Season Review: Men’s Cross Country closes the 2019 season strong
By Bud Denega
ADA — Similar to any race, it's not how one starts, but rather how one finishes. That couldn't have been more true for the Ohio Northern men's cross country team during the 2019 season.
While the Polar Bears didn't always perform up to their expectations during the first few months, they finished the season in style. Northern logged its 15th consecutive top-10 finish at the Great Lakes Regional, placing 10th as a team with 354 points.
"Sometimes good teams find ways to get it done," ONU head coach Jason Maus said. "The regional meet was by far our best race of the season. We ran really well there. Some guys stepped up, and we really put it together."
Youthfulness was a contributing factor to the inconsistencies for ONU. Not one runner for Northern at the regional meet was a senior, as the roster was comprised of four juniors, one sophomore and two freshmen.
"We were pretty young and kind of inexperienced," Maus said. "It was a struggle there at times. We were up and down."
Even amid the roller coaster that was the 2019 season, the Polar Bears were still able to collect a couple of first-place finishes. Northern won the Bluffton 6K for the sixth time in the last seven years.
ONU also claimed a victory at the Ohio Wesleyan Invitational the following week. The Polar Bears logged top-half finishes in all but one of their final three regular-season meets before placing fourth at the Ohio Athletic Conference Championships.
Junior Travis Sutter (Fort Recovery) was ONU's most prominent runner of 2019. He led the Polar Bears in five of the seven races this season.
Sutter set a new career-best time at the Louisville Classic, clocking in at 25:54. He capped his season in style, earning a 34th-place finish at the regional meet, and that garnered Sutter All-Great Lakes Region honors.
Sutter was also an Academic All-OAC selection. Seniors Kyle Neff (Sagamore Hills/Walsh Jesuit), Bryan Peck (Westerville/North) and Andrew Shelton (Williamsville, N.Y./South), juniors Jack Borden (Westerville/Central), Jackson Brandstaetter (Pickerington/North) and Sam Krabacher (Hamilton/Badin) and sophomore Patrick Baker (Massillon/Jackson) all earned Academic All-OAC distinction.
Baker stood as ONU's second-best runner during 2019. He paced the team at the OAC Championships, while placing second on the team in four other meets. He posted a career-best time of 26:01 at the Oberlin Rumble.
Green represented the Polar Bears' third-best runner this season. He led the team at the All-Ohio Championships and placed third on the team in five of the other six meets, logging a season-best time of 26:25 in Oberlin.
Freshmen Billy Driemeyer (House Springs, MO/Lindbergh) and Dylan McKean (Warren/Champion) round out the top five for Northern in 2019. Driemeyer registered his career-best time, of 26:31, at the Oberlin Rumble, while McKean ran a career-best 26:57 in Louisville.
All that youth, especially at the regional meet, has Maus and company eagerly awaiting what the 2020 season could have in store.
"Now we know what it takes to compete at this level, and we now know the amount of work we have to do to get back with some of the others like Mount Union, John Carroll and Otterbein," Maus said. "We got some work to do, but I think the regional meet kind of opened some eyes some, and that's super exciting."