Season Review: Men's Cross Country secures 16th consecutive OAC upper-division finish, 20th straight winning season in 2018
By Blake Moore
ADA — For the 16th successive season, the Ohio Northern men's cross country program registered an upper-division finish in the Ohio Athletic Conference while posting its 20th consecutive winning season in the 2018 campaign under the direction of 10th-year head coach Jason Maus.
The Polar Bears ended the season sporting a 97-29 overall record and wound up third in the final team standings at the Ohio Athletic Conference Championships in Hartville, Ohio on Saturday, October 27. Northern would see three individuals tabbed to the All-Ohio Athletic Conference teams en route to their 14th straight top-three result at the conference-wide event.
Senior All-American Ian McVey (Stow/Munroe Falls) would headline the efforts, claiming the individual title for the second straight season. For his performance, the Stow native would be named OAC Runner of the Year for the third straight season and be named to his fourth All-Ohio Athletic Conference team.
From there, the senior standout claimed his second consecutive NCAA Division III All-Great Lakes Region title for Great Lakes Regional Runner of the Year kudos. He then finished fifth at the NCAA Division III Championships in Winneconne, Wisconsin to receive All-American honors following similar accolades one season prior. His fifth-place effort ranks as the highest finish for an ONU student-athlete at the national meet since Mike Becraft claimed runner-up honors at the 1978 national championships.
During the regular season, he would win four individual race titles and record the second-fastest time in school history with a 24:23 finish at the All-Ohio Championships. The same result ranks as the fastest time among senior student-athletes in program history.
With McVey's national championship appearance, the Ohio Northern men's and women's cross country teams have been represented at the NCAA Division III Championships by either an individual athlete or a qualifying team for the past 14 consecutive seasons.
Senior Spencer Schulze (St. Henry) and sophomore Travis Sutter (Fort Recovery) also garnered All-OAC honors while the former added his first All-Great Lakes Region accolade during the 2018 season.
Schulze notched a third-place finish during the OAC Championships to secure All-OAC First-Team kudos. His 26:28.2 clocking earned the senior his third All-OAC honor overall and his first top-team accolade.
The St. Henry native would then wind up 28th at the Blue River Cross Country Course to receive the first regional honor in his four-year stay at Ohio Northern.
Meanwhile, Sutter registered a 16th-place finish to round out the 2018 All-Ohio Athletic Conference award-winners. He would cross the tape in 27:11.4, earning him All-OAC Second-Team honors for the first time.
Additionally, the men's cross country program landed eight individuals on the Academic All-Ohio Athletic Conference teams. Juniors Kyle Neff (Sagamore Hills/Walsh Jesuit), Bryan Peck (Westerville/North), and Andrew Shelton (Williamsville, N.Y./South) and sophomores Jack Borden (Westerville/Central), Jackson Brandstaetter (Pickerington/North), Nicholas DeVore (Westerville/Central), Sam Krabacher (Hamilton/Badin) and Sutter all received the academic honor.
Neff, Peck, and Shelton each made their second appearances on the award listing after earning the honor as sophomores during the 2017 campaign. The remaining five student-athletes garnered their first academic all-conference awards.
Neff, who is an accounting major, ran a career-best time of 27:59 at the Wilmington Invitational this season, ranking him 16th out of 24 finishers for the program.
Peck, an electrical engineering/physics major, ranked 15th on the squad this season with a 27:56 clocking at the All-Ohio Championships.
Shelton, a mechanical engineering major, ran a career-low 27:00 at the All-Ohio Championships this season, making him the 10th-fastest runner on the squad.
Borden is a mechanical engineering major at Ohio Northern. He ran a career-best 28:40 at the Wilmington Invitational.
Brandstaetter clocked a career-best 28:46 at the Wilmington Invitational. The second-year athlete is majoring in mechanical engineering.
DeVore is also a mechanical engineering major. He ran a season-low 29:13 at the All-Ohio Championships.
Krabacher, a second-year pharmacy student, finished among Ohio Northern's top-seven runners on five occasions during the seven-event season. He would run a career-low 26:48 at the Wilmington Invitational and finish 42nd and 149th at the OAC Championships and NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Championships, respectively.
In addition to his all-conference accolades, Sutter finished among the Polar Bears' top-seven runners six times this season, clocking a career-low 26:22 at the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Championships.
As a team, Ohio Northern captured two runner-up titles during the 2018 campaign at the season-opening Bluffton 6k Invitational and the Blue River Park Memorial College Invitational in Shelbyville, Indiana.
They would also secure top-five team finishes at the All-Ohio Championships and the Wilmington Invitational, ending fourth overall at both events.
The Polar Bears would conclude their season with a 10th-place effort at the NCAA Division III Great Lakes Regional Championships at the Blue River Park Cross Country Course. Their top-10 finish marks the 15th consecutive season that the program has ranked among the ten best teams at the event.
"This year, it was certainly a growing experience for our group. We had a lot of young athletes and many new faces in key roles on our team," head coach Jason Maus stated. "We progressed really well throughout the year - we were definitely better at the end of the season than where we started - and had several men run well throughout the last few races."
"There are many things we can build upon for the future. Finishing in the conference's top-three for the 14th season in a row speaks to the history of the program and our high expectations, which is a huge step for this team moving forward."