Scot Women Fourth, Men Fifth at NCAC Cross Country Championships

Senior Matt Linman, pictured here at the Wooster Invite, finished a career-best third (27:07) at the NCAC meet.

The College of Wooster cross country teams both finished among the top-half in their respective North Coast Athletic Conference Championship races held Saturday (Oct. 30) at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa., as the women placed fourth of nine and the men fifth of 10.

Also noteworthy, both of Wooster’s squads placed higher than expected. In the coaches’ pre-NCAC Championships poll, the women were picked fifth and the men seventh.

Behind three top-20 individual runners, the Scot women totaled 100 points even to edge Oberlin College (101), while Denison University (34), Kenyon College (58), and host Allegheny (62) finished 1-2-3, respectively, in the nine-team field.

Pacing Wooster’s effort on the 6K course was sophomore Katie Wieferich, who came in 11th-place out of the field of 96 runners with a time of 24:10. Not far behind were junior Tiffany White in 16th (24:31) and senior Erin Jacob in 19th (24:48). Two other seniors, Lindsey Dieringer and Erin Herl, also scored for the Scots, crossing the finish line 23rd (25:08) and 31st (25:27), respectively.

On the men’s side, Wooster emerged from a close middle pack with 125 points, one tally behind fourth-place Ohio Wesleyan University (124) and slightly ahead of Earlham College (128) as well as Wabash College (131). Allegheny won the men’s championship (31), well in front of runner-up Kenyon (89) and third-place Denison (112).

For the second-straight year, two Scot men came through with top-10 performances, led by senior Matt Linman, who finished third overall, covering the 8K course in 27:07, just 38 seconds behind individual champion Kevin Pool of Allegheny. Wooster junior Taylor Delhagen was ninth overall out of 98 harriers in a time of 27:44.

Competing in one of his first meets of 2004 after dealing with an injury, junior Charlie Van Gombos, last season’s third-place finisher, took 24th overall (28:42) for the Scots, while junior Colin Turner and sophomore Zac Patterson turned in scoring efforts of 39th-place (29:18) and 50th-place (29:59), respectively.

Wooster will next compete in the NCAA Regional Championships at Alma, Mich., on Nov. 13.