February 27, 2008

OWU’s Women’s Cross Country Team Honored

Congratulations to OWU’s Women’s Cross Country Team!

Athletic coaches and their student athletes live and play by that notion of team inspiration and spirit.

So, when Ohio Wesleyan’s women’s cross country team recently was recognized, both for team accomplishments as well as for All-Academic individual honors bestowed upon three team members, there was even more cause for celebration at OWU.

While athletic coaches belonging to the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) awarded Ohio Wesleyan’s team with All-Academic honors, there is even more to this story about student-athlete excellence than that, explains Coach Kris Boey.

“Poll rankings of the USTFCCCA coaches also placed our team in the top 30 nationwide among Division III teams,” says Boey. His team also placed within the top three in the All-Ohio Championship division and the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC), and seventh in the Great Lakes Regional Championship.

“I am so proud of this team,” says Boey. “They are talented athletes, but more important are their academic accomplishments. This recognition assures us that we are doing the right thing here.” This is the fifth consecutive year that OWU’s team has received this honor. But again, the story doesn’t end there.

“Three of our Battling Bishop team members have received All-Academic individual honors from USTFCCCA,” says Boey. “To be so honored, one must maintain a 3.5 cumulative grade point average and finish in the top 25 percent of competitors at their respective NCAA regional meet.” Those students are Leah Schmelzer ’09, Laura Binkley ’09, and Sarah Shinn ’10. While pleased with their individual recognition, they pull together as a team.

“Cross country is a sport that tends to have a lot of individual recognition, but our team is so close, that it’s more rewarding for us to get some collective recognition,” says Shinn. “It all shows that we push each other and work hard in and outside of practice.” And as Binkley summarizes, “It’s an honor to be able to represent my team and have all of that hard work pay off.”

As Boey, now into his sixth year of coaching at OWU believes, our priorities “are where they should be. This is what college athletics [programs] should strive to achieve.”

– Pam Besel