Women’s Outdoor Track and Field posts 3rd-place finish at OAC Championships
By Wes Mayberry
BEREA — The Ohio Northern women's outdoor track and field team posted three All-OAC performances on Friday en route to a third-place finish in the OAC Championships meet at Baldwin Wallace's Finnie Stadium.
The Polar Bears (16-4 overall) finished the meet with 105.5 points, placing third of 10 teams.
Mount Union won the team championship with 258 points, and John Carroll was second with 198.5 points.
The top three finishers in each event earn All-OAC status, and the top eight score team points.
Seniors Tessa Pitcovich (Stow/Stow-Munroe Falls) and Mackenzie Detmer (Liberty Center) and freshman Olyvia Ashbrook (Johnstown/Northridge) had All-OAC performances in their respective events on Friday.
Pitcovich was third in the 5,000 meters, finishing in a time of 17:47.33 to improve from her fifth-place showing in 2021.
Detmer placed third in the triple jump with a season-best mark of 10.36 meters. She finished 10th in the event last season.
Ashbrook finished third in the 400-meter hurdles but did not post an official time, as times were not recorded due to an error in the number of hurdles that were on the track.
The Polar Bears had 10 other placers on Friday.
Sophomores J.J. Herron (Miamisburg) and Rosie Schroeder (Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie Valley) finished fifth and eighth, respectively, in the 400-meter hurdles, giving ONU three placers in that event.
Freshman Chloe Gibson (Ostrander/Buckeye Valley) was fourth in the triple jump with a distance of 10.35 meters.
Gibson, junior Anna Schatzle (Brookville, Ind./Franklin County), sophomore Allie Starner (Wellington) and freshman Kendra Krichbaum (Ashland) placed fourth in the 4x100 relay with a time of :50.34.
Ashbrook, Herron, junior Gabrielle Kowalczyk (Marion/Pleasant) and freshman Rylie Barrington (Waynesfield/Waynesfield-Goshen) also finished fourth, posting a time of 4:14.35.
Freshman Toria Ingalls (Tiffin/Columbian) tied for fifth in the high jump with a mark of 1.48 meters.
Senior Taylor Ellerbrock (Columbus Grove) placed sixth in the 5,000 meters in a season-best time of 18:07.24, which ranks ninth all-time at ONU.
Schroeder was sixth in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of :16.01, and freshman Izzy Burman (Benton Ridge/Liberty Benton) was sixth in the shot put with a distance of 11.22 meters.
Kowalczyk placed seventh in the 800 meters with a season-best time of 2:22.46.
The Polar Bears return to action next Thursday and Friday as they compete in the North Central (Ill.) Keeler Invitational and the Baldwin Wallace Twilight meets.