SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - In the first championship-length and the first scored meet of the season, the College of Wooster cross country team secured two sixth-place finishes at the Wittenberg University Invitational, hosted at the Clark County Fairgrounds. 

Leading the way for the women was senior Isabelle Hoover as she recorded yet another top-five finish - the seventh of her career and second of the early season. She was the runner-up in the 6k event, crossing the finish line in 23:10.4. Meanwhile, sophomore Ben Nichols put together a career-best 8k effort to lead the Wooster men, placing 15th in a time of 27:04.6. 

The next four Wooster women all finished within a minute of each other, starting with sophomore Jessie Breth in 51st place in 27:02.6. She was followed closely by fellow sophomores Julianna Fiori (career-best 27:11.2), Eva Bauman(27:40.4) and Elise Greenwald (27:55.5). Sophomore Bri Becerra toed the line for her first collegiate race and ran 28:25.4 and sophomore Isabelle Dwyer rounded out the Scots' top-seven in 29:27.1. 

Sophomore Will Callender was the second Scot to come in for the men, running a time of 27:14.5 for a 20th-place finish. Sophomore Drew Robertson notched a career-best 27:52.5 to place 29th. Two juniors in Duncan Hardy (29:38.6) and Mitch Ecklund (29:42.8) finished back-to-back in 64th and 65th place, respectively. Finishing off the top-seven were sophomore Eric Johnson in 30:21.1 and junior Bryson Simpson in 31:07.4. 

For the second meet in a row, Baldwin Wallace University's Hope Murphy won the women's race in a time of 22:58.8. Manchester (Ind.) University's Enrique Salazar was the top finisher for the men in 25:57.3. 

Wooster will compete again on Friday, September 16, at the All-Ohio Championships, beginning at 8:15 p.m. in Cedarville.