MTrack opens outdoor season with solid performances at the Rhodes (Tenn.) Open

Mar. 22, 2008

By Gary Petit

MEMPHIS, TENN. — The Ohio Northern men’s track and field team opened the outdoor portion of it season Saturday at the Rhodes (Tenn.) Open Meet.

The meet, which featured teams from all three NCAA divisions, was a non-scoring invitational.

Junior All-American Jimmy O’Brien, fresh off his third place finish in the 800-meter run last weekend at the NCAA Indoor Championships, finished third in the 400-meter dash in a time of 48.75. His time was .25 of a second off of the NCAA Provisional mark and was .75 seconds shy of a school record.

In the 110-meter hurdles, freshman Jacob Fox finished fourth overall in the 28-man field with a time of 15.17.

Senior Ryan Robertson also earned All-American honors last weekend in the long jump, finished fifth this weekend with a distance of 22-01. Fox followed him in sixth with a jump of 21-11.50.

Junior Eric Porter led three Polar Bears with top-en finishes in the 1,500-meter run. Porter finished fourth at 4:04.42, freshman Brad Neumann finished ninth at 4:10.77 and junior Steve Darmon was tenth with a time of 4:10.91.

In the 5,000-meter run, the trio of junior Thomas Adam, sophomore Alan Bowsher and junior Paul Lewis al finished in the top-15 of the 48-man field. Adam finished in 15:23.33 which was good enough for fifth overall. Bowsher finished seventh at 15:27.50 and Lewis was 14^th at 15:42.18.

Both Polar Bears relay teams turned in strong performances. The 4x400-meter relay team finished third at 3:22.22, behind DI Mississippi and Arkansas State. The 4x100-meter relay team turned in a time of 42.31 to finish second overall.

Senior Robert Leslie finished fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a time of 10:03.50.

Northern also posted solid finishes in the field events.

Juniors Josh Stamper and Jordan Counts finished seventh and eighth in the hammer throw with marks of 125-01 and 124-06, respectively. Garrett Petty finished third in the high jump with a leap of 6-02.75.

Sophomore Jacob Weyrauch took fifth in the pole vault with a mark of 13-05.25 while freshman Timothy Yeh finished sixth in the triple jump at 41-10.50.

The Polar Bears will return to action next Saturday at the OAC Split Meet at Wilmington.