Richards and Baumann named All-Great Lakes Region as Women's Cross Country finishes 9th at Great Lakes Regionals
By Caleb Scott
POWELL — Senior Emily Richards (Delaware/Hayes) and junior Ashlie Baumann (Sterling Heights, Mich./Stevenson) were named All-Great Lakes Region after posting top-35 finishes to lead the Ohio Northern women's cross country team to a ninth place finish at the NCAA III Great Lakes Regional meet on Saturday afternoon.
The Polar Bears finished ninth of 35 teams with 292 points, improving their record to 94-37 overall.
Richards earned an automatic bid to next weekend's NCAA Div. III National Championships in Elsah, Ill. after posting a top-7 finish, claiming second place overall in a career-best time of 21:47.2.
The senior will make her third consecutive appearance at the national championship meet after posting the second-best finish at the regional meet by an Ohio Northern women's cross country runner.
Baumann earned All-Region honors after finishing 16th overall in the race in 22:55.7.
Juniors Avery Ewing (Kokomo, Ind./Eastern) and Colleen Grainger (Hilliard/Bradley) each posted top-100 finishes as Ewing finished 85th overall in 24:22.3 and Grainger finished 87th overall in 24:26.1.
Freshman Megan Wright (Eaton/Twin Valley South) finished 102nd in 24:41.5, while freshman Chyanne Retcher (Ney/Fairview) finished 119th in 24:55.4 and junior Kristina Myers (Grove City/Central Crossing) finished 131st in 25:11.3 to round out Northern's top-7 runners.
"This was a much better team race for us then at the OAC Championships," said head coach Jason Maus. "I feel like we bounced back really well from that meet. Our middle runners were much more aggressive and really ran well for us which is a big confidence boost. That was probably the best race of Ashlie's career. She really looked good today. Emily was a lot more focused this week and it showed. Being her third race this season it takes a little bit of time to get back into the swing of things but she really ran well today."
Richards will compete again on Saturday, Nov. 18 at the NCAA Div. III National Championships, while the rest of the 32-team field will be released at 3 pm on Sunday, Nov. 12.
Team Standings
1. #12 Hope (Mich.) 88, 2. Calvin (Mich.) 113, 3. #28 Allegheny (Pa.) 117, 4. #15 Otterbein 150, 5. #32 Oberlin 184, 6. John Carroll 194, 7. Mount Union 200, 8. Case Western Reserve 234, 9. Ohio Northern 292, 10. Kenyon 302, 11. Baldwin Wallace 304, 12. Trine (Ind.) 313, 13. Alma (Mich.) 387, 14. Ohio Wesleyan402, 15. DePauw (Ind.) 432, 16. Manchester (Ind.) 441, 17. Albion (Mich.) 478, 18. Rose-Hulman (Ind.) 565, 19. Bluffton 575, 20. Heidelberg 577, 21. Earlham (Ind.) 586, 22. Denison 604, 23. Kalamazoo (Mich.) 617, 24. Adrian (Mich.) 649, 25. Wooster 658, 26. Capital 673, 27. Muskingum 719, 28. Franklin (Ind.) 809, 29. St. Mary's (Ind.) 846, 30. Wittenberg 863, 31. Anderson (Ind.) 926, 32. Olivet (Mich.) 957, 33. Hanover (Ind.) 1,006, 34. Spalding (Ky.) 1,032, 35. Mt. St. Joseph 1,062
Top-5 Individuals
1. Linnea Halsten (Oberlin) 21:37.3, 2. Emily Richards (ONU) 21:47.2, 3. Claire Lamb (Ott.) 21:48.1, 4. Heather Sandvik (Ott.) 2:17.5, 5. Rachel House (Heid.) 22:29.1
Ohio Northern Individual Results
2. Emily Richards 21:47.2, 16. Ashlie Baumann 22:55.7, 85. Avery Ewing 24:33.3, 87. Colleen Grainger 24:26.1, 102. Megan Wright 24:41.5, 119. Chyanne Retcher 24:55.4, 131. Kristina Myers 25:11.3,