No. 16 Women's Track & Field wins annual Joe Banks Invitational

By Caleb Scott

ADA — The No. 16-ranked Ohio Northern women's track and field team finished first of 15 teams at the annual Joe Banks Invitational on Saturday afternoon.

Junior Emily Richards (Delaware/Hayes) led the Polar Bears in the meet as she set a new school record and ran the sixth fastest time in Div. III history in the 800-meter dash and finished second overall in 2:08.83 behind 2016 Div. II 800-meter run National Champion Carsyn Koch. 

In the high jump sophomore Mallory Weininger (Upper Sandusky) won the event with a career-best leap of 5' 1.75".

Sophomore Maddy Reed (Lucasville/Piketon) won the pole vault with a new career-best height of 12" 4.50".

In the 60-meter hurdles, senior Allie Gast (Grandville, Mich.) finished first in :9.38.

Senior Kelsey Commager (Maumee) also finished first as she won the long jump with a leap of 18' 0.50".

The senior won the triple jump with a leap of 37' 1.75". 

Seniors Michelle Mosler (Wapakoneta) and Meagan Ellinger (Bath, Ind./Union County) finished first and second in the 500-meter run as Ellinger took second in 1:21.46 and Mosler won the event in 1:21.23.

The team of Gast, Ellinger, Mosler, and freshman Taylor Lavey (Findlay) finished third in the 4x200-meter relay in 1:48.39.

"This was a nice meet to win," said head coach Jason Maus. "We had a lot of new girls meet some conference and All-Ohio marks and its nice to be able to do that at home. This team is starting to see some things come together.

The Polar Bears return to the track Saturday as they travel to Westerville to compete in the All-Ohio Championships.