Nine members of The College of Wooster cross country program turned in career-best times at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championships, hosted on the campus of Kenyon College. Overall, the men's team placed seventh while the women finished eighth as a team.
 
Six of the men's top-seven posted collegiate-bests, led by senior Zane DeMercurio with 33rd place in a career-best 26:44.6. Those top times continued all the way down through the remainder of the Fighting Scots' scorers. Senior Joe Ahmann was the second harrier, crossing the finish line in 37th place in a career-best 26:48.4. Sophomores Basil Keck and Grant Mentzer were the third and fourth to come in with collegiate-bests of 27:46.9 and 28:03.7, respectively, to place 53rd and 64th.
 
Senior Charlie Cuttino, senior Jack Schuller, and junior Nick Schade packed together and finished back-to-back-to-back in 70th, 71st, and 72nd place. Cuttino and Schuller had identical times of 28:31.7, which was a career-best for Cuttino. Schade was less than a second behind his teammates in a collegiate-best 28:32.6.
 
As she has all season long, first-year Lauren Acker led Wooster's effort in the women's race. Acker placed 36th in her first conference championship meet in 24:12.1. Senior Amy Gabrovsek joined the personal record parade with a career-best 25.30.6 to finish 60th. Junior Reeve Helvoigt was not that far behind Gabrovsek in 66th in 26:06.2, while classmate Elise Wheeler added another collegiate-best for the Scots with 26:20.2 for 70th place. Sophomore Eilidh Horn took the last scoring spot for the Scots as the fifth harrier in 27:29.1 to place 76th.
 
Senior Sylvia Direnzo finished in a career-best 28:30.6 for 79th place and junior Naomi Kaczor finished off the top-seven in 83rd place with 31:25.8.
 
NCAC newcomer John Carroll University continued its dominance in a new conference, taking the team title with 24 points, led by Nate Julien as the individual champion in 25:20.3. Ohio Wesleyan University took the women's team title with 43 points while the Battling Bishops' Zoe Ward won the individual title in 22:10.9.
 
Wooster will host the Twilight 5k Challenge for its second home meet of the season on Friday, Nov. 7, at 7:00 p.m.