Season Preview: Men’s Cross Country aims for fourth consecutive OAC Championship in 2018

By Blake Moore

ADA – The Ohio Northern men's cross country program seeks to continue its recent string of success at the conference and national levels in 2018 under 10th-year head coach Jason Maus.

Last season, the Polar Bears won their third straight Ohio Athletic Conference crown, finishing in the upper division of the league for the 15th consecutive season.

The team also boasted an impressive 126-37 overall record and made their second successive trip to the NCAA Championships as a team. The 2017 win total marks the 7th season that the team has recorded 100-or-more wins in a year under Maus's direction. 

ONU was projected to finish as the conference runner-up during the 2018 season in the OAC Coaches Preseason Poll released last week.

Ohio Northern's 2018 squad will return seven varsity lettermen, which includes senior All-American Ian McVey (Stow/Munroe Falls) and senior All-Conference honoree Spencer Schulze (St. Henry).

McVey, who finished 10th at the 2017 NCAA III Championships, is the top returning runner for Northern as he finished first on the team in all eight varsity-level meets a season ago.

The senior earned All-Ohio Men's Runner of the Year, OAC Runner of the Year, and All-Great Lakes Region Runner of the Year accolades last season. In addition, he was the Ohio Athletic Conference and NCAA Regional individual champion before finishing 10th overall at the 2017 NCAA Championships.

Meanwhile, Schulze has earned Second-Team All-OAC honors in 2016 and 2017 during his three-year career.

Senior John McNutt (Ashtabula/Lakeside), juniors Andrew Shelton (Williamsville, N.Y./South) and Riley Lamison (Beaver, Pa./Beaver Area), and sophomores Jordan Green (Wooster) and Travis Sutter (Fort Recovery) each return as one-time lettermen.

Coach Maus and his staff will also boast nine additional returning athletes.

Juniors Kyle Neff (Sagamore Hills/Walsh Jesuit), Bryan Peck (Westerville/North), and Griffin Skaff (Canton, Mich./Salem) will each return to the roster in 2018, hoping to crack the top-seven on this year's squad.

Returning sophomores Jack Borden (Westerville/Central), Jackson Brandstaetter (Pickerington/North), Nicholas DeVore (Westerville/Central), Sam Krabacher (Hamilton/Badin), Dylan McKean (Warren/Champion), and Alessandro Tramontano (Cleveland/Mayfield) also look to contribute in the upcoming season.

Nine freshmen will comprise the list of newcomers to the 2018 roster.

"We have an interesting mix of experienced veterans and newcomers," Maus said. "We have an All-American, an All-Conference guy and two others who competed at the NCAA Championships meet returning. We will then need some other returners and newcomers to step up. We have some high-impact freshmen, but we will see how they transition to 8,000 meters in college."

The Polar Bears are scheduled to open the new season when they compete in the Bluffton 5k Invitational on August 31 at 6 p.m.

Ohio Northern will then make trips to the Calvin (Mich.) Knight Invitational (Sept. 8), Pre-Regional Meet at Shelbyville, Ind., (Sept. 15), All-Ohio Championships (Sept. 29), and the Wilmington Invitational (Oct. 12).

The 2018 OAC Championships are then scheduled for October 27 in Alliance.

The postseason continues at the Great Lakes Regional in Shelbyville, Ind., on November 10 with qualifying teams and individuals moving on to the 2018 NCAA Championships in Winneconne, Wis., on November 17.