Scot Harriers at Denison Friday for Season Opener

Nicole Calderone

  
The College of Wooster cross country teams will take part in an “early season test effort,” according to 19th-year head coach Dennis Rice, as the Fighting Scots open 2007 on Friday, Aug. 31, at the four-team Denison Fall Classic. In addition to Denison University and Wooster, Kenyon College and Ohio Dominican University will be competing. The event will consist of a women’s 4K run at 6 p.m. and the men will race four miles at 6:30 p.m.   

Men’s 2007 Preview Notes: Following a rebuilding season, a more experienced Wooster team will take to the course with aspirations of returning to its status as one of the top contenders in the highly-competitive North Coast Athletic Conference. Wooster has finished among the top-three of the NCAC 10 times in the league’s 23-year history, but is coming off an eighth-place showing ... Five of the Fighting Scots’ top-six runners from a year ago are back in senior Rudy Gilman (Silverton, Ore. / Silverton Union), juniors Mark DeWine (Cedarville, Ohio / Bishop O’Connell – Va.) and Paul Thompson (Oberlin, Ohio / Oberlin), and sophomore twins Rick and Terry Workman (Hillsboro, Ohio / Greenfield McClain) ... Gilman was Wooster’s No. 1 harrier for the first time in his career last fall, highlighted by receiving honorable mention on the all-conference team via a 19th-place performance at the NCAC meet when he ran 28:26 over the 8K course in Richmond, Ind. He also nearly posted an individual top-50 effort at the NCAA Div. III Great Lakes Regional, coming in 52nd (27:10.7) ... DeWine consistently scored as the Scots’ second or third finisher last season, including 36th- and 129th-place runs at the NCAC Championships (29:13) and regional (28:30.2), respectively ... Thompson was not far behind during the conference meet, taking 52nd overall (30:11), while fellow junior Bryan Loy (Oxford, Ohio / Talawanda) looks to revert to his freshman form when he produced team points at both the NCAC and Great Lakes regional ... In addition to Gilman and DeWine, Terry Workman finished among Wooster’s top-five at the season-ending competitions, earning 54th in the league (30:13) and 158th in the region (29:01.7) during his debut. Rick Workman was just seconds behind his brother at the NCAA Great Lakes race, crossing in 164th (29:15.9).

Women’s 2007 Preview Notes: Wooster lost one of its most accomplished runners of all-time to graduation, but still maintain the ability to match last season’s fifth-place team finish in the North Coast Athletic Conference ... Admittedly, the Scots don’t have a current member to replace the points produced by Katie Wieferich, who won the All-Ohio Championships (all NCAA divisions and NAIA), the NCAC Championships, and the NCAA Div. III Great Lakes Regional before earning All-American honors via a 14th-place finish at the national meet as a senior. However, with improvement from six returning letterwinners and the arrival of eight first-years, several of whom could make an immediate impact, Wooster might be right back in the mix for a spot among the top-half of the NCAC ... The Scots’ top veteran is senior Nicole Calderone (Grass Lake, Mich. / Greenhills School), who has had a productive career, highlighted by finishing among the top-half of the runners at the NCAA regional each season – 60th in 2006 (24:28.1), 92nd in 2005 (23:45.9), and 91st in 2004 (24:08.3). She just missed out on all-conference honors last fall, coming in a career-best 22nd-place at the NCAC Championships (26:20) ... Fellow seniors Cara Stoddard (Rockford, Mich. / Rockford), Erin Fortin (Fernandina Beach, Fla. / Neuqua Valley – Ill.), and Emily Elderbrock (Ashland, Ohio / Ashland) give Wooster more experience to lean on. Stoddard has competed at the conference meet twice, finishing as high as 32nd in 2005 (25:47), as has Fortin, who posted a 37th-place effort in 2004 (26:09) ... Junior Anna Gil (San Francisco, Calif. / Lick-Wilmerding) and sophomore Caitlin O’Riordan (Chagrin Falls, Ohio / Chagrin Falls) are the Scots’ two other leading returnees. O’Riordan looks to build off the momentum from season-ending 37th- and 77th-place finishes at the NCAC’s (27:53) and the Great Lakes Regional (24:53.2), respectively.