Men's Track & Field enjoys another successful weekend at Zips Invitational and Rick Meindl Meet

ADA — Ohio Northern University men's track and field team had successful showings at two different meets during the weekend.

Friday evening at the Zips Invitational hosted by the University of Akron, the 4x400-meter relay team consisting of seniors Shane Huntley, Evan Heyman and Garrett Brown and junior Jacob Schwab provisionally qualified for the NCAA Division III meet, finishing in 3:18.57.

Senior Ryan Fleming also met the NCAA provisional mark in the 60-meter dash, finishing in 6.96.

Ohio Northern also competed at the Rick Meindl Last Chance meet at Capital on Saturday, placing 2nd of seven Division III teams with 55 points.

Taking first among Division III schools was Otterbein with 58.5 points, while Washington & Jefferson (48 points), Capital (37.5 points) and Ohio Wesleyan (22 points) took the third, fourth and fifth spots.

Eleven Polar Bears hit OAC qualifying or provisional marks, just in time for the OAC Championships next weekend.

Sophomore Michael Simmons placed second in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 9:11.96, while junior Dan Smith (Avon) finished third in the 1,000-meter run in 2:32.88.

Fourth place finishers were sophomore Matt Bayman in the 5,000-meter run in 16:22.14 and freshman Francisque Pierre-Jerome in the 60-meter dash in 7.13.

Pierre-Jerome also placed seventh in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.36.

Senior Travis Isenberg placed fifth in the 1,000-meter run in 2:41.16 and the 4x400-meter relay team of sophomore Kenton Holliday, freshman Tyler Feitshans, freshman Mark Berton and junior Jacob Rettig finished sixth in 3:48.21.

Rettig also had a seventh place finish in the 5,000-meter run in 16:45.71.

Rounding out the scorers for Ohio Northern was freshman Tyler Borton in the pole vault with a height of 13-05.75.

The Polar Bears seek their fourth consecutive OAC indoor championship title, next Friday and Saturday at the OAC Championship Meet hosted by Baldwin-Wallace in Berea.