Ellerbrock wins 3,000-meter steeplechase title, Pitcovich and Friend earn All-Conference honors as Women’s Outdoor Track and Field leads OAC Championships after Day 1

By Wes Mayberry

ALLIANCE — Senior Taylor Ellerbrock (Columbus Grove) won the Ohio Athletic Conference title in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, and senior Tessa Pitcovich (Stow/Stow-Munroe Falls) and sophomore Hannah Friend (Luckey/Eastwood) earned All-Conference honors Thursday to lead the Ohio Northern women's outdoor track and field team atop the standings after Day 1 of the OAC Championships at Kehres Stadium.

The Polar Bears (21-3 overall) lead the 10-team field with 70 points after seven of 21 events. Mount Union is second with 64 points, and John Carroll is third with 60 points.

Ellerbrock ran a personal-best time of 11:25.96 to win the OAC title in the 3,000-meter steeplechase by a margin of roughly seven seconds. That time ranks fifth in ONU history.

Pitcovich finished second in the 10,000 meters, running a time of 37:06.05. She has now earned three straight All-OAC accolades in the outdoor 10,000-meter run.

Friend added a second-place finish in the discus with a personal-best mark of 42.48 meters, which ranks second all-time at ONU.

The top three finishers in each event earn All-OAC honors, and the top eight score team points.

Pitcovich led a field of four Polar Bears who scored in the 10,000 meters.

Sophomore Ashley Hockstok (Westerville/Central) was fourth in 38:35.56, freshman Kennedy Rader (Mason) was fifth in 38:55.12, and junior Megan Vapenik (Strongsville) was sixth in 39:02.64.

Sophomore Sami Sellers (Van Wert/Lincolnview) joined Friend as a scorer in the discus, placing fourth with a personal-best mark of 40.89 meters, which ranks fourth all-time at ONU.

Northern had four scorers in the pole vault led by senior Anna Schatzle (Brookville, Ind./Franklin County), who finished fourth with a mark of 3.61 meters.

Freshmen Claire Schweller (Paulding) and Ellie Ford (Upper Arlington) tied for sixth with a mark of 3.41 meters, and junior Olivia Ogg (Hebron/Lakewood) was eighth with a mark of 3.31 meters.

In the javelin, sophomore Tarrah BeVier (Johnstown/Northridge) placed fourth with a mark of 31.89 meters, and freshman Riley Heitkamp (Fort Loramie) was fifth with a mark of 31.39 meters.

Sophomore Chloe Gibson (Ostrander/Buckeye Valley) posted a sixth-place finish in the long jump with a mark of 5.27 meters.

In the 4x800 relay, the team of senior Lexi Neff (Northfield/Walsh Jesuit), junior J.J. Herron (Miamisburg), freshman Kaitlin Prusnek (Findlay) and sophomore Abby Matthews (Lithopolis/Bloom Carroll) finished fifth with a time of 10:00.93.

Several Polar Bears also fared well in preliminary races to qualify for Friday's finals.

Junior Rosie Schroeder (Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie Valley) and sophomore Olyvia Ashbrook (Johnstown/Northridge) qualified for the 100-meter hurdles finals with respective times of :15.87 and :16.02.

Ashbrook, Herron and Schroeder all qualified for the 400-meter hurdles finals with times of 1:08.08, 1:08.43 and 1:10.72, respectively, and sophomore Kendra Krichbaum (Ashland) qualified for the 100-meter dash finals with a time of :12.55.

The 2023 OAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships conclude on Friday.