Women's Track & Field opens up 2010 indoor season with home victory at Friday Night Series #1

Alison Steinbrunner

By Ande Denholm

| Results |

ADA - The Ohio Northern women’s track & field team opened the season with a win at home by scoring 206 points on Friday evening at the ONU Sports Center.

The Polar Bears begin the season with a 5-0 record, as Findlay finished second with 171 points and Indiana Tech finished in third with 116 points.

The Bears had an exciting first-place finish in the 4x400-meter relay. Senior Brittany Farber, junior Amanda Binkey, sophomore Alyssa Reiter and freshman Alison Steinburnner beat second place Indiana Tech by a little over a second with a time of 4:15.13.

Additionally, Steinbrunner won the mile event with a time of 5:22.81.

Farber, also nabbed a second-place finish in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:28.86 minutes.

Binkey took second place in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 3:12.80 while Reiter also took a second place in the 400-meter dash with a time 1:02.97 minutes.

The Polar Bears swept the top three spots in the 5,000-meter run. Senior Rebecca Silverstein, sophomore Ashley Baumer and freshman Sarah Turley finished first, second and third, respectively, earning a total of 24 points for Ohio Northern.

The ONU ladies also swept the 3,000-meter event with a winning time of 11:23.37 by senior Stephanie Hiser, 11:26.39 by sophomore Kelly Casanova and 11:39.34 by sophomore Lauren Wood.

Sophomore Nicole Hope won the pole vault event with a height of 10-11.75. She also placed second in both the 60-meter hurdles and high jump, tying with freshman Vicki Moga in high jump at a height of 4-11.75 feet.

Senior Karen Thatcher scored in two events. She placed second in triple jump above senior Janelle Jansen who took third, and Thatcher also placed second along with fellow relay members freshman Jordan Buchanan, freshman Sarah Wilke and senior Kirsten Yoho in the 4x200-meter relay.

Jansen also placed third in long jump with a distance of 15-07 feet.

Courtney Zupancic secured a second place finish in the shot put event with a distance of 35-09.50 feet.

Ohio Northern ladies will be running again next Friday at the Findlay Invitational.