By Wes Mayberry, www.onusports.com
Sophomore Keegan Digby (Bowling Green/Otsego) won the shot put championship, and the 4x400 relay team brought home a title to lead the Ohio Northern men's indoor track and field team to a third-place finish on Saturday, February 26, at the 2022 Ohio Athletic Conference Championships meet at Mount Union's Peterson Field House.
The Polar Bears (32-3) scored 107 points, placing third of 10 teams.
"That's awesome," ONU head coach Jason Maus said. "That's where we thought we should be, but you have to put it all together. We had some ups and downs, but we kept battling all day. I'm really proud of our effort."
No. 10 Mount Union won the team title with 248 points, and No. 8 John Carroll finished second with 184 points.
Digby recorded a distance of 15.48 meters in the shot put Saturday to win the OAC title after placing fourth in the event a season ago.
"That's so awesome for Keegan," Maus said. "He was really excited. He was the top seed coming in, and he handled the pressure well. He's worked really hard for this, so it means a lot to him."
ONU's 4x400 relay team of sophomores Trey Myers (Dayton/Chaminade-Julienne), Tyler St. Onge (Litchfield, N.H./Campbell) and David Gross (Prospect/Pleasant Local) and freshman Ross Schlatter (Curtice/Genoa) also won a conference title, as the team jumped top-finishing John Carroll following a disqualification in the day's final race.
"Our guys battled the whole way, and we got good splits out of everybody," Maus said. "Obviously Trey's leg was really exciting, and he'll get a lot of the credit, but it takes four guys to be in that position, so it's a big accomplishment for all of them. It's always fun winning the last race of the day and end on a really big note like that."
Seniors Nate Dean (Euclid/Villa Angela-Saint Joseph) and Sam Krabacher (Hamilton/Badin), junior Hunter Kesler (Oakwood/Paulding) and freshman Jordan Dean (Euclid/Villa Angela-Saint Joseph) also earned All-Conference honors.
"Those are four big guns," Maus said. "We leaned on Jordan, Hunter and Nate a lot because we knew they were our studs, and for them to get on the podium is a big accomplishment, and I know they're hungry for more. And Sam is a fifth-year guy who was conference champ a year ago. For him to step up and run the way he did was tremendous."
Nate Dean finished third in the 60-meter dash, running a time of :07.00, and Krabacher posted a second-place finish in the 800 meters with a time of 1:55.27.
Kesler and Jordan Dean finished second and third, respectively, in the 200 meters with times of :22.23 and :22.46.
ONU's 4x200 relay team of Jordan Dean, Nate Dean, Kesler and junior Ollie Jacobs (DeGraff/Riverside) also earned All-OAC recognition, placing second with a new school-record time of 1:29.07.
Jordan Dean was also All-Conference in the 400 meters with a third-place finish in that event on Friday.
Dean and Kesler led the team with 14 points each in the meet. Myers finished with 12.5.
The top three finishers in each event earn All-OAC status, and the top eight score team points.
Outside of their All-OAC athletes, the Polar Bears had five other placers on Saturday.
Senior Jack Lehr (York, Pa./Dallastown) finished fourth in the shot put, throwing a distance of 14.54 meters.
Freshman Ozzie Miller (Dalton) also placed fourth, running a time of :07.03 in the 60-meter dash.
Myers placed fifth in the 800 meters with a time of 1:55.73 after finishing third in the 500 meters to earn All-OAC status on Friday.
Junior Brooks Blakeley (Versailles) and freshman Ryan Massie (Beavercreek) each posted an eighth-place finish.
Blakeley placed eighth in the 1,000 meters with a time of 2:34.96, and Massie finished eighth in the mile run with a time of 4:24.54.
