The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Entrant \En"trant\, n. [See Entrance, n.]
   1. One who enters; a beginner. "The entrant upon life." --Bp.
      Terrot.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. An applicant for admission. --Stormonth.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

entrant
    n 1: a commodity that enters competition with established
         merchandise; "a well publicized entrant is the pocket
         computer"
    2: any new participant in some activity [syn: newcomer,
       fledgling, fledgeling, starter, neophyte, freshman,
       newbie, entrant]
    3: someone who enters; "new entrants to the country must go
       though immigration procedures"
    4: one who enters a competition

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

52 Moby Thesaurus words for "entrant":
   abecedarian, alphabetarian, apprentice, arrival, articled clerk,
   baby, beginner, boot, catechumen, comer, competitor, contender,
   contestant, corrival, deb, debutant, emulator, fledgling, freshman,
   greenhorn, greeny, ignoramus, immigrant, in-migrant, incomer,
   inductee, infant, initiate, intruder, learner, neophyte, nestling,
   new boy, newcomer, novice, novitiate, player, postulant,
   probationer, probationist, raw recruit, recruit, rival, rookie,
   settler, tenderfoot, the field, trainee, tyro, vier, visitant,
   visitor