Women's Cross Country places 10th of 24 teams at Calvin (Mich.) Knight Invitational
By Tim Glon
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Ohio Northern women's cross country team finished 10th of 24 teams at the Calvin (Mich.) Knight Invitational Saturday morning at the Gainey Athletic Complex.
The Polar Bears (19-9) scored 260 points and were third among the eight NCAA Division III schools.
Madonna (Mich.) won the team title with 63 points, Aquinas (Mich.) was second with 96 points and Saginaw Valley State (Mich.) was third with 130 points.
Freshman Tessa Pitcovich (Stow/Stow-Munroe Falls) led Ohio Northern across the finish line with a 51st place finish out of 287 runners in 19:27.
Freshman Elizabeth Whitmore (Mason) finished 61st in 19:35, sophomore Megan Wright (Eaton/Twin Valley South) was 63rd in 19:43, sophomore Chyanne Retcher (Ney/Fairview) was 71st in 19:49 and freshman Taylor Ellerbrock (Columbus Grove) was 72nd in 19:49 for ONU.
"We ran a really good team race," ONU head coach Jason Maus said. "We scored three freshmen and two sophomores today. We had a nice group step up and our pack time was really good. Now we just have to work on continuing to move up through out the race."
Katie Diekema of Calvin (Mich.) won the individual title in 17:58.
The Polar Bears will return to action on Sept. 15 at the pre-Regional Meet at Shelbyville, Ind.
Team Standings
1. Madonna (Mich.) 63, 2. Aquinas (Mich.) 96, 3. Saginaw Valley State (Mich.) 130, 4. Calvin (Mich.) 149, 5. Saint Norbert (Wis.) 157, 6. Saint Francis (Ill.) 177, 7. Wayne State (Mich.) 186, 8. Grand Valley State (Mich.) 186, 9. Cornerstone (Mich.) 214, 10. Ohio Northern 260, 11. Spring Arbor (Mich.) 353, 12. DePauw (Ind.) 355, 13. Indiana Tech 382, 14. Findlay 467, 15. Concordia (Mich.) 477, 16. Siena Heights (Mich.) 489, 17. Michigan-Dearborn 528, 18. Davenport (Mich.) 542, 19. Alma (Mich.) 570, 20. Kalamazoo (Mich.) 576, 21. Northwood (Mich.) 577, 22. Saint Mary's (Ind.) 603, 23. Grace Christian (Mich.) 659, 24. Olivet (Mich.) 731.
Top 5 Individuals
1. Katie Diekema (Calvin) 17:58, 2. Ashley Defrain (Wayne State) 18:16, 3. Christina Murphy (Madonna) 18:18, 4. Allison Dorr (Saginaw Valley State) 18:22, 5. Alexis Miller (Aquinas) 18:26.
Ohio Northern Individual Results
51. Tessa Pitcovich 19:27, 55. Elizabeth Whitmore 19:35, 63. Megan Wright 19:43, 71. Chyanne Retcher 19:49, 72. Taylor Ellerbrock 19:49, 85. Kathleen Colvin 19:57, 89. Kristina Myers 19:59, 90. Avery Ewing 20:00, 115. Sophia Thompson 20:18, 131. Angie Sullivan 20:32, 174. Kylie Vestal 21:16, 183. Michaela Fox 21:25, 222. Elizabeth Steele 22:19, 228. Janelle Posthuma 22:31, 229. Karsen Bresnahan 22:31, 255. Lauren Trace 23:31.