Season Preview: Men's Track and Field brings talented roster into 2023-24 led by pair of All-Americans
By Wes Mayberry
| 2023-24 Men's Track and Field Schedule | 2023-24 Men's Track and Field Roster |
ADA — Led by the return of a pair of All-Americans, the Ohio Northern men's track and field team is poised to continue its success from last season into 2023-24 under 15th-year head coach Jason Maus.
In 2022-23, the Polar Bears broke eight school records and earned three All-America accolades, placing third at the Ohio Athletic Conference Championships in both the indoor and outdoor portions of their schedule. They enter this year seeking their 33rd consecutive winning season indoors and 20th straight outdoors.
Leading that charge is a pair of returning All-Americans in senior Keegan Digby (Bowling Green/Otsego) and junior Jordan Dean (Euclid/Villa Angela Saint Joseph).
Digby set school records in the indoor and outdoor shot put last season at 17.13 meters and 17.46 meters, respectively, and was the OAC champion and an All-American in both events. Now a three-time All-American, Digby placed fourth nationally in the indoor shot put and sixth outdoors last season and was named the USTFCCCA Great Lakes Region Field Athlete of the Year for both the indoor and outdoor seasons in addition to earning six OAC Field Athlete of the Week honors. He enters 2023-24 as a six-time All-Region selection, four-time OAC champion and eight-time OAC Field Athlete of the Week honoree.
Dean set a new school record in the indoor and outdoor 400 meters last season with respective times of :48.87 and :46.85. He was also part of the outdoor 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams that posted school-record times of :40.72 and 3:12.86, respectively. An eight-time All-OAC and All-Region honoree, Dean earned All-America recognition with an eighth-place finish in the 400 at the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Senior Trey Myers (Dayton/Chaminade-Julienne) is another standout returner for the Polar Bears after joining Dean on the national qualifying 4x400 relay team and winning the OAC title in the outdoor 800 meters last season. He enters 2023-24 as a three-time All-Region and eight-time All-OAC performer and ranks third all-time at ONU in the indoor and outdoor 800 and the indoor 1,000.
Fifth-year senior Hunter Kesler (Oakwood/Paulding) was part of the record-setting 4x100 and 4x400 relay teams that qualified for nationals last season. He is a six-time All-Region and eight-time All-OAC performer and ranks third all-time at ONU in both the indoor and outdoor 200.
Junior Ross Schlatter (Curtice/Genoa) also returns to complete the quartet from last year's outdoor 4x400 relay team.
Junior Tyrese Barker (Columbus/Bishop Hartley) broke the school record in the indoor 60-meter hurdles last year with a time of :08.51. An All-OAC honoree in the outdoor 110-meter hurdles as a sophomore, Barker ranks second all-time at ONU in that event.
Senior Aaron Guzman (Lebanon) is the final returning record-breaker from a year ago when he set the school mark in the outdoor 3,000 with a time of 8:43.55.
Junior Trey Masterson (Tiffin/Hopewell-Loudon) was All-OAC in the indoor 5,000 last season and ranks second all-time at ONU in that event as well as the indoor 3,000. He is also No. 3 all-time in the outdoor 5,000.
Senior David Gross (Prospect/Pleasant Local) and sophomore Zach O'Neill (Holland/Maumee Valley Country Day) return to join Dean and Myers from last year's indoor 4x400 relay team that earned All-OAC honors.
Junior Ryan Massie (Beavercreek) and sophomore Ben Zimmerer (Liberty Township/Lakota West) round out ONU's returning All-OAC performers from last season. They earned the recognition as part of the indoor distance medley relay team.
The remaining returning letter winners include seniors Brandon Wise (Goshen, Ind./Concord), Tommy Vetrovsky (Sagamore Hills/Nordonia), Braden Schaser (Fostoria/Lakota), Kyle Roth (Rockford/Parkway), Gabe Hensley (Lebanon), Zach DeBord (Mount Vernon/Highland), Ian Ackenhausen (Xenia/Legacy Christian Academy), Ian Wallace (Tontogany/Otsego), Jared Swartz (Columbia Station/Columbia), Canyon Neundorfer (Bellville, Tex./St. John) and Dakari Ward (Dayton/Wayne), juniors Corey Rinehart (Galena/Olentangy Berlin), Justin Pate (Vincent/Warren), Cooper Koch (Waynesville), Adam Hellman (Findlay) and J.T. Basco (Painesville/Thomas W. Harvey) and sophomores Bryce Stuart (Lucasville/Valley), Stephen Mangira (Stow/Stow-Munroe Falls), Brett Greer (Mentor), Alex Frimel (Minster) and Jacob Clouse (Alvada/New Riegel).
This year's 79-man roster contains 33 lettermen and is comprised of 17 seniors, 20 juniors, 18 sophomores and 24 freshmen.
The Polar Bears open their indoor season this Thursday and Friday, Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, at the Findlay Oiler Opener before hosting the Larry Cole Invitational on Jan. 19. Northern is also hosting the Joe Banks Invitational on Feb. 2.
The OAC Indoor Championships are scheduled for Feb. 23-24 at Muskingum, and the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships are set for March 8-9 in Virginia Beach, Va.
ONU opens its outdoor season on March 30 at the Tiffelberg Open. The lone home meet of the outdoor season is the Mike Becraft Invitational on April 19-20.
The OAC Outdoor Championships are scheduled for May 2-3 at Heidelberg, and the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships are set for May 23-25 in Myrtle Beach, S.C.