Season Preview: Balanced attack provides optimism for Men's Track & Field squad heading into 2021 campaign
By Tim Glon
| 2021 Men's Track & Field Schedule |
ADA — Optimism is high for the 2021 edition of the Ohio Northern men's track and field team this winter and spring under 12th-year head coach Jason Maus.
The Polar Bears welcome back 28 lettermen from its 2020 squad that went 54-11 and finished fourth at the Ohio Athletic Conference Indoor Championships last season before the outdoor campaign was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Northern's 66-men roster is balanced with returners in every event as ONU returns 70 of the team's 76 points scored at the 2020 OAC Championships.
Juniors Andrew Buderer (Oak Harbor) and Nate Dean (Euclid/Villa Angela Saint Joseph) both return after qualifying for the NCAA III Championships and join junior Luke Shellhaas (Greenville/Versailles) as All-Great Lakes Region honorees from a year ago.
"We expect to be deep and well-balanced this year," Maus said. "We have good talent and experience returning at every event group and have a talented group of freshman coming in.
"We were fortunate this fall that our distance runners were able to compete amongst themselves in our Polar Bear Grand Prix series. We were able to do more than many other schools were able to do with the pandemic going on. Many of our runners improved a great deal this fall and hopefully that will help us this winter and spring."
Here is a preview of the 2021 ONU men's track and field team, by event groupings.
Sprints
Dean is back as a two-time NCAA Championships qualifier in the sprints, qualifying indoors in the 400 in 2019 and the 200 in 2020.
He owns the school record indoors in the 200 (:22.09) and is a three-time All-OAC honoree indoors in the 200 and 400 (twice).
Senior Owen Lloyd (Colfax, Ind./Clinton Prarie) holds the school record indoors in the 60 hurdles (:08.52) and has scored points in the OAC Championships in both the hurdles and the high jump.
Senior Colin McCullough (Galion) has also scored OAC points in the hurdles and was fifth in the long jump last winter.
Sophomores Selorm Adehe (Grove City/Central Crossing), Brandon Berry (Wickliffe), Branden Kadlubowski (Fremont/St. Joseph), Hunter Kesler (Oakwood/Paulding) and Vini Sousa (Spencerville) appear primed for breakout seasons.
"We have top-end talent and experience in the sprints/hurdles group," Maus said. "In Nate Dean, we have a national-caliber sprinter. Owen Lloyd is the best indoor hurdler we have ever had here. Add to that at least six other returners that have the ability to score points for us and this group has the potential to be a force in the league."
Jumps
ONU returns four of the top nine pole vaulters in the OAC from a year ago, led by defending OAC Champion and NCAA qualifier Buderer and All-Region honoree Shellhaas.
Senior Donald Gaylord II (Ashtabula/Lake) was fourth in the OAC last year and sophomore Brandt Marshall (Bluffton/Cory-Rawson) finished just outside the points in ninth place last year.
Lloyd has posted back-to-back fifth place finishes indoors in the high jump, while McCullough has scored in the long jump in each of the past two OAC Indoor Championships.
Sophomore Zach Adkins (Enon/Green) was ninth in the triple jump a year ago and will look to score points in the event this season.
Senior Cade Saunders (Marysville) has finished just out of the points in the indoor high jump each of the past three seasons and looks to break into the top eight this year.
"We have the league's best pole vault group returning," Maus said. "We also have guys capable of scoring in each of the other jump events. Hopefully this will be an opportunity to score a chunk of points this year."
Distance/Mid-Distance
The deepest event group the Polar Bears have may be the distance/mid-distance bunch with 12 returning lettermen capable of scoring points from 800 to 10,000 meters.
Senior Sam Krabacher (Hamilton/Badin) is a two-time All-Conference honoree in the 800, finishing second, third and fourth in the past three OAC Indoor Championships meets.
Sophomore Billy Driemeyer (House Springs, Mo./Lindbergh), senior Travis Sutter (Sharpsburg/Fort Recovery) and junior Patrick Baker (Massillon/Jackson) all scored in the 3,000-meter run last year.
Sutter has also scored twice outdoors in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
Seniors Jordan Green (Wooster), Dylan McKean (Warren/Champion) and Alessandro Tramontano (Cleveland/Mayfield), juniors Alan Dravenstott (Medina) and Caden Sauerbrey (Dresden/tri-Valley) and sophomores Breydan Hann (Wooster), Brooks Blakeley (Versailles), Connor Lamison (Cranberry Township, Pa./Beaver Area) all return as lettermen in the distance/mid-distance events and will give ONU great depth in these events.
"Our strong cross country program leads to a strong distance and middle distance group," Maus said. "We got better this fall and hopefully this will give us an advantage this season."
Throws
Seniors Alex Sube (Wadsworth/Highland) and Danny Ropp (Sapulpa, Okla./Page) are the two returners in the throws events for the Polar Bears in 2021.
Sube placed seventh in the weight throw at the OAC Championships last year and competes in all four throwing events.
Ropp threw the shot in his first season on the track and field team last year after playing two seasons in the ONU football program.
Add to the mix nine talented freshmen and Maus hopes the throws group will surprise some people around the league.
"We have the largest throws group of freshmen in history," Maus said. "We believe that some of these guys can help us right away and that this group can develop into a strength of the team as they mature and get experience."
In the classroom
Six members of the 2021 squad earned Academic All-OAC honors last year.
Seniors Krabacher, Saunders, Sutter and Jackson Brandstaetter (Pickerington/North) and juniors Baker and Christian Booze (Bellevue) all received the honor.