Men’s Indoor Track and Field: Ohio Northern (14-0) at OAC Championships
Friday-Saturday, February 24-25, 2023 - Lou Higgins Center, Berea, Ohio
Meet Preview: The Ohio Northern men's indoor track and field team travels to Berea on Friday and Saturday to compete in the 2023 Ohio Athletic Conference Indoor Championships meet at Baldwin Wallace … On Friday, field events begin at 12 p.m. and running events begin at 4:30 p.m. … On Saturday, field events begin at 10 a.m. and running events begin at 2:30 p.m. … ONU is ranked No. 4 in the Great Lakes Region in the Week 5 USTFCCCA poll, which was released on Monday, and is one of five OAC teams in the top 11 of that poll … The Polar Bears placed third as a team behind Mount Union and John Carroll at the 2022 OAC Indoor Championships, scoring 107 points … Junior Keegan Digby is the defending OAC champion in the shot put … Juniors David Gross and Trey Myers and sophomore Ross Schlatter are back from the 2022 OAC champion 4x400 relay team … Other defending All-OAC honorees from 2022 include Myers (500 dash), seniors Hunter Kesler (200 dash, 4x200 relay) and Ollie Jacobs (4x200 relay) and sophomore Jordan Dean (200 dash, 400 dash, 4x200 relay) … Northern is coming off last Saturday's Wittenberg Invitational, which was not team scored … Digby won the shot put, breaking his own school record with a throw of 17.13 meters, which currently ranks third nationally in Division III, and earned OAC Field Athlete of the Week honors … That marked the third time this season that Digby had broken the school record in the event … Digby owns the school record in both the indoor and outdoor shot put, as he set the new outdoor record of 16.38 meters at last season's NCAA Championships en route to earning All-American status … Digby added a second-place finish in the weight throw on Saturday, posting a mark of 17.10 meters … Digby ranks second in the OAC in the weight throw this season with a mark of 17.72 meters, which ranks second all-time at ONU … Also at Wittenberg, Kesler, senior Brandon Berry, sophomore Daniel Vitelli and freshman Ben Zimmerer won the 4x200 relay in 1:32.24 … Sophomore Mitchel Vance was second in the 500, Myers was second in the 1,000, senior Brandt Marshall was second in the pole vault and sophomore Trey Masterson was second in the 3,000 … Other top performances from this season include junior Trey Myers' time of 1:07.25 in the 500, which currently ranks third in the OAC; the team of Dean, Myers, Kesler and freshman Zach O'Neill in the 4x400 relay with a converted time of 3:21.25, which ranks third in the OAC; and the team of Gross, Masterson, senior Brooks Blakeley and sophomore Corey Rinehart in the distance medley relay with a time of 10:36.52, which ranks second in the OAC.
Head Coach Jason Maus: Maus is in his 14th season as the head coach at ONU … He owns a 592-143 overall record indoors for an .805 winning percentage and a 508-142-2 overall record outdoors for a .781 winning percentage.