O'Brien, Robertson lead Polar Bears to season-opening win

Jan. 11, 2008

By Zach Stipe

ADA — Junior Jimmy O’Brien shattered the ONU-record in the 1,000-meter run and senior Ryan Robertson won three events to lead the Ohio Northern men’s track and field team to a season-opening victory at the first Friday Night Series meet of the year at the ONU Sports Center.

Ohio Northern scored 339 points, while Findlay finished in second with 129 points and St. Norbert (Wis.) placed third with 62 points.

O’Brien took the lead from the gun in the 1,000 and smoked the field in a time of 2:30.79, breaking Mark Bierkan’s mark of 2:32.28 set in 2006.

O’Brien also capped the meet by anchoring the 4x400 relay to victory in 3:31.40.

Sophomore Joe Amstutz and freshmen Evan Heyman and Jeff Messmer joined O’Brien on the winning 4x400.

Robertson won the long jump with a leap of 22-03.75 and finished first in the 55-meter dash with a time of 6.48, just .01 away from the national provisional mark.

Robertson also teamed with junior Justin Linzy and freshmen Ryan Fleming and Julian Horn to win he 4x200 relay in 1:31.82.

Freshman Jacob Fox nearly qualified to nationals in his first collegiate meet by running a 7.78 in his preliminary heat of the 55-meter hurdles. He later clocked a time of 7.84 to win the event in the finals and finished third in the long jump with a leap of 21-05.5.

Joining O’Brien as top performers in the distance races were junior Paul Lewis and sophomore Alan Bowsher.

Lewis captured victory in the 1-mile run in a time of 4:32.08, while Bowsher finished second in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 9:08.48.

In addition, junior Eric Porter was second behind O’Brien in the 1,000 with a time of 2:35.36.

Freshman Shane Huntley and Amstutz snagged sprint wins.

Huntley won the 300-meter in 37.14, while Amstutz used a stirring kick to win the 400-meter dash in 51.78.

Freshman Garrett Brown added a second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.02.

In the field events, sophomore Jacob Weyruach won the pole vault with a height of 14-09.5 and freshman Timothy Polack won the high jump with a leap of 5-06.

The Ohio Northern men’s track and field team returns to action at the ONU Sports Center for Friday Night Series Meet #2 on Jan. 18.