Men's Indoor Track & Field finishes second at OAC Championships
By: Andrew Korba
ALLIANCE -- Junior Nate Rosenbaum captured the 5,000-meter run and the 4x400-meter relay won its event to lead the Ohio Northern men's indoor track & field team at the OAC Championships on Saturday at Peterson Fieldhouse on the campus of Mount Union.
The Polar Bears finished second with 131 points.
Mount Union won the championship with 206 points, ONU was second and John Carroll was third with 104 points.
Rosenbaum crossed the finish line in 15:18.38, which was over six seconds faster than the next competitor.
The 4x400-meter relay team of senior Evan McKee, junior Jonathan Roseler, sophomore Christian Rupe and freshman Patrick Jeffries used a late surge down the stretch to win the OAC title in 3:22.87.
Roseler also earned All-OAC honors in the 400-meter dash, finishing in 49.54 seconds.
Jeffries earned All-OAC accolades with a third place finish in the 500-meter run, crossing the finish line in 1:06.36.
Senior Josh Colbert broke the school record in the 60-meter dash, finishing in 6.95 seconds, which was .01 faster than the school record. His time also earned him All-OAC honors by placing him second.
Junior Dan Steigerwald earned All-OAC honors with a second place finish in the 1,000-meter run, finishing in 2:34.73.
"We had a unbelievable meet," said head coach Jason Maus. "We couldn't have performed better. To finish second is a huge improvement from where we were last season."
The 4x200-meter relay team of senior Francisque Pierre-Jerome, sophomore Jojuan Fisher, freshman William Reckert and Colbert finished fourth in 1:31.46.
Sophomore William Huddleston was fourth and senior Mathew Johnson was seventh in the 1,000-meter run in 2:34.96 and 2:37.85, respectively.
Junior Ryan Brancheau cleared 1.92 meters (6-3.50) in the high jump, which placed him fifth.
Freshman Ian McKee was sixth in the 800-meter run in 2:01.51.
Northern placed two runners in the 1-mile run.
Junior Kyle Wagner finished sixth in 4:28.88 and freshman Aaren Hemmelgarn was seventh in 4:29.02.
Junior James Rader was sixth in the 500-meter run in 1:07.45 and Evan McKee was seventh in 1:07.47.
Rupe was sixth in the 400-meter dash in 50.29 and sophomore Robbie Brinkman finished eighth in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.70 seconds.
Rupe also finished seventh in the 200-meter dash in 22.63 seconds with Pierre-Jerome finishing right behind in eighth place in 22.85 seconds.
Pierre-Jerome also finished eighth in the 60-meter dash in 7.08 seconds.
We are very balanced across the board," Maus added. "We got great performances from everybody and will use this to transition into the outdoor season."
