Sports

By Caleb Scott

 Ohio Northern junior Emily Richards (Delaware/Hayes) has been named to the District 7 CoSIDA First Team Academic All-District team for the 2017 season.

The junior Biochemistry major from Delaware, Ohio is a 5-time National Champion and 7-time All-American, and earned this honor for the first time in her career.

As a First Team honoree, Richards advances to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Team ballot, where first, second and third team All-America honorees will be selected later this month.

Emily Richards claims 2 titles

I was pretty nervous heading into the 800," said Richards. "I just ran the 1,500 pretty hard right before the 800 and my legs were a little tired."

For the second time in 2017, junior Emily Richards (Delaware/Hayes) claimed two titles at the same NCAA Div. III Championship meet to lead the Ohio Northern women's outdoor track and field team at the 2017 NCAA Div. III Outdoor Track & Field National Championships at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

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The Ohio Northern wrestling team will open its 2017-18 season on Nov. 11 at the Mount Union Invitational under 30th-year head coach Ron Beaschler.

The Polar Bears will open the home portion of their schedule with an Ohio Athletic Conference dual match against defending OAC champion Baldwin Wallace on Nov. 28 at the ONU Sports Center.

Northern will host the 37th annual ONU Invitational on Dec. 2 and will also host OAC dual meets with Otterbein on Jan. 30 and Muskingum on Feb. 6.

ONU will travel to Virginia, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Illinois for tournaments during the season.

Ohio Northern won the Ohio Athletic Conference Women's All-Sports Trophy for the 2016-17 season.

This marks the second consecutive title and the 11th crown overall for the Polar Bear women's teams.

ONU edged Mount Union on the strength of OAC titles in volleyball, soccer, basketball and outdoor track and field.

Northern also finished second in tennis and indoor track and field and was third in golf and swimming and diving.

The cross country team was fourth and the softball team finished fifth, giving ONU upper-division finishes in 10 of the 11 OAC sponsored sports in 2016-17.

The Ohio Northern men's soccer team showed a great amount of success in the classroom during the Spring semester of the 2016-17 academic year.

As a team, Northern posted a cumulative GPA of 3.40, while 11 players earned a perfect 4.0 for the semester.

This marks the sixth time in the past seven seasons that the men's soccer program has had at least 10 or more players on the Dean's List.

In all, 26 players were named to the Dean's List.

Northern posted a 17-2-4 record during the 2016 campaign under 19th-year head coach Brent Ridenour and advanced to the First Round of the 2016 NCAA Div. III Tournament.

GENEVA — For the second time in 2017, junior Emily Richards (Delaware/Hayes) claimed two titles at the same NCAA Div. III Championship meet to lead the Ohio Northern women's outdoor track and field team at the 2017 NCAA Div. III Outdoor Track & Field National Championships at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

As a team, the Polar Bears finished tied for eighth in the team standings with 26 points and posted the best finish in school history at the outdoor championships.

Richards opened the day for the women's team as she claimed the 1,500-meter run title in a stadium-record time of 4:23.87.

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