WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Mount Union men's and women's track and field teams were picked by the conference coaches to finish atop the Ohio Athletic Conference on Wednesday morning.
 
The Purple Raiders look to continue a run of success at the OAC Indoor Championships as the men aim for their 10th straight conference title while the women try for their seventh over the last 11 years.
 
The men bring back seven conference champions and seven All-OAC performers to defend their ninth straight title while the women have four conference champions and nine All-OAC championship placers coming back.
 
The seven conference event champions for the men include senior Tanner Slack (New Concord / John Glenn) in the high jump, senior Carson Troyer (Sugarcreek / Garaway) in the 60 meter hurdles, juniors Brody Coleman (Knox, Pa. / Keystone) in the triple jump, Jared Storm (Barberton) in the 60 dash and 200 dash, and senior Montrell DeVaughn in the 500 dash.

The 4x200 meter relay returns all four runners from their title in seniors Tyler Gill (Greenville, Pa. / Reynolds), Zack Munchick (Westfield Center / Cloverleaf) and juniors Matthew McBride (Conneaut) and Jacob Moser (Malvern).
 
Returning seven all-conference performers, which posted a top three finish at the championship meet, are junior Blaine Kitchen (Tontogany / Otsego) in the pole vault, senior Alex Bryan (Geneva) and junior Justin Knoch (Canton / GlenOak) in the 800 meter run, T. Gill in the 400 dash and McBride in the 500 dash.
 
The other two relay teams earned All-OAC Honors as well with the 4x400 meter relay team returning seniors Benny Shaffer (Streetsboro), Nick Gill (Greenville, Pa. / Reynolds) and sophomore Josh Fouche (Cuyahoga Falls / Walsh Jesuit). The men's Distance Medley Relay returns senior Marcus Ryder (Mercer, Pa. / Mercer), junior Forrest Long (Geneva) and sophomores Curtis Joppeck (New London) and Mason Kutz (Dalton).
 
On the women's side, two OAC individual champions return for Mount Union in junior Kenadee Wayt (Wheeling, W. Va. / Wheeling Central Catholic) in the 400 meters and senior Bri Aveni (Geneva) in the pole vault. The women's 4x200 and 4x400 meters also picked up victories at the conference championship.

Nine all-conference performers return with senior Michaelina Terranova (North Jackson / Jackson-Milton) in the 60-meter hurdles, senior Cortni Arp (Copley) and junior Micah Donley (Carrollton) in the 400 meter dash, seniors Brit McCauley (Ontario) in the 1,000 meter run, Emily Phillips (Chardon) in the pole vault, Kennady Gibbins (Navarre / Fairless) in the high jump, Olivia Powers (Norwalk / St. Paul) in the 500 meters, sophomore Jaliyah Mixon (East Palestine) in the shot put and Wayt in the 200 meters.
 
All three relay teams bring back returners, in the 4x200 meter relay senior Lily Bogunovich (Alliance / Marlington) along with Gibbins and Powers, with the distance medley relay senior Brittany Bober (Twinsburg), junior Angela DeFabio (Twinsburg) and sophomores Adriana Russell (Mansfield / Madison), Erin Smith (Dover), and the 4x400 Powers and Donley will be back to compete.
 
The Raiders open their season on Saturday January 15^th at the Wooster Invitational and will look to host the OAC Championships on February 25th and 26th.