Henry Schneiderman
Sports Editor
The Fighting Scots men’s and women’s cross country teams rounded off their regular season with participation in their annual Twilight 5k Challenge this past Friday. Unlike traditional cross country events that see participants embark on solo exhibitions as they weave through obstacles on wildly nonlinear courses, the Twilight 5k is run under the bright lights of Wooster’s John P. Papp Stadium on the newly renovated Carl Munson Track. Runners are encouraged by a motivating onslaught of upbeat music, by a delicious dinner at the competition’s end and by the cheers of friends and family alike from the stands. Nick Schade ’27 said, “I’ve never been to a meet at night before so it was really interesting for me.” This sentiment was followed up by Luke Woodfill ’26 who stated, “Twilight was a great way to end the season.” The Twilight 5k serves as an entertaining annual event to close the cross country season. Despite its casual tone, the Scots aimed to deliver a final breath-taking performance against their daunting competitors, Oberlin and Allegheny College, as well as round off a successful campaign.
The women’s race kicked off in the early evening and saw a number of highlight performances from the Fighting Scots. Athena Tharenos ’24 led the pack with a first place finish, marking her second victory in the competition, having also won in 2021. Tharenos crossed the finish line with a time of 18:17.8 and was closely followed by Dylan Kretchmar ’25 who placed second with a time of 18:22.7 — both running at a sub-six minute mile pace throughout the entire competition. Jessie Breth ’25 and Isabelle Dwyer ’25 would fall next in line for the Scots as they finished seventh and eighth with times of 20:10.5 and 20:13.4 respectively. Reeve Helvoigt ’27 rounded out the top ten with a time of 20:24.5. Closely behind, Zanna Anderson ’27 would place 14th with a time of 21:00.0, Lily Baker ’25 placed 17th with a time of 22:00.4 and Julianna Fiori ’24 rounded out the field in 21st with a time of 24:33.3.
The men’s race began shortly after the women’s ended and saw Eric Johnson ’25 lead the Scots with a time of 15:59.3 that placed him fourth. Joe Ahmann ’26 would later finish 10th with a time of 16:44.6 and was closely followed by Schade who placed 13th with a time of 16.55.1. Shortly after, Zane DeMercurio ’26 placed 15th with a time of 17:00.3. Upon the conclusion of the men’s race, participants were treated with a delicious meal to celebrate the meet and cap off an incredible season.
Many runners named the track as a defining feature of the meet. “Running on the track definitely felt weird,” Duncan Miller ’26 stated; this was a sentiment further expressed by Eion McKernan ’27 who added, “Running distance on a track is definitely harder than running on a course because it is harder to zone out on a track due to the same scenery repeating itself. It makes the race feel longer and makes it harder to keep running and ignore your body telling you to stop.” Despite the track’s difficulty, Wooster participants expressed satisfaction with the meet and claimed it was a good way to cap off a successful season. “Each person on the team made it a really fun season with a lot of great performances,” Woodfill stated. McKernan furthered this statement by saying, “The season was super awesome and I met a lot of cool people, I do not regret running cross country as a freshman.”
While the Twilight 5k marks the end of the season for most of the Scots, seven members of the men’s and women’s cross country teams will continue onto the regional meet this Saturday. One participant competing this Saturday will be first-year Schade who expressed confidence going forward. “I’m really excited for regionals this Saturday. I feel really good about my training, so I think I’m prepared to get a PR on the course,” he said.
Congratulations to the Fighting Scots on a successful season and good luck to those participating in the Regional Meet, Saturday Nov. 11!
