HOLLAND, Michigan – Sophomore Will Callender achieved mission success with an all-region finish to lead The College of Wooster cross country team at the NCAA Div. III Great Lakes Cross Country Regional Championships on Saturday at Three Fires Golf Club. Wooster's men finished 24th and the women claimed 28th-place.

Cold weather and snow did not slow Callender one bit, with the sophomore smashing his career-best championship-length time en route to the 30th-place finish on Saturday. Callender went 25:00.7 - his time by 27.2 seconds - and he crossed 81 spots higher than his debut regional finish a year ago.

Sophomores Ben Nichols and Drew Robertson were neck-and-neck at the end of the race with Nichols' 26:31.1 edging out Robertson's career-best 26:31.8. They finished 135th and 137th, respectively. Classmate Eric Johnson was 1.5 seconds back of a spot in the top-150, yet his 26:48.3 was well over a minute better than his prior championship-length-best time of 28:03.6 from last year's regional meet.

Junior Mitch Ecklund went 28:16.6, also a career-best, to round out the five scorers. Junior Duncan Hardy (28:36.8) and sophomore Michail Protopapadakis (29:43.6) were the Scots' other entries in the field.

On the women's side, senior Isabelle Hoover was part of the pack jockeying for all-region placement at the 4,000-meters mark. However, the Scots' anchor fell back of the final spot and crossed 46th with a time of 22:40.8, a clip 13.7 seconds back of the final all-region placement. Less than 20 seconds separated places 33 through 46.

Igna Mendez's sophomore campaign closed with her ranking as the Scots' number two on the day. She went 24:57.7, which was the 152nd-fastest time in the field. Sophomore Isabelle Dwyer navigated the course in 26:01.5, which was 192nd, and classmate Elise Greenwald was just outside the top-200 at 26:30.0. Notable, Mendez shaved nearly two minutes off her previous 6,000-meters best, Dwyer was a minute faster than her old best, and Greenwald's time was 30 seconds better than her time at last year's regional meet.

Sophomore Eva Bauman's 26:52.1 counted towards Wooster's score, while sophomores Jessie Breth (27:22.9) and Julianna Fiori (28:15.4) were the other Scots in the field.

John Carroll University swept the team titles. John Carroll's Alex Phillip was the men's individual champion with a time of 23:56.5. Host Hope College's Anastasia Tucker claimed the women's title at 20:46.0.