Ohio women’s runner Juli Accurso is headed to Nationals.
Accurso, who is only a sophomore, will compete in the NCAA Nationals after finishing in sixth place overall in the Great Lakes Region Championships on Saturday morning at Toledo.
In a race that featured 33 teams and 227 runners, Accurso was the first Mid-American Conference runner to cross the finish line, as she led the Bobcats to a 12th-place finish with 376 team points.
“The women didn’t do too bad. The upper teams had very solid performances,” Ohio coach Clay Calkins said. “We were a little off and wanted to finish higher, but Juli is advancing and Emily Pifer had a very nice race too.”
Other top finishing runners for the Ohio women in the 6-kilometer race were Pifer at 50th, Allison Stillwell at 80th and Morgan Reichert in 108th.
Winning the team race was Michigan, which finished with a very low score of 45 points. Other MAC teams placing ahead of the Bobcats were Toledo, Miami and Central Michigan.
On the men’s side, finishes for the Bobcats were much lower compared to the women’s team.
In the much longer 10-kilometer race at the Ottawa Park Golf Course in Toledo, the men finished in 19th out of 31 teams with 493 points. Winning the race as a team with only 50 points was nationally top-ranked Wisconsin.
Leading the way for the Bobcats was sophomore Tyler Ames, as he finished in 47th place overall with a career-best in the long race. Calkins said it was a tall order to do well, and Ames stepped up to the challenge.
Other top Ohio runners were Chase Robinson, Matt Michno, Noah Howkins and Tyler Cantley, who all finished in the top 125 at the meet.
“We usually do well, but we just didn’t have our best races this weekend,” Calkins said. “The MAC Championships are the pinnacle of our season, but we still always would like to do well beyond that and advance many runners.”
Aside from Accurso advancing to Nationals, the teams are done racing. But Calkins said he is excited to see how the distance team will fare in the upcoming track season.
Quick Stats:
Accurso finished in the top 10 for the fourth time this season
Accurso was the first MAC runner to cross the finish line
5 Ohio men’s runners finished within 62 seconds of each other
Over 30 schools competed in each
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