Jimmy O'Brien

Ohio Northern junior Jimmy O'Brien completed an outstanding season with fouth place finishes in both the 800-meter and 1,500-meter runs Saturday afternoon at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships on the campus of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

O'Brien becomes the first male ONU athlete to earn All-American honors in two events at the same meet. He is also the first Polar Bear to earn All-American honors in the 1,500-meter run.

"I'm happy with how today finished up." said O'Brien. "I was pretty tired after the 1,500 and I ran the 800 exactly how I wanted to. I thought with 200-meters to go, I still had a chance to win."

In the 800-meter race, his second race of the day, O'Brien broke from lane five and found himself in sixth once the field made the turn off the stagger. He slipped back to seventh as the pack crossed the line the first time.

He continued to be stuck in seventh down the final back stretch but with 200-meters to go, O'Brien swung out to lane three and started his kick. He was able to chase down two runners over the final 150-meters to finish fourth with a time of 1:52.09.

Emmanuel Bofa of Whitworth (Wash.) took the led at the start of the second lap and held on for the victory in a time of 1:51.01.

In the 1,500-meter run, O'Brien's time of 3:48.45 was over six seconds faster than his preliminary time on Thursday and just one second slower than his personal record.

Andy Hodge of Wartburg (Iowa) closed strong in the final 150-meters to win the 1,500-meter run in a J.J. Keller Field record time of 3:46.89.

He started the race in lane one and had the inside position early. After the first 200-meters, Michael Hardbarger if RIT (N.Y.) jumped out to a 3-meter led. O'Brien stayed close to Hardbarger down the front straight away and found himself in second place after the first lap.

"The 1,500 broke really fast and hard," said O'Brien. "I didn't really want that to happen with two races today but I kind of thought thats how it was going to be."

On lap two, Hardbarger increased his lead to 5-meters but the rest of the pack stayed the same through 700-meters.

O'Brien slipped to fourth on the first turn of lap three but he moved out to lane two and climbed back into third by the end of the lap.

At the start of the final lap, Mack Chaffee from Williams (Mass.) moved into the lead as O'Brien stayed steady in third. With 200-meters to go, O'Brien started his kick and moved into second behind Chaffee, but Hodge held the best kick and ran down the leaders over the final 150-meters for the title.

"I'm really proud of Jimmy's effort today," said ONU assistand coach Jason Maus. "He ran two really good races and his times in each race were really strong. He ran both races how we planned and he finished with two trophies."

"It feels pretty good to earn All-American honors in two events," said O'Brien. "I was hoping for a little more in atleast one of the events but I ran two good times and if thats where I finished, then I'm happy."

Erin Hipp is the only other Polar Bear to earn two All-Americans honors at the same meet. She finished third in the 800-meter run and seventh in the 400-meter run at the 1997 Outdoor NCAA Championships. Hipp, a five-time All-American, later went on to win the NCAA III Championship in the 800 in 1998.

O'Brien is now a 5-time All-American, earning the honor four times in the 800 and once in the 1,500. He won the NCAA III Championship in the 800 both indoors and outdoors in 2007.