College of Wooster Women's Track

Rice has developed a well-deserved reputation for his ability to train student-athletes to reach their full potential. During his 31 years on the coaching staff, the Fighting Scots have won six North Coast Athletic Conference team championships in cross country, highlighted by three-straight for the women from 1996-98, and seven in track & field (four indoor, three outdoor). For his efforts, Rice has been recognized as the conferences Coach of the Year four times in cross country and three times in track & field. He was also named the Ohio Div. III Cross Country Coach of the Year in 1996 after guiding the womens team to a school-best 15th-place finish at the NCAA Championships. Individually, 35 Scots have competed at the NCAA Championships in cross country (six men, 12 women) and track & field (five men, 12 women) during Rices tenure. Hes helped produce a five-time All-American in distance specialist Katie Wieferich, who finished her Wooster career with two third-place finishes in the 10,000 meters and a pair of top-five runs in the 5000 meters, as well as a trio of three-time All-Americans in Hilary Coady, Emily Moorefield, and Reggie Ray. Coady, a multi-event specialist, capped her career with a runner-up finish in the heptathlon, and was the second indoor All-American in program history via a third-place pentathlon finish. Moorefield, also a distance specialist, posted two top-20 showings at the national cross country meet and a fourth-place performance in the 1500 meters, while Ray, a sprinter, placed among the top-eight at NCAAs in the 100 meters once and the 200 meters twice. In all, Scot individuals have been crowned conference champs 195 times in cross country/indoor and outdoor track & field combined, to go with 42 relay championships. Along with the numerous athletic successes, Rices teams also excel in the classroom. Woosters student-athletes annually appear on the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic Teams, and womens cross country regularly finishes with the highest team GPA at the school each academic year. On an individual level, Rice's charges have earned highly prestigious honors, highlighted by Claire Roberts' NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship in 1994 and Erin Plews-Ogan's Elite 89 award in 2013. In all, track & field and cross country student-athletes have earned seven Academic All-America® certificates during Rices tenure. A graduate of Edinboro University in northeast Pennsylvania, Rice was inducted into his alma maters athletic Hall of Fame after serving as a team captain in cross country and track and earning two All-American citations for one of NCAA Div. IIs premier running programs. He went on to serve as an assistant coach at Edinboro prior to coming to Wooster.

Higginbotham played a key role in two student-athletes qualifying for the national indoor meet for the first time in program history. Additionally, he was tabbed as the NCAA Div. III Great Lakes Assistant Coach of the Year for womens indoor track & field by the USTFCCCA. Before joining the Wooster staff, Higginbotham was an assistant track coach at his alma mater for two seasons (2011-12). Of the sprinters, hurdlers, and jumpers he worked with there, they combined for five school records and five All-American performances (mens high jump, womens long jump, pentathlon, and mens triple jump), and he also was an assistant football coach at Fostoria High School during that time. As a student-athlete for the Berg, Higginbotham earned All-American honors in the long jump both indoors (3rd-place; 23 feet) and outdoors (6th-place; 23 feet, 4.5 inches) during the 2010 season. Overall, he was a seven-time qualifier for the NCAA Div. III Championships indoor long jump (2008, 2009, 2010), outdoor long jump (2010), indoor 55 meters (2009), and outdoor 4x100 meters relay (2007, 2010). Within the OAC, he combined for four individual championships and all-conference status 20 times, highlighted by being named the Don Frail Most Outstanding Track Athlete once (2009) and the Bud Yoest Most Outstanding Field Athlete twice (2008, 2009). In football, Higginbotham was the teams fourth-leading tackler (46) as a senior to go with four pass breakups and two interceptions en route to second-team all-OAC recognition. A native of Elyria, Ohio, Higginbotham completed a bachelors degree while majoring in psychology at Heidelberg, and would later earn a masters degree in arts and education from his alma mater in 2014.