College of Wooster's results at the North Coast Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships Saturday morning at John Bryan State Park in Yellow Spring, Ohio, and in the team standings, the Fighting Scots came in seventh-place in both the men's and women's fields.

O'Neil, a junior, finished eighth by covering the women's 6K in a time of 23:11.8, good for a spot on the All-NCAC Second Team and just three seconds away from first-team honors. It was the initial all-conference honor for O'Neil, while Appleton's 20th-place showing (23:53.4) landed her honorable mention status, which marked the fourth all-NCAC certificate of the senior's cross country career.

Wooster narrowly had a third all-conference (top-21) effort on the women's side, as Meredith Shaul came in 24th (24:03.7). Also scoring for the Scots were freshman Lauren Buyan in 50th (25:12.7) and Rebecca Craig in 54th (25:24.9).

In all, Wooster totaled 142 points, edged out by Wittenberg University (123) and Allegheny College (136) for a top-half NCAC finish, while Oberlin College dominated the competition with five individuals among the top-10 for 32 points. Ohio Wesleyan University was runner-up (103).

The Scots had four men's harriers among the top-50, paced by Luke Hutchings-Goetz, who just missed out on all-conference status via a 25th-place run as he crossed the line in 26:56.3. Less than 30 seconds back was teammate Kevin DeGroot in 34th (27:23.3), followed closely by Micah Caunter in 45th (27:30.6) and Ethan Rudawsky in 47th (27:37.4).

Morgan Clark also scored points for Wooster with a 64th-place effort (28:27.2), which resulted in a team total of 193. The seventh-place spot was one better than the Scots were thought to finish in the coaches' pre-championship poll. Wabash College won the championship (52).