The Polar Bears enter the 2020-21 season coming off of their best ever finish at the NCAA Regional Tournament.
The Polar Bear wrestling team will return seven of ten starters, six of eight regional placers, and two of three national qualifiers from last year's team that finished 14-8 in dual meets, fifth in the OAC with a 3-4 mark, and fourth out of 18 teams at the NCAA Central Regional.
With returning talent coupled with some promising incoming freshmen, the Polar Bears will look to improve on last year's strong regional tournament finish. It is easy to see why optimism abounds through the halls of the ONU Sports Center this year.
By Tim Glon
In 10 years from 2007-16, the Ohio Northern women's swimming & diving team won seven Ohio Athletic Conference Championships titles and finished runner-up the other three times.
Third-year head coach Austin Veltman hopes to build the program back to those high standards and is looking to a veteran and deep squad in 2021 to begin that process.
The Polar Bears welcome back 13 lettermen and four All-Conference honorees from last year's squad that went 4-5 in dual meets overall, finished third in the OAC Regular Season with a 2-2 mark and was fourth at the OAC Championships meet.
Here are the ONU men's and women's indoor track and field previews.
By Tim Glon
Senior Sam Krabacher (Hamilton/Badin) and junior Andrew Buderer (Oak Harbor) each won events to lead the Ohio Northern men's indoor track and field team to a second place finish at the season-opening Otterbein Early Season Showcase meet on Sunday at the Clements Center.
The Polar Bears (3-1 overall) were second with 123 points. John Carroll won the meet with 145 points, Otterbein was third with 88, Wilmington was fourth with 62 and Capital was fifth with 44.
By Tim Glon
The Ohio Northern women's basketball team went ice-cold in the third quarter and had a 4:20 scoring drought in the fourth quarter, yet still had a chance to win late in a 61-59 season-opening loss to Wilmington at the ONU Sports Center.
"I'm so proud of the way we kept fighting all night," first-year ONU head coach Mark Huelsman said after his first game at the helm of the Polar Bears. "We have not played a basketball game in more than 300 days. We looked good at times and rusty at other times, but we kept battling and playing hard and had a chance at the end."
By Cort Reynolds
CONVOY - With host Crestview coming off two close defeats - the second on a last-second triple - undermanned Ada was no match for the vengeful Knights as they lost 72-31 in a Northwest Conference boys basketball game Friday night.
Ohio State signee Kalen Etzler poured in 13 first-period points to shoot Crestview into a 29-9 lead.
Knight teammate J.J. Ward also knocked down a pair of trifectas in the opening stanza.
By Cort Reynolds
ADA - Full-court pressing Crestview reeled off the first 14 points of the game and went on to post a convincing 77-34 win over host Ada in Northwest Conference girls basketball play Thursday evening.
Bulldog sophomore playmaker Courtney Sumner topped both teams with 21 points, 18 of which came in the second half after the outcome was decided.
"We didn't have any answers for them," said Ada third-year head coach Morgan Bass. "They dictated a lot of what we did. Athletically, we didn't match up five-on-five, so we went zone. They ran the floor well and out-rebounded us."
