Women's Cross Country: Ohio Northern (0-0 Overall) hosts Polar Bear Invitational
Saturday, Sept. 4, 2021, 10:45 a.m. – ONU Campus Course, Ada, Ohio
| ONU Campus Course Map (.pdf) | 2021 Women's Cross Country preview |
ONU Race Notes: The Ohio Northern men's cross country team will open its 2021 season on Saturday by hosting the Polar Bear Invitational on the ONU campus … The men awill run a 6k race at 10:00 a.m. while the women will follow with a 5k race at 10:45 a.m. … ONU, Heidelberg, Tiffin, Findlay, Capital and a team of ONU Alumni are expected to compete ... The Polar Bears have not competed since November of 2019 after the 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic ... Leading the way for Northern this season are a quartet of seniors in returning letter winners Tessa Pitcovich, Rue Whitmore, Sophia Thompson and Taylor Ellerbrock ... Pitcovich is a two-year letter winner and two-time All-OAC honoree who earned All-Great Lakes Region and Academic All-OAC accolades as a sophomore in 2019. She currently ranks seventh in program history at the 6,000-meter distance with a time of 22:25 and 19th all-time at the 5,000-meter distance with a time of 19:10 ... In 2019, Pitcovich placed ninth at the OAC Championships and 13th at the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Championships and qualified as an individual for the NCAA Division III Championships, finishing 77th. She led the Polar Bears across the finish line in six races and was second in the other two ... Whitmore and Thompson are also returning two-year letter winners.
Head Coach Jason Maus: Maus is in his 13th season as head coach of the men's cross country team … In 12 seasons at ONU, he has guided the men's cross country teams to a 1,174-295 record, a .799 win percentage, and four Ohio Athletic Conference crowns, while the women's cross country teams have compiled a 974-418 record, a .700 win percentage, and three OAC titles … Maus currently stands as the all-time winningest coach in Ohio Northern school history for both men's and women's cross-country.