No. 15 Men's Indoor Track & Field rallies past Wilmington 136-128 to win Capital Invitational

By Tim Glon

BEXLEY — The No. 15-ranked Ohio Northern men's indoor track and field team edged Wilmington 136-128 to win the Capital Rick Meindl Invitational on Sunday at the Capital Center.

The Polar Bears (17-3 overall) trailed 114-108 with three events to go and won the final two events to grab the win.

The top two finishers from each of the three teams scored points in each event.

Sophomore Vini Souza (Spencerville) was second in the 200 in :23.78 and freshman David Gross (Prospect/Pleasant Local) was third in :23.98 while WC finished 5-6 as ONU tied the meet at 117-117 with two events to go.

Freshmen Braden Schaser (Fostoria/Lakota) and Ian Ackenhausen (Fostoria/Lakota) finished 1-2 in the 3,000 to give ONU a 129-123 lead with one event to go. Schaser finished in 9:13.95 and Ackerhausen in 9:17.46.

Senior Jackson Brandstaetter (Pickerington/North), senior Dylan McKean (Warren/Champion), Myers and Wallace finished the meet by winning the 4x400 in 3:42.73. Trailing by 20 meters entering the final leg, Wallace ran down Wilmington's anchor to give ONU the victory.

Watch the thrilling final lap here (special thanks to Capital for the clip).

No. 16 Capital finished third with 57 points.

Senior Colin McCullough (Galion) won the 60-meter hurdles in :08.74 and the 400-meter dash in :53.03.

Senior Jaymar Hines (Cincinnati/Marian) won the 60-meter dash in :07.21.

ONU had a plethora of second place finishes in the meet.

Junior Alan Dravenstott (Medina) was second in the mile in 4:40.15 and was second in the 800 in 2:04.06.

Freshman Trey Myers (Dayton/Chaminade-Julienne) was second in the 400 in :54.18.

Freshman Pierce Overmyer (Lindsey/Woodmore) was second in the 5,000 meters in 17:52.66.

Freshman Tyler St. Onge (Litchfield, N.H./Campbell) was second in the 500 dash in 1:10.10.

Freshman Gabe Hensley (Lebanon) was second in the triple jump at 11.49 meters.

Freshman Brandon Wise (Goshen, Ind./Concord) was second in the pole vault by clearing 3.55 meters.

Freshmen Keegan Digby (Bowling Green/Otsego) was second in the shot put with a toss of 14.61 meters.

Freshman Ian Wallace (Bowling Green/Otsego) was second in the 1,000 in 2:45.24.

Northern competed with only a partial roster, as ONU head coach Jason Maus gave many of his competitors the weekend off.

The Polar Bears will return to action next Saturday when they host the annual Larry Cole Invitational at the ONU Sports Center Fieldhouse.