Two records fall as No. 18 Women's Track & Field compete at Grand Valley State (Mich.) Invitational

By Caleb Scott

ALLENDALE, Mich. — The Ohio Northern women's track & field team saw two school records fall as they competed at the Grand Valley State (Mich.) Invitational on Saturday afternoon.

The Polar Bears finished 6th of 19 teams and moved to 16-6 on the season.

Junior Emily Richards (Delaware/Hayes) broke her previous school record and won the 800-meter dash with a time of 2:09.46.

Richards currently owns the fastest time in the nation in the 800-meter run and also owns the 10th fastest time in Division III indoor history with her time.

The team of seniors Meagan Ellinger (Bath, Ind./Union County), Michelle Mosler (Wapakoneta), freshman Taylor Lavey (Findlay) and Richards broke the school record in the 4x400-meter relay and finished fifth overall in 3:59.54.

Senior Kelsey Commager (Maumee) also scored for Northern as she took third place in the long jump with a leap of 17' 10.25". 

Commager also took third place in the triple jump, narrowly missing her own school record with a jump of 37' 7.75".

In the pole vault, sophomore Maddy Reed (Lucasville/Piketon) tied her career-best height and finished tied for second with a vault of 12' 3.50".

In the 60-meter hurdles, senior Allie Gast (Grandville, Mich.) finished seventh in :9.22.

Sophomore Mallory Weininger (Upper Sandusky) finished tied for eighth in the high jump with a leap of 4' 11.50".

"There was a lot of really good competition here today," said head coach Jason Maus. "It was great to see this team have such a great showing at a really competitive meet like this one. We set a lot of PR's today and had a lot of nice conference marks."

The Polar Bears return to the track Saturday as they host the annual Joe Banks Invitational at the ONU Sports Center fieldhouse with field events set to begin at 11 am.