Six earn Academic All-Ohio Athletic Conference honors in Women's Cross Country

By Blake Moore

| 2018 Academic All-Ohio Athletic Conference (.pdf) |

ADA — The Ohio Northern women's cross country program placed six student-athletes on the Academic All-Ohio Athletic Conference Team for the 2018 regular season, the league office announced Tuesday morning.

Seniors Kristina Myers (Grove City/Central Crossing), Elizabeth Steele (Tempe, Ariz./Corona del Sol), and Angie Sullivan (Medina), junior Kathleen Colvin (Hilliard/Bishop Ready), and sophomores Kylie Vestal (Youngstown/Austintown-Fitch) and Megan Wright (Eaton/Twin Valley South) each received the conference academic accolades for their efforts on the course and in the classroom during the past season.

To receive Academic All-OAC honors, student-athletes must be a sophomore-or-higher in academic standing, maintain varsity-level status during the season, and hold a minimum 3.50 cumulative grade-point average.

The OAC recognized 324 student-athletes in six sports across the 10 league teams this fall, with Ohio Northern collecting 57 of those awards.

Myers, a senior studying biology/biochemistry, received her third consecutive honor from the league office with the nomination.

This season, the Grove City native finished among the team's top-seven finishers in all seven races and set a career-best 23:58 6k time at the All-Ohio Championships. She will conclude her collegiate career having competed in 22 varsity-level races and registering 12 career top-seven results.

Steele, an exercise physiology student from Tempe, Ariz., also earned the third academic honor in her career.

The senior has competed in 19 career races for the Polar Bears, including five during the 2018 regular season. She finishes her four-year stay at Ohio Northern with a career-best 21:14 5k clocking set in 2017 and an all-time best of 26:08 in the 6k, which she clocked at the 2016 OAC Championships.

Sullivan, a senior civil engineering major, captured her third successive honor with the award release.

She completed her career appearing in five varsity races and posting two top-seven finishes during the 2018 season. The Medina native recorded a career-best 19:55 5k clocking at the Wilmington Invitational this season while she claimed her fastest 6k time in 24:23 at the 2016 OAC Championships. She finished her career with 22 varsity race appearances and five top-seven results.

Colvin, a junior studying nursing and public health, garnered her second straight award after receiving the accolade in 2017.

In her three seasons, Colvin has competed in 18 career varsity-level races, including all seven during the 2018 campaign. She was among the team's top-seven finishers at all seven races this year and set a new 6k personal-best with a 23:57 finish at the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional in Shelbyville, Ind., to conclude the season.

Vestal, who received her first conference accolade, is a sophomore forensic biology major at Ohio Northern.

The second-year student hailing from Youngstown has competed in nine varsity races during her first two seasons as a Polar Bear. In 2018, she raced to career-best times in the 5k (20:29) and the 6k (25:17) events at the Wilmington Invitational and All-Ohio Championships open race, respectively.

Wright, a sophomore biology student-athlete, also claimed her first Academic All-OAC nod this season.

In two seasons, she has competed in all 14 varsity races and finished among the team's top-seven finishers at each event. She posted a career-best time of 23:27 in the 6k during the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional this season.

The Ohio Northern women's cross country team finished the 2018 campaign sporting a 94-30 overall record under 10th-year head coach Jason Maus. The Polar Bears would claim a fifth-place finish at the Ohio Athletic Conference Championships and wind up 10th at the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional to conclude the season.