Five men, three women Named All-Great Lakes Region in Indoor Track and Field Championships by the USTFCCCA
By Tim Glon
ADA — Five Ohio Northern men and three ONU women were named All-Great Lakes Region in Indoor Track and Field by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Association.
On the men's side, senior All-American Keegan Digby (Bowling Green/Otsego) and junior All-American Jordan Dean (Cleveland/Villa Angela-St. Joseph) were selected as individuals.
Digby was honored in the shot put and the weight throw and Dean was honored in the 400.
Fifth-year senior Hunter Kesler (Paulding), junior Ross Schlatter (Curtice/Genoa), senior Trey Myers (Dayton/Chaminade-Julienne) and Dean were honored in the 4x400 relay.
Three athletes on the women's team earned All-Region honors as juniors Olyvia Ashbrook (Johnstown/Northridge) and Izzy Burman (Benton Ridge/Liberty Benton) and sophomore Claire Schweller (Paulding) were honored.
The top-5 individuals in each event from each region earned All-Region distinction, in addition to each member of the region's top-3 relay teams.
On Sunday, the five men and two of the women were selected to participate this weekend's NCAA III Championships in Virginia Beach, Va., by ranking in the top 20 nationally individually and top 12 in a relay.
Digby is a three-time All-American in the shot put, having finished fourth indoors in 2023. He was also sixth outdoors in 2023 and seventh outdoors in 2022.
He is seeded first in the region and fifth nationally with a school record toss of 17.29 meters this season.
He also earned All-Region honors in the weight throw, as he is ranked fifth in the region and 23rd nationally with a best effort of 18.18 meters, which puts him second in ONU history.
Dean is ranked third in the region and eighth nationally in the 400-meter dash with a school-record effort of 48:40, which converts to a 47.64 on a banked track.
Dean earned All-American honors with an eighth place finish in :48.03 at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
The 4x400 relay squad ran a 3:17.48 on Saturday at the Mount Union Final Qualifer to move up from 14th to 11th nationally and get into the NCAA Championships.
Their time converts to a 3:14.38 on a 200-meter banked track and they are seeded third in the region.
These four men also finished 11th at the 2023 NCAA Championships in 3:14.07.
Ashbrook is ranked second in the region in the 60-meter hurdles with a season-best effort of :09.05.
That time places her third all-time in ONU history in the event.
Burman shattered her own school record in the weight throw with a toss of 17.90 meters on Saturday at Mount Union, 46 centimeters better than her prior best of 17.44.
She moved from 17th to 14th on the national list and is ranked first in the Great Lakes Region.
Schweller won the pole vault at Mount Union on Saturday with a career-best height of 3.90 meters, a full .15 of a meter better then her previous best.
She now sits sixth in the country and first in the region.
Schweller moves into a tie for second on ONU's career list with her 12' 9.5" height.