Men's Indoor Track & Field wins fourth OAC Indoor Track Championship as Bowsher earns Distance Runner of the Meet

BEXLEY - The Ohio Northern men's indoor track & field team earned its fourth Ohio Athletic Conference in school history, winning the 2009 title Saturday afternoon at the Capital Center.

ONU had 183.5 points, while Heidelberg was second (137) and Mount Union was third (118).

Junior Alan Bowsher was named Distance Athlete of the Meet for his win in yesterday's 3,000-meter run and his second-place finish in the 5,000-meter run today.

Bowsher finished the 5K in 15:31.08. Senior Thomas Adam finished first in the event in 15:27.73 and senior Paul Lewis finished fifth in 15:42.76.

The Ohio Northern coaching staff was also named Coaching Staff of the Year.

Senior Jimmy O'Brien had a solid meet with first-place finishes in the mile run (4:19.14) and 800-meter run (1:56.20) and a second-place finish as part of the 4x400-meter relay team.

The team comprised of O'Brien, junior Joe Amstutz and sophomores Shane Huntley and Evan Heyman finished the race in 3:24.34.

O'Brien had Polar Bear company in both his individual races, as freshman Dan Smith was fourth in the mile in 4:23.32 and junior Brent Hiser was eighth in the race in 4:32.27.

Corey Bailey was eighth in the 800-meter run in 2:01.88.

Amstutz earned an individual OAC Championship in the 500-meter run, finishing in 1:05.55. Huntley and freshman Chris Fortson also scored with sixth-place and eighth-place finishes in 1:07.18 and 1:07.68, respectively.

Huntley, Amstutz and freshman Jacob Schwab finished 6-7-8 in the 300-meter dash in times of 36.57, 37.12 and 37.24.

Schwab also had a fourth-place in the 400-meter dash in 52.12 and senior Jeff Otte followed right behind in fifth place in 52.75.

The 4x200-meter relay team of senior Justin Linzy, sophomore Ryan Fleming, freshman Travis Althouse and Heyman captured first place with a time of 1:30.81.

Fleming also did well with a fifth-place finish in the 55-meter dash in 6.57.

ONU pole vaulters had a strong showing, as sophomore Andy Lammers won the event with a height of 14-11. Junior Jacob Weyrauch was third at 14-7.25, senior Jared Kauffman was fifth at 13-7.25 and freshman Chris Biltz was 8th at 11-11.75.

Sophomore Garrett Brown was fifth in the 55-meter hurdles at 8.17, while sophomore Tim Polack was seventh at 8.26.

Polack also performed well in the high jump, finishing in a tie for seventh place at 6-1.5.

Polar Bears had nice showings in the 1,000-meter run and triple jump.

Senior Eric Porter (3rd, 2:34.94), freshman Nick Baker (7th, 2:38.68) and Steve Darmon (8th, 2:38.76) all scored for ONU in the 1,000.

In the triple jump, senior Dominic Clouse finished fourth at 42-6 and sophomore Tim Yeh was sixth in 42-1.25.