Pendola one of two top returnees for BW Track and Field team
BEREA – The Baldwin Wallace University men’s and women’s track and field teams will look to its underclassmen to compete at a high level in the Ohio Athletic Conference in 2018.
Coordinator of Cross Country & Track and Field and Head Track and Field Coach Matthew Cole returns 20 letterwinners from last year’s men’s team that finished ninth at the 2017 Ohio Athletic Conference Indoor Championships and sixth at the 2017 OAC Outdoor Championships. In the preseason OAC Indoor Coaches Poll, the BW men were picked sixth out of 10 teams with 42 points. Cole added 15 new faces to the roster who will look to have an immediate impact on the track this season. On the women’s side, Cole returns 18 letterwinners from last year’s team that placed fifth in both the 2017 Ohio Athletic Conference Indoor and Outdoor Championships. The BW women were picked to finish fifth out of 10 teams with 48 points in the 2017 OAC Indoor Coaches Poll.
Sophomore All-OAC distance runners Kelly Brennan (Akron/Walsh Jesuit) and Bella Pendola (Warsaw/River View) headline the returners for the women. Brennan earned three separate All-OAC honors a season ago by placing second and third in the indoor 3,000- and 800-meter events, respectively, and third in the outdoor 1,500-meter event and just missed qualifying for the NCAA Championships in the 800-meter. Pendola was the runner-up in last year’s indoor 5,000-meter event and is coming off a stellar cross country season where she earned All-Ohio, All-OAC and All-Great Lakes Region honors.
