BEREA, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace women's cross country team, led by Coordinator of Cross Country and Track and Field and Head Cross Country Coach Joe Eby, will seek to race atop the Ohio Athletic Conference and beyond in 2019.
Eby, in his fifth season as head coach, returns 12 letterwinners and two All-OAC runners from last season's team, that placed first at the 2018 NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships and second at the OAC Championships. BW's first place finish at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships last season earned them an auto-bid to the NCAA Division III National Championships, where they placed 27th on the big stage.
Last week saw the Yellow Jackets place first in the 2019 OAC Women's Cross Country Preseason Poll. BW also earned the number one spot in yesterday's U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's NCAA Division III Preseason Regional Rankings for the Great Lakes Region. This marks the first time that the Yellow Jackets have sat atop the regional rankings in program history. Additionally, this afternoon the Yellow Jackets were ranked 16th in the USTFCCCA's Division III National Coaches' Preseason Poll.
"There are pretty high expectations," Eby began. "We're the defending regional champions and we have just about everyone back. Our group has had, from what I've gathered and what they have shared with me, a really good summer. We're coming off a really good track season as well. So, hopefully they can keep the pressures under control. I believe that will be our biggest challenge for the year. We want to run up to expectations and see what we can do."
Senior three-time All-OAC selection Kelly Brennan (Akron/Walsh Jesuit) will aim to lead this year's group of runners. Brennan placed 10th at the OAC Championships, sixth at the All-Ohio Championships, and seventh at the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Championships last fall; good enough for All-Ohio (top-35) and All-Great Lakes Region honors (top-35) as well. The Yellow Jackets are also very pleased to welcome back senior All-Ohio finishers Katie Fowler (Mount Vernon) and Megan Vaughn (Amherst/Firelands), as well as fellow seniors Jordan Dascani (Toledo/Springfield), and Claire Makowski (Bethel Park, Pa.).
Spearheading this year's junior class will be returning All-OAC selection Madison Kile (North Canton/Hoover), who earned All-Ohio and All-Great Lakes Region honors for the second consecutive season in 2018. Following closely behind will be junior All-Ohio and All-Great Lakes Region runner Hastings Marek (Pataskala/Watkins Memorial), as well as fellow juniors Lizzy Gilreath (Mentor), Molina Otte (Omaha, Neb./Millard West), and Katlyn Burns (Logan).
BW's returning group of sophomores is headlined by All-Great Lakes Region runner Alyssa Laughner (Howard, Pa./Central Mountain) and All-Ohio finisher Jenna Daulbaugh (Minerva). They will be accompanied by fellow sophomore classmen Sophi Perez (Cuyahoga Falls/Stowe-Munroe Falls) and Natalie Vinci (Canton/St. Thomas Aquinas), as well as transfer student Lexi Smith (North Canton/Jackson).
The Yellow Jackets will also welcome five freshmen this fall, as Hailey Borges (Brunswick), Claire Hollon (North Canton/Hoover), Jenna Kaiser (Cuyahoga Falls/Woodridge), Maddie Miller (Medina), and Maddie Roschival (Medina/Buckeye) earnestly anticipate their collegiate running debuts.
BW opens the 2019 season on Friday, August 30, where they will travel to Wooster to compete in the annual College of Wooster Invitational on the L.C. Boles Memorial Golf Course at 6:00 pm. Cedarville University will host the All-Ohio Championships on Saturday, September 28, while crosstown rival John Carroll University hosts the OAC Championships on Saturday, November 2.
