BEREA, Ohio - The Baldwin Wallace University women's cross country team, under the direction of ninth-year head coach Joe Eby, is ready to get back in action for the 2023-24 season.
Coach Eby returns seven letterwinners and five Academic All-Ohio Athletic Conference selections from last year's squad that finished fourth at the OAC Championships. The Yellow Jackets also ranked ninth in the Great Lakes Division of the NCAA Division lll Regional Rankings. The team will feature six juniors, three sophomores, and eight freshmen.
Featuring among the returners are 2021 OAC Women's Champion and OAC Runner of the Year, junior All-OAC runner Hope Murphy (Mogadore) and junior Academic All-OAC selection Cassie Kolonchuk (Canal Winchester). Murphy placed seventh at the OAC Championship with a 6k time of 23:31.6, earning her second career All-OAC first team selection for placing in the top nine runners. Kolonchuk finished 24th at the OAC Championship with a 6k time of 24:39.8 and had a career-best 6k time of 22:43.9 at the NCAA Division lll Great Lakes Championships.
Furthermore, juniors Ellie Burns (Louisville, Ky. /Assumption), Jaelyn Jaquay (Cherry Valley, N.Y. /Springfield Central), Kamaria Montgomery (Louisville /Canton GlenOak), and Jensen Wolfe (Somerset /Sheridan) look to provide veteran attributes to the Yellow Jackets.
The Yellow Jackets open the 2023 campaign on Sept. 1 when they travel to Norton to compete in the 54th Annual Tommy Evans Invitational, hosted by the University of Akron.
