Senior Tessa Pitcovich finishes 17th in 10,000 meters at NCAA III Outdoor Track and Field Championships
By Wes Mayberry
GENEVA — Ohio Northern senior Tessa Pitcovich (Stow/Stow-Munroe Falls) ran a time of 37:24.44 to finish 17th in the 10,000 meters Thursday at the NCAA Division III Championships at the SPIRE Institute.
"This is what we were working toward all year, so to do it was awesome," Pitcovich said. "I just wanted to come in and be competitive, and I feel like I did that. The goal was to beat one, and I beat more than one, so I'll take it."
ONU head coach Jason Maus was also really pleased with the race Pitcovich ran.
"It was really cool to see her have a fantastic race at the national meet," Maus said. "To finish better than you were seeded is always good. I'm proud of her and excited for her."
Pitcovich, a two-time national qualifier in cross country, entered Thursday's 10,000-meter race as the No. 22 seed in the 22-woman field after running a personal-best time of 36:08.18 for an All-OAC second-place finish at the OAC Championships meet on May 5.
That time ranks second all-time at ONU and ranked her 27th nationally, but she ended up qualifying by making the top 22 via scratches by other competitors.
She methodically worked her way up through the pack for a finish both she and Maus came away extremely pleased with.
"The goal was to have fun and be competitive. That's all we talked about all week because we wanted to take the pressure off," Maus said. "She raced really well and executed the race plan really well. She moved up throughout the race, which was great, and she was really competitive in every pack she was in and raced her heart out."
