The Ohio Northern women's track and field program secured six individual event titles at the 2019 Polar Bear Final Qualifier, headlining the team's performances Saturday afternoon inside the ONU Sports Center.
The meet was not scored.
Northern won three event titles on the track and claimed three of the six event titles in the field events over the two-day event, which began Friday with the men's heptahlon and women's pentathlon competitions.
In the running disciplines, senior Elizabeth Steele (Tempe, Ariz./Corona Del Sol) and freshman (Carey) established new career-best efforts to claim the 5,000-meter run and 400-meter dash titles, respectively.
Steele shattered her career-best mark in the 5k with a 20:45.04 clocking, shaving over 25 seconds off her previous top effort.
Meanwhile, Norden led a 1-2 Polar Bear finish in the quarter-mile, crossing the tape in a career-best 1:00.73. Senior sprinter Taylor Fisher (Wapakoneta) trailed closely behind with a 1:01.28 clocking, also a career-best result.
Senior Avery Ewing (Kokomo, Ind./Eastern) picked up the remaining individual event title on the track, besting the 10-person field in the 800-meter run with a 2:16.43. She would edge out Albion's (Mich.) Cassie Vince for the top spot, securing a new career-best mark at indoor venues for the Kokomo, Indiana native.
Classmate Michaela Fox (Bellevue) also finished in the event's top-three finishers, ending third in 2:24.09.
Additionally, the Polar Bears recorded a 2-3 finish in the women's 3,000-meter run as sophomore Megan Wright (Eaton/Twin Valley South) and senior Kristina Myers (Grove City/Central Crossing) took second and third in 10:49.26 and 11:27.20, respectively.
In the field, senior Tia Harris (Newton Falls), junior Allison Stevens (Naperville, Ill./Central), and sophomore Stella DeWitt (Weston/Cardinal Stritch) registered event titles in the shot put, pole vault, and long jump competitions, respectively.
Just a week removed from winning an OAC Championship title and resetting the ONU indoor shot put record, Harris launched a 13.07-meter (42' 10.75") toss to win her second consecutive event title.
Stevens claimed her first individual event title this season after clearing the bar at 3.71 meters (12' 2"). The Naperville, Illinois product successfully vaulted over the bar on her third and final attempt at the winning height to jump four inches higher than the second-place finisher.
Meanwhile, DeWitt leaped 5.43 meters (17' 9.75") to capture the long jump title amid a four-person field.
Ohio Northern will now await the announcement of the NCAA Division III National Championships qualifying list. The top 20 individuals in each event will earn the right to compete at the national championship meet, which is slated for Friday, March 8 and Saturday, March 9 in Boston, Massachusetts.
Men’s track
The Ohio Northern men's track and field program posted nine top-five performances in their final home meet of the 2019 indoor season Saturday afternoon, topping the efforts at the Polar Bear Final Qualifier inside the ONU Sports Center Fieldhouse.
The meet was not scored.
In the field, freshmen Luke Shellhaas (Greenville/Versailles) and Andrew Buderer (Oak Harbor) finished 3-4 in the pole vault with new career-best marks to lead the individual performances. Both first-year pole vault specialists cleared 4.49 meters (14' 8.75") over the weekend, but Shellhaas edged out his classmate on a tiebreaker.
Additionally, junior Noah McKee (Powell/Olentangy Liberty) and sophomore Cade Saunders (Marysville) took home fourth-place finishes in the field events contested Saturday afternoon. McKee leaped 11.57 meters (37' 11.5") for fourth place in the triple jump competition while Saunders cleared 1.77 meters (5' 9.75") to take fourth in the high jump.
On the track, sophomore Owen Lloyd (Colfax, Ind./Clinton Prairie) produced a third-place result in the 60-meter hurdles to lead the Ohio Northern efforts. After resetting his own ONU record last weekend at the OAC Championships, the Colfax, Indiana native crossed the tape in 8.65 Saturday afternoon.
In the men's 5,000-meter run, junior Griffin Skaff (Canton, Mich./Salem) and sophomore Dylan McKean (Warren/Champion) ended fourth and fifth, respectively. The former trimmed 15 seconds off his previous career-best mark with a 16:09.60 performance while the latter clocked a 16:59.91 in his first career 5k race.
Sophomore Alessandro Tramontano (Mayfield) and freshman Christian Booze (Bellevue) rounded out the top-five efforts over the two-day event.
Tramontano posted a fifth-place finish in the mile run after crossing in 4:36.25.
Meanwhile, Booze edged out his career-best mark in the 200-meter dash, ending fifth with a :26.01 clocking.
Ohio Northern will now await the announcement of the NCAA Division III National Championships qualifying list. The top 20 individuals in each event will earn the right to compete at the national championship meet, which is slated for Friday, March 8 and Saturday, March 9 in Boston, Massachusetts.
