Women's Cross Country opens 2024 season with a victory at 3-team Bluffton Beaver Dam Invite
August 30, 2024
BLUFFTON — The Ohio Northern women's cross country team opened its 2024 season by winning the 3-team Bluffton Beaver Dame Invite on a hot Friday evening at the Bluffton Nature Preserve.
The Basics
- Record: Ohio Northern (2-0 Overall)
- Race Info: The event was a 5k race held at the Bluffton Nature Preserve.
- ONU placed first of three collegiate varsity teams with 20 points.
Race Results
- Seven of the top 9 finshers were Ohio Northern runners.
- Ohio Northern won the race with 20 points, St. Francis (Ind.) came second with 43 points and Heidelberg came third with 85 points.
Top ONU Performers
- Junior Kennedy Rader (Mason) led ONU across the finish line, placing 2nd overall in the 48-woman field in a career-best 19:34.5.
- Sophmore AnnaSophia (Perrysburg) was 3rd overall, finishing in 19:34.7.
- Senior Ashley Hockstok (Westerville/Central) was 4th in 19:38.
- Junior Samantha Roth (Brunswick) finished 6th in 19:59
- Senior Abby Matthews (Lithopolis) was 7th in 20:31.
Notables
- This is Ohio Northern's 2nd year and the 8th time in the last 10 years kicking off their season at Bluffton.
- Ohio Northern has placed first in its season opener 5 of its last 7 seasons.
- 16th-year head coach Jason Maus is now 1274-494 as head coach of the ONU women's cross country program and is the winningest coach in program history.
Up Next
- The Polar Bears will return to action on Sept. 7 at the Franklin (Ind.) Invitational.