Season Review: Steinbrunner, Weaver lead Women's Cross Country to OAC title and into national spotlight
By Tim Glon
The Ohio Northern women's cross country team broke the 100-win barrier for the second consecutive season and posted the program's 22nd straight winning season in 2012.
The Polar Bears finished the year with a 103-28 record, won the Ohio Athletic Conference title and finished seventh at the NCAA III Great Lakes Regional Championships under fourth-year head coach Jason Maus.
The league crown was the third straight and sixth in the last eight seasons for the Polar Bears, who were ranked as high as No. 16 nationally.
Northern tied a school-record by having five runners earn All-Conference accolades with a top-18 finish, led by a 1-2 finish by seniors Alison Steinbrunner and Lydia Weaver.
Steinbrunner became the first runner in league history to win four consecutive OAC individual titles and won the NCAA III Great Lakes Regional individual title for the second straight season.
She also earned All-America honors for the third time in her career with a runner-up finish at the NCAA III Championships in Terre Haute, Ind.
Steinbrunner again led the squad by breaking her own school records for 5,000 and 6,000 meters, running times of 17:42 and 21:00, respectively.
Weaver also earned All-Great Lakes Region honors with an eighth-place finish in 21:58, making her the second-fastest runner in school history for 6k.
Her 18:07 time at the Calvin (Mich.) Select Meet ranks her second all-time at ONU for 5,000-meters.
Sophomore Catie Huber, freshman Aya Tomozawa and senior Casey Adamcik earned Second Team All-Conference accolades by finishing 12th, 15th and 18th, respectively, at the OAC Championships.
Steinbrunner was also named the OAC Women's Cross Country Runner of the Week three times and was named the Great Lakes Region Runner of the Year.
She was named the OAC Runner of the Year, while the ONU coaching staff of Maus and assistant coach Casey Gantt was the OAC Women's Coaching Staff of the Year.
The Polar Bears opened the season by winning the annual ONU Invitational.