WOOSTER, Ohio – First-year Will Callender turned in a memorable collegiate debut, as his 21:35.3 broke The College of Wooster men's cross country team's four-mile record at L.C. Boles Memorial Golf Course on Wednesday evening. The Fighting Scots opened the 2021 season by hosting the non-scoring Wooster Invitational in what marked the College's first cross country meet since the NCAA Div. III Great Lakes Regional Championships on November 16, 2019.

Callender's record-setting time was just faster than alumnus Joe David's 21:38.70 from the 2014 season. Callender placed fifth out of 86 competitors.

Sophomore Duncan Hardy crossed next for Wooster at 23:03.7, while first-year Ben Nichols emerged as the Scots' No. 3 in his first collegiate meet. Nichols covered the four-mile course in 23:21.0.

Wooster's talented youth was on full display, as six of Wooster's top eight runners on the night were first-years. Michail Protopapadakis (24:19.3), Drew Robertson (24:20.1), Eric Johnson (24:29.4), and Chris Frerichs (24:36.3) were part of that group, as was sophomore Mitch Ecklund (24:26.5), who was also making his cross country debut.

Sophomore Athena Tharenos is certainly no stranger to Wooster's cross country and track & field program, having earned All-North Coast Athletic Conference honors in the 800 meters during the outdoor season. That momentum carried over to the anthropology, Chinese studies, and environmental geoscience triple-major's cross country debut, as she was the runner-up in the women's 4,000 meters race, crossing at 15:18.3. That time wasn't far off senior Kayla Bertholf's team course-record pace of 15:14.50 set two years ago. Bertholf finished this year's Wooster Invitational at 16:07.8, and that was second on the team and 13th in the 74-harrier field.

First-year Jessica Breth (16:44.7) rounded out the Scots in the top-20, while first-year Eva Bauman (16:54.9), junior Abby Rice (17:26.0), senior Rachel Osterhouse (17:27.0), first-year Elise Greenwald (17:48.8), and first-year Isabelle Dwyer (18:43.6) comprised the rest of Wooster's top-eight.

Otterbein University's Sydney Smith was the women's 4K champion at 15:03.0. The Cardinals' Bill Daily had the blue-ribbon time of 21:14.2 in the men's four mile.

Next, Wooster's at Wittenberg University's Invite on Saturday, September 11. Action at the Clark County Fairgrounds is slated for an 11 a.m. start.