MARIETTA, Ohio  — The Ohio Athletic Conference's best will descend on Marietta College's Dyson Baudo Recreation Center this weekend for the 2010 OAC Men's and Women's Indoor Track and Field Championship. The league's 10 schools will compete in 38 events over a two-day period Feb. 26-27. The top three relay teams and individuals earn All-OAC honors for the 2010 season. [Championship Site]

Friday's competition will begin at 1:30 p.m., while Saturday's events will start at 10:00 a.m. Admission is $5 for adults and $2 for non-OAC students. Two-day passes are available for $8. OAC students will be admitted free of charge. Official results will be posted online as the individual events complete.

Ohio Northern University swept the 2009 OAC Indoor Championship, which was hosted by Capital University. The Polar Bear men, who captured their fourth title in school history, finished with 183.5 points. Heidelberg University placed runner-up with 137 points, while Mount Union College was third with 118 points. Baldwin-Wallace College (68.5), Otterbein College (51), Marietta (46.5), John Carroll University (32), Capital (28), Wilmington College (22.5) and Muskingum University (15) rounded out the men's team standings.

The Polar Bear women captured their first title in school history after finishing with 147 points. Otterbein was runner-up with 104.5 points, while Baldwin-Wallace took third with 92.5 points. Marietta (91), Capital (84), John Carroll (52), Heidelberg (47), Wilmington (39), Mount Union (34) and Muskingum (11) followed in fourth through tenth, respectively.

Three previous special award winners return for the men's championship in 2010, including Heidelberg senior Julius Higginbotham, who was named both the Don Frail Sprinter of the Meet and the Bud Yoest Field Athlete of the Meet in 2009. Higginbotham was also awarded the Bud Yoest Field Athlete of the Meet in 2008. The 2008 and 2009 Long Jump champion is the top seeded in that event. He is also seeded third in the Triple Jump and fifth in the 55m Dash, which he won in 2009.

Muskingum junior Demetrius Bailey shared Bud Yoest Field Athlete of the Meet honors with Higginbotham in 2008 and is back as a two-time defending champion in the Triple Jump. Bailey is the top seed in the Triple Jump, while seeded ninth in the Long Jump and 13th in the High Jump.

Ohio Northern senior Alan Bowsher, the 2009 Distance Athlete of the Meet, returns as the 3,000m Run championship. Bowsher enters the championship as the top seed in both the 3,000m Run and 5,000m Run.

Seven other male competitors will look to defend their individual event titles from 2009. Capital junior Cory Trump will try to win the High Jump for a third straight season. Mount Union has a pair of returning champions, junior Ty Griffin in the 1,000m Run and senior Judd Lutz in the Shot Put. Heidelberg junior Seth Robertson is back to defend his title in the 400m Dash. Otterbein sophomore Austin Curbow returns as the 55m Hurdles champion. Ohio Northern junior Andrew Lammers is the defending champion in the Pole Vault. In addition, Baldwin-Wallace junior Kevin Phipps will defend his crown in the Weight Throw.

The women's championship will also feature all three of the special award winners from a year ago as well as another from 2008.

Wilmington senior Callen Martin, the 2009 Fred Raizk Sprinter of the Meet, returns to compete in three events. Martin is the top seed in both the 55m Dash, which see won in 2007, and the 200m Dash while seeded sixth in the Long Jump.

Heidelberg senior Judy Bataille, the 2008 Fred Raizk Sprinter of the Meet, will look to win her third straight 55m Dash title in 2010. She is seeded second behind Martin in the event as well as fourth in the 200m Dash.

Ohio Northern senior Rachel Smith returns as the 2009 Julie Zajac Distance Athlete of the Meet. Smith, who captured the individual crown in the Mile Run last year, will defend her title in that event as the fifth seed and also compete in the 1,000m Run as the sixth seed.

Mount Union senior Aubrey Loy, the 2009 Phil Gordon Field Athlete of the Meet, will compete in four events at the championship. Loy, who is the top seed in both the Long Jump and Triple Jump, will look to defend her individual title in the Long Jump. She is also seeded fourth in the 55m Dash and entered as a wild card in the 200m Dash.

Six other female student-athletes will be attempting to defend or reclaim event titles in 2010. Ohio Northern senior Courtney Zupancic has won the last two Weight Throw titles, while her junior teammate Aubrie Stechschulte is the 2009 champion in the Pole Vault. Capital returns a pair of 2009 champions, sophomore Kwesi Seabrook in the 400m Dash and junior Emily Goerig in the Shot Put. Baldwin-Wallace junior Kimberly Chinn is back after winning the 1,000m Run title a year ago. In addition Heidelberg senior Jamie Depinet is attempting to recapture the 400m Dash title after winning the event in 2007.