On Friday, Feb. 25, and Saturday, Feb. 26, the John Carroll University Women’s Track and Field Team competed in the Ohio Athletic Championships, looking to claim back to back titles. 

Despite leading the standings after day one of the 2022 OAC Championships, John Carroll came up short in defending their title, but put up a strong fight to finish with second-place accolades.

Mount Union finished the OAC Championship in first place with 228 points, followed by John Carroll’s 197 points. Ohio Northern finished in third place with 87 points, followed by Baldwin Wallace with 79 points. 

“I’m really proud to be part of this amazingly supportive and energetic team,” said John Carroll Women’s Indoor Track and Field runner Sydney Jenko ‘23. “We all ran for each other and gave everything we had, so we can’t be upset with a strong second-place finish.”

On Friday afternoon, John Carroll got off to the start that they had hoped for while competing in the field events. 

The senior duo of Olivia Hurtt ‘22 and Kelsey Dunn ‘22 posted early points for the Blue and Gold as they finished in first and fifth place in the weight throw with marks of 16.65 meters and 15.06 meters. 

Caroline Beery ‘23 captured All-OAC accolades in the pole vault as she finished with a mark of 3.37 meters, earning her a third-place spot on the podium. 

The first race of the day for John Carroll proved to be successful. Claire Eberhardt ‘25 finished in second place in the 500-meter dash via a time of 1:18.33. 

The success on the track continued throughout the late afternoon in Alliance, Ohio, as Lucia Cannata ‘22 and Autumn Hale ‘22 posted strong finishes in the 400-meter race. Cannata earned All-OAC honors with her third-place time of 59.80m while Hale picked up points for John Carroll, finishing fifth with a time of 1:01.23. 

John Carroll’s distance runners stepped up to the challenge on Friday as they walked away with critical points in the 5000-meter race. 

Jenko set a personal record of 17:30.40, earning her a first-place finish in the event. Jenko’s teammate Cameron Bujaucius ‘22 followed right behind her, finishing nearly two seconds after via a time of 17:32.40. 

“We put a lot of hard work into preparing for the conference and really focused on recovery the week of and especially the two days we competed,” said Jenko. “It was nice to be able to have events split up into two days, whereas last year it was tough doing everything in one day.”

Erica Esper ‘23, Shauna Glavin ‘22, Marie Pinzone ‘22, Rory Vigrass ‘22 and Jennifer Massucci ‘23 cleaned up the 5000-meter race earning them seven top 10 finishes. 

Friday evening closed out with the quartet of Eberhardt, Moira Anderson ‘22, Katy Fellenstein ‘23 and Amanda Kein ‘24 earned All-OAC honors in the distance medley relay, finishing with a time of 12:57.18 for third place. 

On Saturday, John Carroll continued their strong performance as they turned their focus back to the field events. 

The Blue Streaks kicked off their day in the triple jump, with Arnold and Miller taking first and second place in the event with marks of 10.73 meters each. 

On the short distance side, Arnold continued her successful OAC Championship as she placed sixth in the 60-meter hurdles and fourth in the 60-meter dash with times of 9.39 and 7.92 seconds, respectively. 

In the final spring of the day, Cannata captured All-OAC Status in the 200-meter race as she took second via a time of 25.91 seconds. 

Eberhardt claimed her second-place finish of the weekend as she finished with a time of  2:17.13 in the event. 

Like the previous day, John Carroll’s distance runners dominated the OAC field of competition. 

In the 1000-meter race, the Blue Streaks earned 15 points from top five finishes from Fellenstein, Kathryn Vasiliauskas ‘25 and Morgan Edwards ‘25. 

Jenko earned her second gold medal of the OAC Championships, as she finished atop the podium in the 3000-meter race via a time of 10:09.01. Esper followed Jenko’s lead finishing second, followed by Bujaucius and Vigrass finishing fourth and fifth, respectively.

The Blue Streaks also had notable finishes from Glavin and Sarah Weldon ‘25, translating into 30 points for the Blue Streaks and six top 10 finishes for John Carroll in the event.

In the last event of the weekend, John Carroll’s 4×400 relay team comprised of Hale, Cannata, Miller and Eberhardt finished second with a time of 4:10.51, earning an All-OAC accolade for the quartet. 

The Blue and Gold will return to the track on Friday, March 3 and Saturday, March 4, competing in the Polar Bear Final Qualifier. 

Next weekend’s two day meet will mark the last meet of the season for John Carroll before the team learns of any runners competing in the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships that begin on Friday, March 11. 

Jenko is hopeful that the Blue Streak’s squad will be represented in the national championships after the cancellation of nationals last year.

“We’re definitely hoping to sneak some girls into nationals this indoor season,” admitted Jenko. “However if that doesn’t happen, we have our eyes on outdoor nationals!”