Season Review: National qualifiers Digby, Buderer headline another successful year for Men’s Track and Field

By Wes Mayberry

ADA — The Ohio Northern men's track and field team continued its winning ways during the 2022 indoor and outdoor seasons under 13th-year head coach Jason Maus.

The Polar Bears finished 32-3 overall and in third place at the Ohio Athletic Conference Championships during the indoor portion of their schedule and went on to post a 16-3 record and fourth-place finish at the OACs in the outdoor season. This marked the program's 32nd consecutive winning season indoors and 19th straight winning season outdoors.

"We got the most out of our group this season," Maus said. "At the indoor conference meet, we battled to stay in third place. Our placing at the outdoor conference meet was a little disappointing, but we did what we could as we dealt with some untimely injuries and inclement weather."

Sophomore Keegan Digby (Bowling Green/Otsego) and senior Andrew Buderer (Oak Harbor) both represented ONU at the 2022 NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships, which were held in Geneva, Ohio.

Digby entered the event as the No. 10 seed in the shot put after throwing a school-record mark of 16.34 meters at the Mike Becraft Invitational on April 23. He bested that with a throw of 16.38 meters to earn All-American status as a seventh-place finisher among 20 competitors. He is ONU's first All-American in the shot put for men's track and field.

"Keegan really put it all together this season," Maus said. "He got some momentum in mid-April and started to catch fire, and he was so focused toward the end of the season and was on a mission."

Buderer was the No. 17 seed among 20 competitors in the pole vault after posting a height of 4.86 meters, which ranks third all-time at ONU, at the Mount Union Last Chance meet on May 19. He no-heighted and did not place at nationals but closes his ONU career as a seven-time All-OAC performer, three-time OAC champion and two-time national qualifier in the indoor and outdoor pole vault.

"Andy was a great, heartwarming story," Maus said. "The last national meet he qualified for was canceled because of COVID, so it was great to see him get back to the national meet and get a chance to compete at that level. He is a leader that we will miss. His enthusiasm and commitment played a big factor and is something we'll miss as a team, especially in his event group."

Northern also had four individuals and one relay team earn conference championships this season. Digby swept the indoor and outdoor shot put titles, fifth-year senior Jack Lehr (York, Pa./Dallastown) won the outdoor javelin, and sophomore Trey Myers (Dayton/Chaminade-Julienne) won the outdoor 800 meters and joined sophomores Tyler St. Onge (Litchfield, N.H./Campbell) and David Gross (Prospect/Pleasant Local) and freshman Ross Schlatter (Curtice/Genoa) on the champion indoor 4x400 relay team.

The Polar Bears also snagged a number of All-OAC top-three finishes at the conference meets this season.

At the OAC Indoor Championships, that list included Buderer in the pole vault, Myers in the 500 meters, senior Sam Krabacher (Hamilton/Badin) in the 800 meters, junior Hunter Kesler (Oakwood/Paulding) in the 200 meters, freshman Jordan Dean (Euclid/Villa Angela Saint Joseph) in the 200 and 400 meters, senior Nate Dean (Euclid/Villa Angela Saint Joseph) in the 60 meters, and the team of junior Ollie Jacobs (DeGraff/Riverside), Kesler, Nate Dean and Jordan Dean in the 4x200 relay.

At the OAC Outdoor Championships, that group included Buderer in the pole vault and Kesler in the 200 meters as well as the 4x100 relay team of Nate Dean, juniors Brandon Berry (Wickliffe) and Vini Souza (Spencerville) and freshman Ozzie Miller (Dalton), the 4x800 relay team of Gross, junior Brooks Blakeley (Versailles), sophomore Canyon Neundorfer (Bellville, Tex./St. John) and freshman Ryan Massie (Beavercreek), and the 4x400 relay team of Souza, Gross, Myers and freshman Landon Remmert (Marengo/Highland).

Additionally, six Polar Bears were named USTFCCCA All-Great Lakes Region following the indoor season. Jordan Dean led the way as an All-Region honoree in the 200 and 400 meters and the 4x400 relay, and Kesler and Nate Dean were All-Region in the 200 meters and 4x400 relay. The remaining All-Region honorees included Krabacher in the 4x400 relay, Digby in the shot put and sophomore Tommy Vetrovsky (Macedonia/Nordonia) in the weight throw.

Outdoors, ONU's sprinters put together a solid season highlighted by Gross, Kesler, Myers and Jordan Dean running a new school-record time of 3:14.57 in the 4x400 relay at the Augustana (Ill.) Midwest Twilight meet. That group joined the 4x100 relay team of Kesler, Souza, Miller and Nate Dean as USTFCCCA All-Great Lakes Region honorees for the outdoor season.

"Our sprinters had a really nice season as a whole, and our relay teams ran some of the fastest times we've had in years," Maus said.

Digby, Buderer and Lehr were also recognized with USTFCCCA All-Great Lakes Region accolades for the outdoor season.

Several individual athletes from the 2022 roster closed the season holding top-three all-time marks in program history in their respective events.

Nate Dean set a new school record this season with a time of :22.07 in the indoor 200 meters and also holds the record with a :06.94 in the 60 meters and ranks third all-time with a :49.19 in the 400 meters. Outdoors, he holds the third-best time in the 200 meters at :21.63.

Digby moved into second place all-time with his distance of 15.64 meters in the indoor shot put this season, joining his school-record mark in the outdoor shot put.

In addition to ranking third all-time in the outdoor pole vault, Buderer is tied for the second-best mark in the indoor pole vault at 4.85 meters.

Kesler and Jordan Dean rank second and third, respectively, all-time in the indoor 200 meters with their top 2022 times of :22.23 and :22.35.

Krabacher and Vetrovsky also moved into the top three on the all-time lists this season. Krabacher ranks third in the indoor 800 meters with a time of 1:55.09, and Vetrovsky ranks third in the indoor weight throw with a distance of 17.20 meters.

The Polar Bears also displayed impressive results in the classroom, finishing with 11 Academic All-OAC honorees. That group included Blakeley, seniors Patrick Baker (Massillon/Jackson), Christian Booze (Bellevue) and Jack Borden (Westerville/North) and sophomores Ian Ackenhausen (Xenia/Legacy Christian Academy), Zach DeBord (Mount Vernon/Highland), Gabe Hensley (Lebanon), Kyle Roth (Rockford/Parkway), Jared Swartz (Columbia Station/Columbiana), Ian Wallace (Tontogany/Otsego) and Brandon Wise (Goshen, Ind./Concord). This marked the third such honors for Baker and Booze in their careers and second for Blakeley.

With a team GPA of 3.21, Northern also earned a USTFCCCA All-Academic Team award, and Krabacher, Vetrovsky and Jordan Dean were USTFCCCA All-Academic Athlete selections.

As a team, the Polar Bears' 2022 schedule was highlighted by their top finishes in the Larry Cole Friday Night Invitational and Joe Banks Invitational indoor meets and the Mike Becraft Invitational outdoor meet. They recorded 107 points at the indoor OACs and 100 points at the outdoor OACs.

The team will look for ways to improve upon those marks as they prepare for the 2023 season.

"Much of our core group will be back next season, and we'll continue to springboard off the momentum we built this year," Maus said. "There are some performances and meets from this season that we'd like to have back, so some guys will be looking for redemption. So hopefully that motivates us throughout the summer and gets us fired up for next year."