Mar. 8, 2008

By Gary Petit

WESTERVILLE — The No. 19-ranked Ohio Northern men’s track & field team dominated the 2008 Ohio Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships to claim its first indoor championship title since 2000.

The Polar Bears finished with 187 points, 68 points ahead of Heidelberg in second at 119.

Junior national champion Jimmy O’Brien finished the weekend with four OAC Titles. He started the night by winning the 1-mile run in an NCAA provisional time of 4:13.46. His time also broke the school record of 4:14.3 set by Mike Becraft in 1979.

O’Brien then won his second indoor 800-meter title in a time of 1:58.00. To cap the night, he ran the anchor leg of the victorious 4x400-meter relay that crossed the line just in front of Mount Union at 3:24.17.

On Friday night, O’Brien also ran the anchor leg of the winning distance medley relay team. For his efforts on the weekend, O'Brien was named the OAC Distance Athlete of the Meet.

Sophomore Paul Metzner claimed the OAC title in the pole vault with a career-best vault of 15-5. That mark also provisionally qualifies him for next week’s NCAA Championships at ONU.

Senior Ryan Robertson ran a 6.49 to claim his second 55-meter title while junior Justin Linzy was right on his heels at 6.54 to finish second and earn All-OAC honors.

Sophomore Joe Amstutz and freshman Jacob Fox also added to the Polar Bear victories in the sprint events. Amstutz won his first OAC Title in the 500 meter run with a time of 1:06.30. Fox claimed the 55-meter hurdle title in 7.67.

Amstutz also earned All-OAC honors in the 300-meter dash in a season-best time of 36.02. He was named the "Don Frail" Sprinter of the Meet.

In the 5,000-meter run, junior Thomas Adam ran a season-best 15:23.93 to win his first indoor OAC Title. Sophomore Alan Bowsher, fresh off a third place finish in the 3,000-meter run Friday night, finished second in the 5,000 at 15:26.55, for his second All-OAC honors of the championship. Junior Paul Lewis also finished fifth at 15:40.05.

Fellow sophomore Jacob Weyrauch also had a career-best vault of 15-1 to finish second in the pole vault and earn All-OAC honors. Junior J.T. Perez was the third Polar Bear to place in the pole vault at 14-1.25 to finish eighth.

The 4x200-meter relay team of Robertson, Linzy and freshmen Ryan Fleming Julian Horn earned All-OAC honors with a second place finish at 1:30.90. The Bears were nipped by Heidelberg, who crossed the line at 1:30.72.

Junior Eric Porter and freshman Shane Huntley each took home fourth place finishes. Porter crossed the line in the 1,000-meter run at 2:36.44 as Huntley finished the 500-meter run in a personal best time of 1:08.47.

The Ohio Northern coaching staff of head coach Brian Cole and assistant coaches Jason Maus and Jake Gleason were named OAC Male Coaching Staff of the Year.

Northern will find out Sunday evening which athletes qualified for the NCAA Championships which ONU will host next Friday and Saturday, March 14-15.