Season Preview: Men’s Cross Country entering transitional phase in 2022
By Wes Mayberry
| 2022 Men's Cross Country Schedule |
ADA — Coming off a 2021 season capped by its best regional finish in four years, the Ohio Northern men's cross country team enters somewhat of a rebuilding mode going into 2022.
"There's some uncertainty going into the season," 14th-year head coach Jason Maus said. "We were up and down last year and only return two of our top five finishers from the regional meet, so we have some question marks of how well we'll perform. However, we have a lot of depth and return guys who had a lot better track season than cross country season last year, so hopefully they can build on that."
The Polar Bears posted a record of 94-39 last season after finishing fifth at the Ohio Athletic Conference Championships and seventh at the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regionals. That seventh-place showing was the team's best at regionals since 2017 and marked its 17th straight top-10 finish at the event.
Northern is looking to replicate that success this season and will turn to some new runners to step up following the departures of three of the team's top five finishers from the 2021 regional meet in Patrick Baker, Dylan McKean and Billy Driemeyer.
The other two runners from that quintet, senior Breydan Hann (Wooster) and junior Kyle Roth (Rockford/Parkway), will be ones to watch in 2022 as top names among seven returning lettermen.
"We'll heavily lean on those two guys. They had tremendous track seasons, and we'll go as those guys go," Maus said. "They are good leaders in the program and are great teammates that a lot of the younger guys look up to. They are products of having bought into the process and have seen significant amounts of growth and improvement, and they are great examples for others to follow."
Hann, a two-year letterwinner, competed in all six of ONU's varsity events in 2021 and earned Academic All-OAC and USTFCCCA All-Academic honors. He finished 54th and ran a career-best time of 26:10 at the Great Lakes Regionals and placed 29th with a time of 26:40 at the OAC Championships. Those were two of the four meets in which he placed in the top three among ONU runners.
Roth was an Academic All-OAC honoree in 2021 who also competed in all six varsity events. He ran a career-best time of 26:24 to finish 69th at the Great Lakes Regionals and was 34th at the OAC Championships with a time of 26:51.
Juniors Ian Ackenhausen (Xenia/Legacy Christian Academy), Aaron Guzman (Lebanon) and Braden Schaser (Fostoria/Lakota) and sophomore Trey Masterson (Tiffin/Hopewell Loudon) round out the group of returning lettermen for Northern this season.
"We need those guys to be consistent and competitive for us to be successful," Maus said.
An Academic All-OAC selection last season, Ackenhausen competed in five events and ran a career-best time of 26:38 at the Louisville Classic. He closed his freshman season with a 39th-place showing in the OAC Championships with a time of 26:57.
Guzman is looking to build off his sophomore season in which he competed in four varsity meets and one junior varsity meet. His career-best time of 26:54 earned him a 27th-place finish as a member of the junior varsity squad at the Findlay Invitational en route to an OAC Men's Cross Country Runner of the Week accolade. He closed his season with a 50th-place finish at the OAC Championships with a time of 27:20.
Schaser competed in five races a year ago and was top-seven among ONU runners in two of them. He ran a time of 27:38 to finish 59th at the OAC Championships and set a career-best mark of 27:26 at the All-Ohio Championships.
Masterson also ran in five races in 2021 and was top-three among ONU runners in two of them. He posted a career-best time of 27:06 at the All-Ohio Championships and placed 46th at the OAC Championships with a time of 27:10.
Other top runners on the 39-man roster include seniors Brooks Blakeley (Versailles), Skylar Dawson (West Salem/Northwestern) and Connor Lamison (Cranberry Township, Pa./Beaver Area) and juniors Jared Swartz (Columbia Station/Columbia) and Ian Wallace (Tontogany/Otsego), who were all Academic All-OAC honorees in 2021.
A total of 10 freshmen and transfers also join the team for 2022.
The Polar Bears are scheduled to compete in five regular-season meets this year. After opening the season at home in the Polar Bear Invitational on Sept. 3, they will run at the Wittenberg Invitational on Sept. 10, the Rochester (N.Y.) Invitational on Sept. 17, the Pre-NCAA Meet in East Lansing, Mich., on Oct. 1 and the Oberlin Regional Rumble on Oct. 15.
The ONU junior varsity runners will compete in the All-Ohio Championships at Cedarville on Sept. 16 and the Ohio Wesleyan Invitational on Sept. 30.
The 2022 OAC Championships are scheduled for Oct. 29 at Muskingum.
The 2022 Great Lakes Regional Championships meet is set for Nov. 12 in Holland, Mich., and the NCAA Division III Championships are Nov. 19 at Forest Akers East Golf Course in East Lansing, Mich.