Ohio Northern finishes seventh of 11 at Knight Invitational

By Zach Stipe

GRAND RAPIDS (Mich.) — The Ohio Northern women's cross country team finished seventh of 11 teams at the highly competitive Knight Invitational on Saturday hosted by No. 2-ranked Calvin (Mich.) at the Gainey Athletic Center.

Calvin won the meet with 36 points, while Case Western was second with 42 and Baldwin-Wallace was third with 93. Northern (13-8) scored 164 points.

Northern's top six runners all had personal-best times.

Sophomore Rachel Smith led the Polar Bears by placing 27th in a career-best time of 19:08 over the 5,000-meter course. Her time ranks her 10th on the ONU All-Time Top 10 5k performances and is third among sophomore all-time.

Freshman Amanda Binkey crossed the finish line in 19:17 for 31st place. Her time is the fifth-fastest ever by a freshman.

A trio of juniors rounded out the scoring for ONU.

Regina Bresson was 42nd in 19:33, Katie Andrzejewski was 43rd in 19:38 and Erica Rumschlag was 48th in 19:45.

Freshman Amy Davis (54th) and Molly Elderbrock (80) finished with times of 19:50 and 20:30, respectively, to complete ONU's top seven runners.

Ohio Northern returns to action next week at the Otterbein Invitational at 10 a.m.

Women’s Team Results
1. Calvin (Mich.) 36 2. Case Western 42, 3. Baldwin-Wallace 93, 4. Aquinas (Mich.) 115, 5. Wisconsin Stevens Point 127, 6. Wisconsin Oshkosh 132, 7. Ohio Northern 164, 8. Heidelberg 267, 9. Calvin (JV) 275, 10. Adrian (Mich.) 318, 11. Alma (Mich.) 338.

Top Five Finishers
1. Esther Erb (CW) 17:22, 2. Ayla Mitchell (Osh) 17:47, 3. Lauren Bergstrom (Cal) 17:55, 4. Christina Overbeck (Cal) 18:02, 5. Amanda Strouse (AC) 18:04.

Ohio Northern Complete Results
27. Rachel Smith19:08, 31. Amanda Binkey 19:17, 42. Regina Bresson 19:33, 43. Katie Andrzejewski 19:38, 48. Erica Rumschlag 19:45, 54. Amy Davis 19:50, 80. Molly Elderbrock 20:30, 82. Susan Hess 20:33, 89. Steph Hiser 20:48, 93. Megan Seymour 21:04, 104. Rachelle Pavelko 21:27, 107. Sharon Snyder 21:48, 114. Aimee Baehrens 22:22, 119. Rachael Waterson 22:51.