BEREA, OHIO -- Baldwin-Wallace College senior women's cross country runner Jessica Textoris (Akron/ Medina Highland) has been named as the Ohio Athletic Conference Runner of the Year and veteran Yellow Jacket Head Coach Bill Taraschke has been tabbed as the OAC Women's Coach of the Year.
Textoris, a four-year letter winner, had an outstanding senior season. She led B-W to its fourth straight OAC title, its seventh consecutive All-Ohio Division III crown, a second place finish at the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Region Meet and an all-time school-best eighth place (tie) finish at the 2002 NCAA Division III National Championship Meet.
Individually, Textoris led the Yellow Jacket women in all 10 meets this fall. She won individual meet titles at the Case Western Reserve University Bill Sudek Invitational, the Bowling Green State University Mel Brodt Invitational (Div. III race), the Otterbein College Cardinal Invitational and the Ohio Northern University Polar Bear Invitational. She also placed second at the 2002 OAC Championship Meet to earn All-OAC accolades for the second straight year, was fifth at the Great Lakes Region Meet and 37th at the NCAA Division III National Championship Meet.
"Jessica had a simply outstanding season and was our B-W Runner of the Year," said Taraschke, who earned OAC Coach of the Year honors for the 28th time in his great career. "She was our team leder in every meet this fall and made tremendous strides in improvement from her sophomore to her junior year and friom her junior year to this year. We are very pleased for Jessica and proud of her accomplishments."
During his 16-year career in Berea, Taraschke has led the women's cross country team to seven OAC titles, the men's track team to one, the women's indoor track team to 14 and the women's outdoor squad to 15 straight for a total of 37 titles.
FOR MORE B-W SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327, by FAX at 440-826-2329 or via e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. To contact Head Coach Bill Taraschke, please call him in the office at (440) 826-3322, FAX him at (440) 826-2192 or e-mail him at wtarasch@bw.edu.
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