This Week's Outlook: The College of Wooster indoor track and field teams travel to Wittenberg University to take part in the 2026 North Coast Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships on Friday and Saturday. Field events start Friday at noon. Track events are scheduled to start at 2 p.m. On Saturday, start times are listed at 10 a.m. for field and 2:30 p.m. for track.
 
Ticket Information: Ticket prices are set by the NCAC office. Tickets are $5 per day for adults and $3 per day for children (18-and-under) and students without their NCAC institution ID. NCAC students are admitted free with their ID.
 
Media Coverage: Fans can follow along through the available live stream and live results webpages provided by Wittenberg University.
 
Looking Back at Last Year's NCAC Indoor Championships: Daysia Hargrave earned All-NCAC honors for the 11th time at last year's NCAC pentathlon, where her 2,985 points were eight off a collegiate-best. Will Callender opened the NCAC Championships with the third-place time in the 5,000 meters (15:03.71) for his third time earning All-NCAC honors in the event. Hargrave and Evie Sanford (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) rounded out the All-NCAC performers. Sanford earned All-NCAC honors in the shot put with a season-best throw of 41 feet, 0.25 inch, which was a quarter inch back of Denison University's Sydney Flores for the NCAC title. Hargrave was one of three runners to beat the NCAC meet record set in 2015. Her third-place time of 8.79 seconds marked a 12th all-conference honor.
 
This Year's Pre-Championship Poll: NCAC newcomer John Carroll University was projected to win the NCAC title on the men's side in the pre-championship coaches poll. John Carroll collected six of the nine first-place votes and scored 77 points. Wittenberg was projected second with 70 points and the other three first-place votes, while Wabash College was picked third with 69 points. On the women's side, the first-place votes were split evenly between Ohio Wesleyan University and John Carroll. The Battling Bishops edged out the Blue Streaks 60-59 for first in the poll. DePauw University was picked third with 49 points.
 
Heptathlon/Pentathlon Recap: Senior Anaya Brady (Lees Summit, Mo./Blue Springs South) competed in the NCAC pentathlon on Sunday, which was hosted at the College's Scot Center. Brady placed 10th with 2,022 points. She tied for fifth in the field in the high jump, clearing 4 feet, 6.25 inches.
 
Looking to be the Next National Qualifier: Wooster has a storied tradition of national qualifiers, with Hargrave being the most recent to get to the national meet. As a senior, Hargrave came home from indoor nationals as a two-time All-American, as she placed 16th in the 60-meter hurdles. Sanford is the best-positioned to make a run at a national berth this year. The senior is 31st in the shot put at 42 feet, 11.75 inches. The top 20 individuals in each event qualify for the Div. III Championships, which take place March 13-14 at Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Ala.
 
All-Ohio Success: Wooster's distance medley relay consisting of first-years Max Kollhoff (Madison, Ohio/Madison) and Tyler Frye (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) and seniors Reese Johnson (Cincinnati, Ohio/Indian Hill) and Zane DeMercurio (Amherst, Ohio/Amherst Steele) raced to the third-place time of 10:45.32 in the distance medley relay at the All-Ohio Championships to claim All-Ohio honors.
 
Upping that Record: Sanford has upped her already-held school record twice this season. The senior went 42 feet, 11.5 inches in the shot put at the Fighting Scots Invitational, then went a quarter inch better at the Bob Shannon Invitational the first weekend of February.
 
Wooster Entering NCAC with Strong Relays: Wooster's distance medley relay has the top time from within the NCAC this season entering the championships. Wooster's 4x200 relay consisting of junior Nate Chartrand (Brookfield, Wis./Brookfield East), junior Robert Hillhouse (Durham, N.C./Durham Academy), sophomore Dasebre Ofosu-Manu (Accra, Ghana/Tema International School), and junior Cooper Norwell (Huron, Ohio/Huron) nearly took down the program's 6-year-old 4x200 relay record at All-Ohio. The quartet's 1:32.84 was just shy of the school-record 1:32.15 turned in by Mark Herron, Drake Pence, Kristian Coleman, and national qualifier Will McMichael in 2020.
 
Field Wooster's Strength in 2026: Field events are Wooster's strength entering the NCAC Championships. Through meets Feb. 22, Sanford ranks first in the NCAC in the shot put (42 feet, 11.75 inches) and fourth in the weight throw (46 feet, 7.25 inches). Senior Rob Mays III (Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) is sixth in the shot put (46 feet, 5.75 inches). Senior Essaie Mezmur (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia/Future Talent Academy) is sixth in the high jump (6 feet, 0.75 inch). Other individuals with top-10 individual event rankings include senior Sarah Hiestand in the pole vault (10th, 9 feet, 8 inches).
 
Immediate Impact: Senior Sophia Mellis (Pittsburgh, Pa./Oakland Catholic) joined the track and field team for the first time this winter and is Wooster's top middle distance runner. Mellis earned third-team All-NCAC honors on attack for the Scots' most successful women's lacrosse team last spring. Mellis scored in the 800 meters at All-Ohio with a 2:24.97 and won the event at the Fighting Scots' Invitational in late January, turning in a 2:31.05.