Pitcovich, Burman win conference titles to lead Women’s Indoor Track and Field to 3rd-place finish at OAC Championships
By Wes Mayberry
BEREA — Senior Tessa Pitcovich (Stow/Stow-Munroe Falls) and sophomore Izzy Burman (Benton Ridge/Liberty Benton) won Ohio Athletic Conference titles on Saturday to lead the Ohio Northern women's indoor track and field team on the final day of the OAC Championships at Baldwin Wallace's Lou Higgins Center.
Pitcovich won the OAC title in the 3,000 meters, running a personal-best time of 10:06.26, which ranks third all-time at ONU.
"Tessa's 3K was awesome," ONU head coach Jason Maus said. "She has finished runner-up or in third place too many times in her career, so to see her finally win a championship is really special. I'm really proud of her and her efforts."
Burman won the conference championship in the shot put, throwing a personal-best distance of 12.91 meters, which ranks second all-time at ONU.
That marked the second championship for Burman this season, as she won the OAC crown in the weight throw on Friday with a career-best mark of 15.92 meters, which ranks second all-time at ONU.
"What a weekend Izzy had," Maus said. "It was really special for her to have a weekend like that."
Maus credited assistant coach Jason Fisher with helping the team have a strong showing in the throwing events, which included Keegan Digby's shot put championship on the men's side.
"We won three of the four throwing events this weekend, which is really cool for that group and for Coach Fisher," Maus said.
The Polar Bears (24-2 overall) scored 112 points to finish in third place of 10 teams at the meet.
"We battled all day and scored some points where we didn't expect to, which was special for our group," Maus said. "Our women competed really hard all day, which was great."
No. 6 Mount Union won the team title with 221.5 points, John Carroll was second with 154.5 points, Baldwin Wallace was fourth with 89 points, and Capital was fifth with 48 points.
The top three finishers in each event earn All-OAC status, and the top eight score team points.
Freshman Riley Heitkamp (Fort Loramie) was All-OAC in the high jump, finishing third with a mark of 1.55 meters.
"The high jump was a big swing event for us, and it was cool to see Riley get All-OAC as a freshman," Maus said. "That whole event group had a good day."
The Polar Bears added 11 more top-eight finishes.
Senior Kenzie Detmer (Liberty Center) was fourth in the triple jump with a mark of 10.35 meters, sophomore Toria Ingalls (Tiffin/Columbian) was fourth in the high jump with a mark of 1.55 meters, and senior Taylor Ellerbrock (Columbus Grove) was fourth in the 3,000 meters with a time of 10:28.55.
The 4x400 relay team of junior J.J. Herron (Miamisburg), sophomores Olyvia Ashbrook (Johnstown/Northridge) and Kendra Krichbaum (Ashland) and freshman Rachel Ruggles (Mogadore/Field) finished fourth in 4:14.99.
Sophomore Sami Sellers (Van Wert/Lincolnview) finished fifth in the shot put with a mark of 11.64 meters, and the 4x200 relay team of Krichbaum, junior Rosie Schroeder (Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie Valley), sophomore Chloe Gibson (Ostrander/Buckeye Valley) and freshman Stacey Legg (Monroeville) was fifth in 1:50.92.
Gibson added a sixth-place finish in the triple jump with a mark of 10.28 meters, and freshman Lindsey Weininger (Upper Sandusky) was sixth in the high jump with a mark of 1.49 meters.
Schroeder was seventh in the 55 hurdles with a time of :08.90, and Krichbaum was seventh in the 55 dash in :07.51, which is tied for eighth all-time at ONU.
Freshman Kaitlin Prusnek finished eighth in the 1,000 meters with a time of 3:13.75.
Northern returns to action on March 3-4 to host the Polar Bear Final Qualifier.
