Six Polar Bears named to 2025-26 Women's Track and Field and Cross Country Academic All-District Teams by College Sports Communicators

By Mallory Meister

| 2025-26 CSC Women's Track and Field/XC Academic All-District Team (.pdf) |

ADA — Ohio Northern senior Ellie Ford (Upper Arlington), junior Anna Brady (Sidney), and sophomores Avery Baker-Schlendering (Freeport, Maine), Emersyn Gerken (Liberty Center), Katelyn Stechschulte (Findlay), and Tatum Walsh (Lima/Bath) were each named to the 2025-26 Women's Track and Field and Cross Country Academic All-District Team by College Sports Communicators.

To be eligible for Academic All-District honors, each student-athlete must have a GPA of at least 3.50 and must have posted an individual top 50 mark in the region in an individual event (XC, indoor or outdoor).

Ford, a civil engineering major, is now a two-time Academic All-District and three-time Academic All-OAC honoree.

She ranked 33rd in the region in outdoor pole vault and 34th in indoor.

Brady, a mechanical engineering major, is a first-time Academic All-District and two-time Academic All-OAC honoree.

She was an outdoor OAC shot put champion this season, and indoors, she was 39th in the region.

Baker-Schlendering is a first-time Academic All-District and Academic All-Conference selection.

Indoors, the exercise physiology major ranked 2nd in the region in the high jump and 3rd outdoors.

She earned All-America honors after finishing as a national champion in the high jump at the NCAA DIII Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

Gerken, a management major, is also a first-time Academic All-District and Academic All-OAC award winner.

Indoors, she ranked 46th in the region in the high jump.

Stechschulte is also a first-time Academic All-District selection and Academic All-Conference honoree.

The early childhood education major took first team All-OAC honors in the triple jump and second team in the long jump.

Walsh, an accounting major, is a first-time Academic All-District and Academic All-Conference selection.

She earned first team All-OAC honors in the 200 and the 4x100 relay.