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2008-2009 Ohio State Men's Track and Cross Country

Murdaugh is running in the 3rd of 4 heats... top 8 fastest times advance to Saturday's final. The 400m starts at 5:15 CST. If Murdaugh gets out well and runs a good first 200 he should have a shot at getting to the finals. He beat Orr pretty handily at the B10 Championships which should give him some confidence with this heat.

2009 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships

Heat 3 Prelims
Ln ## Name............YR School...... Seed Time
3 498 Jeremy Orr..... SR Michigan St. 46.41
4 659 Michael Bingham SR Wake Forest. 46.23
5 538 Thomas Murdaugh FR Ohio State.. 46.58
6 624 Gil Roberts.... SO Texas Tech.. 46.08
 
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Murdaugh finished 4th in his heat but 10th overall... was definitely in a tough section. Congrats to Thomas for qualifying for nationals his freshman year. Hopefully that success carries over to an outstanding outdoor season!
 
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MTRK: Gary Announces 2009 Recruiting Class - The Ohio State Buckeyes Official Athletics Site - OhioStateBuckeyes.com

MTRK: Gary Announces 2009 Recruiting Class
Courtesy: OhioStateBuckeyes.com
Release: 03/12/2009

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio State cross country and men?s track and field head coach Robert Gary announced his 2009 recruiting class Thursday, a gifted, diverse group that includes some of the Midwest's top young talent.

The Buckeyes made their presence known outside the Ohio border, raiding Indiana and Missouri for two of country's top prospects, while at the same time securing commitments from Ohio's top athletes.

Continued...
2009 Recruiting Class
Derek Blevins -- Raytown, MO -- Multi
Matt Terrell -- Indianapolis, IN -- Sprints
Donny Roys -- Medina, OH -- Distance
Julian Meyer -- Richfield, OH -- Distance
Curt Smith -- Chillicothe, OH -- Throws
Korbin Smith -- Delta, OH -- Sprints, horizontal jumps
Cody Westbrook -- Marietta, OH -- High jump
Vinny Balzano -- Columbus, OH -- Mid-distance
 
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MTRK: Ealy Takes First in 5000m Run at Distance Carnival - The Ohio State Buckeyes Official Athletics Site - OhioStateBuckeyes.com

MTRK: Ealy Takes First in 5000m Run at Distance Carnival
Courtesy: OhioStateBuckeyes.com
Release: 03/27/2009

Complete Results

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - John Ealy claimed first place in the 5000m run and Cory Leslie finished second in the 3000m steeplechase as Ohio State's distance runners conquered the competition Friday afternoon at the San Francisco State University Distance Carnival in San Francisco, Calif.

Ealy's regional qualifying time of 14:09.41 was just enough to squeak by second-place finisher Kyle Leese, who completed the race right on his heels in 14:10.46. Teammates Cory Leslie and Taylor Williams finished seventh and 11th in 14:34.83 and 14:40.41, respectively.

"The meet served as a great starting point (for the outdoor season) after a hard block of training," Ohio State head coach Robert Gary said after the day's events. "John led the way for us with a solid run and regional qualifying mark in the 5k."

Continued...
 
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bkochmc;1440183; said:
MTRK: Gary Announces 2009 Recruiting Class - The Ohio State Buckeyes Official Athletics Site - OhioStateBuckeyes.com

2009 Recruiting Class
Derek Blevins -- Raytown, MO -- Multi
Matt Terrell -- Indianapolis, IN -- Sprints
Donny Roys -- Medina, OH -- Distance
Julian Meyer -- Richfield, OH -- Distance
Curt Smith -- Chillicothe, OH -- Throws
Korbin Smith -- Delta, OH -- Sprints, horizontal jumps
Cody Westbrook -- Marietta, OH -- High jump
Vinny Balzano -- Columbus, OH -- Mid-distance
I thought that our biggest need was in the sprints and we only recruited one true sprinter or am I wrong in my thinking:huh:
 
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LitlBuck;1440220; said:
I thought that our biggest need was in the sprints and we only recruited one true sprinter or am I wrong in my thinking:huh:
I think Gary did a good job bringing in a variety of athletes but the quantity is not quite there. True, another sprinter and another thrower would have been great but when it comes to meets like the Big Ten Championships it is all about quality in numbers and scoring in a multitude of events.. you need to have a diverse team if you want to challenge for a conference title. But for meets like the NCAA Championships a team can win the national title on the strength of a couple of exceptional athletes.

A big challenge with D-I track is the number of scholarships available for a coach to disperse... 12.6 for a men's team and 18 for a women's team. A coach has to be able to convince a vast majority of athletes to come to a school for a quarter or half scholarship or maybe even pay their first year or two then possibly get a partial scholarship after they've proven they can help the team score some points.

EDIT: BTW, the scholarship numbers mentioned are for track AND cross country... that is a possible reason why you see Gary bring in an extra distance guy or two in most classes.
 
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definitely agree with everything you said bk just want to add to your points:

gary is a distance guy so he brings in more distance guys that's the main reason for the extra attention there. another sprinter would've been nice, but it's not a huge need compared to jumps/multi, and they don't really need another thrower unless he wants to come free as the throws coach is very happy with molding the class he has from last year.

in other news: the team got their new jerseys this week and is jacked up about heading down to auburn friday morning to compete against the best the SEC and Big10 has to offer. good luck to them.
 
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MTRK: Buckeyes Conclude Competition at Auburn Tiger Classic - The Ohio State Buckeyes Official Athletics Site - OhioStateBuckeyes.com

MTRK: Buckeyes Conclude Competition at Auburn Tiger Classic
Courtesy: OhioStateBuckeyes.com
Release: 04/04/2009

Tiger Track Classic Complete Results

AUBURN, Ala. - Chad Balyo finished first in the 3000m steeplechase and the 4x400m relay team set a regional qualifying time on their way to a second-place finish as the Ohio State men's track and field team concluded competition at the Tiger Track Classic Saturday night in Auburn, Ala.

Balyo, a junior from Springboro, Ohio, finished in a time of 9:11.01, the third-best time in the Big Ten this season. Buckeye runners hold four of the top six steeple times in the conference.

The 4x400m relay team of Matt Comer, Stephen Robinson, Thomas Murdaugh and Curtis Leuenberger set the second-best time in the Big Ten with their time of 3:08.18. Auburn Elite finished just ahead of the Buckeyes in 3:08.12.

Patrick Whalen picked up where he left off at the end of the indoor campaign, putting together two Top 10 performances. The senior placed fifth in the shot put at 17.18m and eighth in the discus with a mark of 51.30m. Whalen's shot set the top mark in the Big Ten this outdoor season - his discus throw is the conference's second-best.

Continued...
 
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Man, tough break for the 4 by 4. They are posting some good times for this early in the season. Good thing about the relays is that it is easy to drop time when you have 4 guys.
Anybody know if Jeff See is going to be competing at all this year or if he will redshirt?
 
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I have a question, in addition to the one about See, for Mr. Track:) I don't understand how we can have such a good 4 x 400 relay team but only have one pretty good decent guy, Murdaugh, running the individual 400s unless I am mistaken.
 
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LitlBuck;1444726; said:
I have a question, in addition to the one about See, for Mr. Track:) I don't understand how we can have such a good 4 x 400 relay team but only have one pretty good decent guy, Murdaugh, running the individual 400s unless I am mistaken.
Comer is a 400 hurdler, Robinson is a 200-400 guy who redshirted last year, Leuenberger is a 200 guy. 200m specialists usually make for a decent leg in a 4x400 relay because they have the quick turnover of a short sprinter but have more stamina than a 100m specialist.

I have no knowledge is See is running this year... he is listed on the official roster as a senior, FWIW.
 
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LitlBuck;1444762; said:
I guess the next logical question next would be why the 200m guys who are winning the relays in probably the toughest, I think, running event are not winning 200m races.
Leuenberger did place 3rd at the Big Ten Championships last year.

After looking at this weekend's results it appears that Gary did not load up the individual sprints for whatever reason... Comer did not run the 400 hurdles, Leuenberger didn't run the 200, Murdaugh did not run the 400... maybe Gary wanted them all fresh so they could run a regional qualifying time early in the season. College is a little different than high school... many coaches won't load up for most meets until conference... the goal is to get as many people qualified in many different events for conference then the coach can strategically place his athletes in their strong events to maximize the potential points. Next week will probably be an exception for Ohio State as pride is on the line in The Dual.
 
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to add to bk's great points as usual: this was the first meet of the outdoor season whereas it's basically midseason for the rest of the nation. acc for example i believe has their conf championships in like 2 weeks or so. it seems that the coaches mainly wanted to get their kids some work versus top flight competition to get ready for the big meet this weekend. they will be going all out in the dual and i expect a lot of regional qualifiers saturday b/c that natural rivalry brings out the best, and they do not want to lose. for those who didn't go last spring, it is not your typical track meet. it is short, sweet, intense and really fun to attend. hopefully you all can make it.
 
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