Feb. 1, 2008

By Steven Wright

ADA – The Ohio Northern’s men’s track and field team won seven events and scored 113 points en route to a first-place finish at the Ohio Athletic Conference Relays Friday evening at the ONU Sports Center.

Heidelberg finished in a close second with 110 points.

Freshman Jacob Fox led the Polar Bears to victories in the long jump relay and 55-meter hurdles relay, setting personal records in both events.

Fox jumped 22’ 5 3/4” in the long jump and ran an NCAA Provisional time of 7.73 seconds in the hurdles.

Senior Ryan Robertson teamed up with Fox in the long jump with a jump of 21’ 11”, and freshman Garrett Brown joined him in the hurdles with a time of 8.34 seconds.

Robertson also led the way in the 55-meter dash relay with a time of 6.48, while freshman Julian Horn ran the event in 6.65 seconds to help ONU claim the victory.

The distance medley relay team comprised of juniors Eric Porter and Jimmy O’Brien, sophomore Joe Amstutz and freshman Jeff Messmer captured first place in the event, running a time of 10:17.80.

Ohio Northern turned in the top two individual performances in the pole vault relay and the 5,000-meter run relay, winning both events.

Sophomore Paul Metzner and Jacob Weyrauch each vaulted 14’ 9 3⁄4”.

In the 5,000-meter relay run, sophomore Alan Bowsher ran the event in 15:33.50, while junior Thomas Adam finished the race in 15:36.37.

The meet ultimately came down to the triple jump where junior Dominic Clouse (42' 6 3/4") teamed with freshman Timothy Yeh (41' 3") to win the event and secure the victory.

Perhaps the best race of the night was the men's 4x400-meter relay. Heidelberg's Wes Hendricks held off a hard-charging O'Brien over the final leg to take the victory. Despite the second place finish, the team of Amstutz, Huntley, Messmer and O'Brien was just one-half of a second off the school record.

Horn, junior Justin Linzy, and freshmen Shane Huntley and Patrick Rachow also turned in a third-place finish in the 1,600-meter sprint medley, completing the race in 3:41.38.

The Polar Bears will again compete on Feb. 8 in Friday Night Series #3 at 6 pm at the ONU Sports Center.