Burman, Schweller win titles to lead Women's Indoor Track and Field on first day of OAC Indoor Championships

NEW CONCORD — Juniors Izzy Burman (Benton Ridge/Liberty Benton) and Claire Schweller (Paulding) each won conference championships, leading the Ohio Northern women's indoor track and field team on Day 1 of the 2024 Ohio Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships on Friday.

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The Basics

• Record: Ohio Northern (52-5 Overall)
• Venue: Bullock Health and Wellness Complex - New Concord, Ohio

Meet Results

• The Polar Bears are second of 10 teams with 68 points after 7 of 19 events.
• Mount Union is first with 74 points, John Carroll is third with 54 points and Baldwin Wallace is fourth with 27 points.

Top ONU Performers

• Burman won the weight throw by a whopping 5-feet, 6-inches with a school record toss of 17.44 meters (57' 2").
• Schweller won the pole vault by clearing 3.67 meters.
• In all, 9 different Polar Bears earned All-Conference accolades with a top-3 finish on Friday.
• Junior Chloe Gibson (Ostrander/Buckeye Valley) earned All-Conference accolades in the long jump with a second place finish of 5.43 meters.
• The Polar Bears placed four runners in the top-7 of the 5,000, led by All-OAC performances by sophomore Kennedy Rader (Mason) and junior Ashley Hockstok (Westerville/Central).
• Rader finished second in 18:09.23, Hockstok was third in 18:15.25, sophomore Samantha Roth (Brunswick) was fourth in 18:15.77 and senior Megan Vapenik (Strongsville) was seventh in 18:57.76.
• The distance medley relay team of junior Abby Matthews (Lithopolis/Bloom Carroll), freshman Leah Heitkamp (Burkettsville/Saint Henry), sophomore Kaitlin Prusnek (Findlay) and freshman AnnaSophia Gower (Perrysburg) earned All-Conference honors with a third place finish in 12:38.12.
• Three other Polar Bears also placed in the top-7 in the pole vault. Sophomore Ellie Ford (Upper Arlington) was fourth at 3.47 meters, junior Jaclyn Boardman (Franklin, Ind./Franklin Community) was sixth at 3.27 meters and senior Olivia Ogg (Hebron/Lakewood) was seventh at 3.17 meters.
• Junior Hannah Friend (Luckey/Eastwood) was seventh in the weight throw with a throw of 14.14 meters.
• Freshman Lily Wolfe (Mansfield/Lexington) was eighth in the 500-meter dash in 1:21.41.
• Junior Olyvia Ashbrook (Johnstown/Northridge) and senior Rosie Schroeder (Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie Valley) qualified for Saturday's finals of the 60-meter hurdles. Ashbrook was second overall with a :09.32 effort and Schroeder was seventh in :09.73 in the prelims.
• Freshman Paige Simpson (Merrillville, Ind.) and junior Kendra Krichbaum (Ashland) qualified for Saturday's 60-meter dash finals. Simpson was fifth in the prelims in :07.95 and Krichbaum was fifth in :08.00.

Notables

• The meet consisted of 19 events - 10 individual running events, six field events and three running relays.
• The top three finishers in each event ean All-Conference honors.
• Burman broke her own school record in the weight throw by one inch.
• She also defended her 2023 OAC title in the event, throwing 15.92 meters last year.
• Schweller won her first OAC title in the pole vault after finishing third indoors and sixth outdoors last year.
• This is Gibson's first All-OAC performance in the indoor long jump after finishing seventh a year ago. She is now a 4-time All-OAC honoree in her career.
• Hockstok's 18:15.25 was a career-best effort for her in the 5000.
• Head Coach Jason Maus is now 567-173 at Ohio Northern with a winning percantage of .766.

Up Next

• The Championships will conclude on Saturday with field events beginning at 10 am and running events at 2:30 pm.