Preview: A young Men's Track & Field team looks to make big statement in 2012
ADA — The Polar Bear men's track and field program has established itself as one of the premier programs in the conference and perhaps the region.
In 2011, the team earned its fourth straight OAC indoor championship and finished in the third at the outdoor conference meet, which was its seventh consecutive top three finish at the outdoor championship.
"We had an unbelievable performance at the indoor meet, then were hit by some key injuries in the outdoor season but still performed well at OACs," head coach Jason Maus mentioned. "We have a solid foundation from last year that we're hoping to build on."
Entering the 2012 season Northern returns experience in every event category.
Sprints is an area with some heavy hands returning this season. ONU has two All-Americans on the roster in senior Jacob Schwab and sophomore Francis Pierre-Jerome.
Schwab earned national competition experience in both the indoor and outdoor seasons, as he earned All-American status in the 400 Dash at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
He, along with Pierre-Jerome, were members of the 4x100 team at the NCAA Outdoor Championships that finished eighth overall in the event.
This duo will lead a young squad of sprinters which includes sophomore Adrian Arias and freshmen Jonathan Roesler, James Rader, and dual-sport athlete Chad Bridges.
The mid-distance and distance group looks the most solid, as these events are being filled by a host cross country runners coming off a season that featured a conference championship and an NCAA Regional appearance.
Mid-distance events will be led by two-time OAC Most Outstanding Distance Athlete Dan Smith, as well as All-Conference performers in senior Cory Bailey, junior Ben Ankrom and sophomore Mathew Johnson.
Distance events will feature juniors Kenton Holliday and Michael Simmons, as well as sophomore Mark Berton and newcomer Nathan Rosenbaum.
Senior Joe Gutter, and juniors Jojo Entsuah and Kris Yaple will lead tossing events. This trio will help sophomore Kyle Weslosky and freshmen Phil Farwig, Lance Hartman, Michael Howell and Adam Tracy come into their own.
Maus acknowledges that jumps are areas where the Polar Bears are especially young. While senior Jarrod Stevens has some experience to lend, he will work beside sophomores Tommy Steinberger, Aaron Kovacik and Brett Bomba, as well as freshman Ryan Brancheau.
Schedule
Both track and field teams are fairly young as a whole, so Maus and his staff's primary scheduling focus was to get the two groups experience.
Northern opens the season at the Northwest Ohio Meet at Findlay before seeing its first glimpse of conference competition at the OAC Relays at Baldwin-Wallace the next weekend.
The Polar Bears will also host two indoor meets this season: the Joe Banks Invitational in early February followed by the Polar Bear Invitational mid-month. The OAC Indoor Championships will take place at Otterbein, February 24-25. The NCAA Championships will be Marcy 9-10 at Grinnell (Iowa).
The outdoor portion of the schedule kicks off March 17 at the Rose Hulman Early Bird, followed by the Washington (Mo.) Invitational. The All-Ohio Championships, a meet where many athletes qualify for the NCAA Championships, takes place April 14.
The OAC Championships will head back to Alliance as Mount Union will host the event again this year. The season will hopefully culminate at the NCAA Outdoor Championships at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in Claremont, Calif., May 24-26.