Sophomore Matt Molinaro leads Ohio Northern Men's Track & Field to a 2nd place finish at the OAC Indoor Championships

By Ashley Birchmeier

MARIETTA — Sophomore Matt Molinaro was named the Ohio Athletic Conference Indoor Distacne Runner of the Year to lead the Ohio Northern men's track and field team on the final day of the 2016 OAC Indoor Championships hosted by Marietta at the Dyson Baudo Recreation Center.

The Polar Bears (51-12 overall) finished 2nd of 10 teams with 135 points.

Mount Union won the team title with 158.5 points, while Otterbein took third place with 103 points.

Molinaro won the 800-meter run, finishing with a time of 1:56.70 earning OAC Champion honors.

He also teamed up with sophomore Brandon Emert, junior Ian McKee and sophomore Conner Karg to claim a third place finish in the 4x400 meter relay, garnering All-OAC accolades with a season best time of 3:28.03.

Junior Aaren Hemmelgarn led ONU in the 5,000-meter run finishing first, with an OAC Champion time of 15:11.00.

Senior Robbie Brinkman claimed All-OAC honors in the 55-meter hurdles finishing second with a time of 7.94.

In the 1-mile, Molinaro led the way finishing second and garnering All-OAC honors with a time of 4:19.36. Freshman Ian McVey claimed fifth in the event with a time of 4:22.83, followed by sophomore Robert Borger in seventh with a time of 4:25.20 and senior Eric Wymer in eighth with a time of 4:25.94.

Senior Christian Rupe earned All-OAC honors in the 200-meter dash, finishing third with a time of :22.42.

Junior Andrew Harden also garnered All-OAC honors in the meet, finishing third in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 2:34.19. McVey finished fifth in the event with a time of 2:35.85.

Brinkman led the Polar Bears in the triple jump, finishing fourth with a jump of 43 feet 17.5 inches.

The 4x200 meter relay team of Rupe, freshman Nicholas Krugh, Karg and senior Denorris Turner claimed fourth with a season best time of 1:31.70.

Emert claimed a fourth place finish in the 500-meter dash, finishing with a time of 1:08.04.

McKee and senior Dan Sowa also had success in the meet, McKee finished fourth in the 800-meter run in 1:59.79, followed by Sowa in sixth with a time of 2:00.54.

In the 55 meter dash, Rupe finished fourth with a time of :06.57, followed by senior Jojuan Fisher in seventh with a time of :06.66.

Juniors Cully Gordon and Kase Schalois also claimed top-ten finishes in the meet, Gordon finished fifth in the 5,000-meter run in 15:25.07, followed by Schalois in sixth with a time of 15:28.00.

In the high jump, sophomore Alexander Sibila finished eighth with a height of 1.93 meters.

"We performed great on both sides," said head coach Jason Maus. "We were lights out all weekend, we were competitive and enthusiastic across the board, it was great to see."

The Polar Bears return to action Friday, March 4 as they host the Polar Bear Last Chance meet.