George Gauthier retired as athletics director in 1955. He returned the next year to help coach cross country and track and field. In 1960, Marv Frye was named head coach of the cross-country and track and field teams. The men’s cross country team qualified for the NCAA Division III championship meet in 2010, marking the first time since 1979 that the Bishops competed in the national meet as a team. In 2014, the men’s cross country team finished 19th of 31 teams in the NCAA Preview meet, then improved to ninth of 34 teams at the Oberlin Interregional Rumble, and second of 10 teams at the NCAC championship meet. The second-place finish equaled Ohio Wesleyan’s best-ever finish in an NCAC championship meet, a feat the Bishops last accomplished in 2006.

In 1946, Quentin Brelsford ’48 wins the NCAA cross country championship, then one race encompassing all member institutions, to become Ohio Wesleyan’s first national champion in cross country. Other runners who received All-America honors in cross country include John Gutknecht in 1957-58, John Shively in 1969, and John Timmons in 1981. Academic All-America players include Mark Kimball in 1983, Kale Booher in 2010-12, and Sharif Kronemer in 2012.

Matt Wackerly became head coach of the Ohio Wesleyan University men’s and women’s cross country teams in 2009. In 2009, the men’s team finished sixth in the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional meet, at the time the Bishops’ best finish in a regional meet since 1981, and sent a runner to the NCAA Division III championship meet for the first time since 1983. The men’s team finished third in the NCAC standings in 2010, the Bishops’ best finish since 2006. Ohio Wesleyan went on to finish fourth at the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional meet, matching the Bishops’ best-ever finish in a regional meet, and advanced to the NCAA Division III championship meet for the first time since 1979.

The men’s cross country team placed third in the NCAC championship and fourth in the Great Lakes Regional meet in 2011, narrowly missing a second consecutive appearance in the NCAA championship meet. The 2012 men’s team placed third in the NCAC championship meet and 15th in the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional meet. In 2013, the men’s cross country team finished seventh in the NCAC championship meet and 18th in the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional meet.

Ohio Wesleyan University has hosted cross country meets at Liberty Park since the 2009 season. The course is located on Home Road south of Delaware, approximately six miles south of Delaware and eight miles south of the Ohio Wesleyan campus.

From the early 1960s to 2008, Ohio Wesleyan hosted cross country meets at the Methodist Theological School and the Delaware Golf Club. The course was located off US 23, approximately two miles south of Delaware and three miles south of the Ohio Wesleyan campus, and was the site of the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships in 1984 and 2005 as well as many All-Ohio championship meets.

Ohio Wesleyan cross country meets prior to the early 1960s usually were run on road courses, with one popular path heading south on Henry Street, east on Olentangy Avenue, and south on Pollock Road before doubling back, with races often finishing at Selby Stadium.