Shellhaas, Lloyd lead Men's Track & Field at 2019 Polar Bear Final Qualifier

By Blake Moore

ADA — The Ohio Northern men's track and field program posted nine top-five performances in their final home meet of the 2019 indoor season Saturday afternoon, topping the efforts at the Polar Bear Final Qualifier inside the ONU Sports Center Fieldhouse.

The meet was not scored.

In the field, freshmen Luke Shellhaas (Greenville/Versailles) and Andrew Buderer (Oak Harbor) finished 3-4 in the pole vault with new career-best marks to lead the individual performances. Both first-year pole vault specialists cleared 4.49 meters (14' 8.75") over the weekend, but Shellhaas edged out his classmate on a tiebreaker.

Additionally, junior Noah McKee (Powell/Olentangy Liberty) and sophomore Cade Saunders (Marysville) took home fourth-place finishes in the field events contested Saturday afternoon. McKee leaped 11.57 meters (37' 11.5") for fourth place in the triple jump competition while Saunders cleared 1.77 meters (5' 9.75") to take fourth in the high jump.

On the track, sophomore Owen Lloyd (Colfax, Ind./Clinton Prairie) produced a third-place result in the 60-meter hurdles to lead the Ohio Northern efforts. After resetting his own ONU record last weekend at the OAC Championships, the Colfax, Indiana native crossed the tape in 8.65 Saturday afternoon.

In the men's 5,000-meter run, junior Griffin Skaff (Canton, Mich./Salem) and sophomore Dylan McKean (Warren/Champion) ended fourth and fifth, respectively. The former trimmed 15 seconds off his previous career-best mark with a 16:09.60 performance while the latter clocked a 16:59.91 in his first career 5k race.

Sophomore Alessandro Tramontano (Mayfield) and freshman Christian Booze (Bellevue) rounded out the top-five efforts over the two-day event.

Tramontano posted a fifth-place finish in the mile run after crossing in 4:36.25.

Meanwhile, Booze edged out his career-best mark in the 200-meter dash, ending fifth with a :26.01 clocking.

Ohio Northern will now await the announcement of the NCAA Division III National Championships qualifying list. The top 20 individuals in each event will earn the right to compete at the national championship meet, which is slated for Friday, March 8 and Saturday, March 9 in Boston, Massachusetts.