Five Polar Bears named to College Sports Communicators Women’s Track and Field and Cross Country Academic All-District Team

Five Polar Bears named to College Sports Communicators Women’s Track and Field and Cross Country Academic All-District Team
May 31, 2023

By Wes Mayberry

| 2022-23 CSC Women's Track and Field and Cross Country Academic All-District Team (.pdf) |

ADA — Ohio Northern fifth-year seniors Tessa Pitcovich (Stow/Stow-Munroe Falls) and Taylor Ellerbrock (Columbus Grove), senior Anna Schatzle (Brookville, Ind./Franklin County), junior Olivia Ogg (Hebron/Lakewood) and sophomore Ashley Hockstok (Westerville/Central) were named to the 2022-23 Women's Track and Field and Cross Country Academic All-District Team by College Sports Communicators.

Pitcovich, Ellerbrock and Hockstok are members of ONU's cross country and track and field teams, and Schatzle and Ogg are pole vaulters on the track team.

To be eligible for Academic All-District honors, each student-athlete must have a GPA of at least 3.50 and must have competed in at least 50 percent of her team's events during the season.

This marks the second straight CSC Academic All-District accolade for Pitcovich, who went on to be named to the Academic All-America Second Team last year.

Pitcovich capped her decorated ONU career by earning a spot as a national qualifier in both cross country and track and field in 2022-23 and being named ONU's female Clyde Lamb Award winner.

In November, she placed 81st of 293 runners at the NCAA Division III Women's Cross Country Championships and earned the NCAA Elite 90 Award for women's cross country for the second straight season. She is just the second student-athlete in ONU history to win the Elite 90 Award twice.

A three-time national qualifier in cross country, Pitcovich earned All-Ohio Athletic Conference and All-Great Lakes honors in 2022 after placing second and fifth, respectively, at the conference and regional meets. The 2021 NCAA Division III All-Ohio Female Runner of the Year ranks third all-time at ONU in the 6K with a time of 21:22 and 10th all-time in the 5K at 18:45 and is a four-time All-OAC and three-time All-Region honoree.

In track and field, Pitcovich was the OAC champion in the indoor 3,000 this season and is a two-time NCAA qualifier in the outdoor 10,000. She owns five USTFCCCA All-Region accolades and eight All-OAC honors in her career and ranks in the top five in ONU history in several events. Outdoors, she ranks second all-time in the 5,000 (17:30.27) and 10,000 (36:07.00) and fourth in the 3,000 (10:40.10). Indoors, she ranks second all-time in the 5,000 (17:35.35) and third in the 3,000 (10:06.26).

A graduate student in accounting, Pitcovich is a seven-time Academic All-OAC and five-time USTFCCCA All-Academic selection across both sports, and she owns two OAC Scholar Athlete of the Month accolades in her career.

Ellerbrock has also shined in both cross country and track and field.

In cross country, she is a two-time All-Region and All-OAC honoree. In 2022, Ellerbrock finished 13th at the OAC Championships and 31st at the Great Lakes Region Championships, and she ranks ninth all-time at ONU in the 6K with a time of 22:17.

In track and field, Ellerbrock is a three-time All-OAC honoree and the OAC champion outdoors in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, winning the title in 2023. Indoors, she ranks fourth all-time at ONU in the 3,000 (10:11.18) and 10th in the mile (5:15.73). Outdoors, she ranks fifth all-time at ONU in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (11:25.96) and ninth in the 5,000 (18:07.24).

The medical laboratory science major is a seven-time Academic All-OAC and three-time USTFCCCA All-Academic honoree across both sports in her career.

Hockstok picked up her first career All-OAC and All-Region accolades in 2022, finishing 16th at the OAC Championships and 21st at the Great Lakes Region Championships. The civil engineering major earned USTFCCCA All-Academic and Academic All-OAC recognition this season.

She ranks fifth all-time at ONU in the 6K (22:04), and, in track and field, ranks fifth all-time outdoors in the 10,000 meters (37:00.60).

Schatzle, the 2022 OAC champion in the outdoor pole vault, is a two-time NCAA qualifier, reaching the NCAA Championships during both the indoor and outdoor seasons in 2022. She is a four-time USTFCCCA All-Great Lakes Region and two-time All-OAC honoree in the pole vault, and she added an All-OAC accolade as a member of ONU's outdoor 4x100 relay team this season.

The marketing major is a two-time USTFCCCA All-Academic and Academic All-OAC selection, and she ranks fourth all-time at ONU in the outdoor pole vault (12-3.50) and fifth in the indoor pole vault (12-2.50).

Ogg was the indoor pole vault champion at the 2022 OAC Championships and is a three-time All-OAC honoree. She ranks 10th all-time at ONU in both the indoor and outdoor pole vault with respective marks of 11-4.75 and 11-4.50.

The mechanical engineering major was a 2022 USTFCCCA All-Academic and Academic All-OAC honoree.

The 2023 Academic All-District Teams, selected by College Sports Communicators, recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances in athletics and in the classroom. Academic All-District honorees advance to the CSC Academic All-America ballot. First-, second- and third-team Academic All-America honorees will be announced June 28.