ONU junior Maddy Reed (Piketon) won the pole vault, while sophomore Maggie Krause(Chagrin Falls/Kenston) and senior Kelly Wollenslegel (Clyde) finished 2-3, respectively in the event to lead the No. 9-ranked Ohio Northern on the first day of the 2018 Outdoor Ohio Athletic Conference Track & Field Championships at Kerscher Stadium on Friday.
The Polar Bears are currently in first place with 66 points.
Reed became the back-to-back champion in the pole vault, claiming the title with a facility record vault of 12' 7.5".
The junior has now won the OAC title in the pole vault in back-to-back seasons at the indoor and outdoor OAC Championships.
Krause and Wollenslegel were named All-OAC in the event as Krause finished second with a leap of 11' 11.75" and Wollenslegel finished third with a leap of 11' 7.75".
Sophomore Taylor Lavey (New Baltimore, Mich./Findlay) qualified for the finals in the 100-meter dash, posting a second place finish in :12.42, while fellow sophomore Taylor Fisher (Wapakoneta) moved on to the finals in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:05.12.
Lavey then went on to qualify for the 200-meter dash finals, finishing third overall in the preliminaries and breaking a 15-year old school record in :25.54.
Senior Emily Richards (Delaware/Hayes) also earned All-Conference honors in the javelin, finishing second overall with a career-long throw of 125" 10".
In the long jump, freshman Stella DeWitt (Weston/Cardinal Stritch Catholic) earned All-Conference honors, finishing second in the event with a leap of 18' 5".
Junior Ashlie Baumann (Sterling Heights, Mich./Stevenson) posted a second place finish in the 10,000-meter run to earn All-OAC honors.
Two Polar Bears qualified for Saturday's finals in the 100-meter hurdles, as sophomore Melinda McIntosh (Farmersville/Valley View) owns the third best time and junior Sydney McCluer (Columbus Grove) finished eighth in the prelims to advance to Saturday's finals.
In the 3,000-meter steeplechase, senior Danielle Sutter (Fort Recovery) added a sixth place finish in a career-best 11:50.95.
The 4x800-meter relay team of juniors Avery Ewing (Kokomo, Ind./Eastern) and Michaela Fox (Bellevue), freshman Lauren Turner (Bellevue) and Richards capped the day off with an All-OAC finish in the event, claiming second place in 9:21.99.
"We had a really good day today," said head coach Jason Maus. "Pole vault got us off to a really good start with a sweep. We had a lot of All-Conference marks today and had some girls step up. We had a few PR's today and saw some girls step up in the hurdles. The women are off to a great start and we put ourselves in a really good position heading into tomorrow. It was nice to finally get some nice weather and it really brought out some good competition."
The Polar Bears will be back in action tomorrow afternoon for day two of the OAC Championships with the women's high jump beginning at 10 a.m.
