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2010-2011 Ohio State Men's Track and Cross Country

Articles from the Jesse Owens Classic last weekend...

Final Results (PDF)

http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/Vi...0&SPID=10412&ATCLID=205142188&DB_OEM_ID=17300

26th Jesse Owens Track Classic Underway

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio State men's track and field team opened competition at the 26th Jesse Owens Track Classic Friday evening at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.

Despite the threat of rain, day one was completed without any weather interference or delays. The first night of events highlighted field and distance athletes and was capped by an exciting race in the 3000m steeplechase, won by Ohio State sophomore Cory Leslie in a time of 8:51.06.

Day two begins at 10:30 a.m. ET with competition in the pole vault. Members of the Jesse Owens family will be honored at 11:45 a.m. in recognition of the 75th anniversary of Owens' historic performance at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

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Jesse Owens Track Classic, Celebration Ends in Style

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The 26th Jesse Owens Track Classic and 75th anniversary celebration of Owens' historic 1936 Berlin Olympic performance came to a close Sunday afternoon at a surprisingly rain-free Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.

Despite the Easter holiday and threat of bad weather, fans turned out in droves to celebrate Owens' legacy and enjoy one of the Midwest's top collegiate track meets. Host Ohio State entertained its supporters by posting four wins on the day, including a meet-closing victory in the 4x400m relay.

"It was a terrific weekend on and off the track," Ohio State head coach and Jesse Owens meet director Robert Gary said. "I believe our program and University honored the greatest athlete of all time in superb fashion."

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The Big Ten Championships started today, and the Bucks have already crowned their first champion. In a huge upset, OSU freshman Cody Marshall took first in the Pole Vault. Marshall came in ranked 11th in the conference but vaulted only 0.01 meters shy of his PR while the rest of the top competitors struggled greatly. Three-time Big Ten Champion and 2011 NCAA Indoor Runner-Up Ben Peterson of Minnesota took 7th.

In the Hammer Throw, Max Mays placed 6th with a throw of 196'05". A solid effort from Mays who had been struggling (as have all the Buckeye throwers) of late.
 
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The OSU men finished in 3rd place at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships with 109 points, behind Iowa (125.5) and Minnesota (123). Buckeye champions crowned on Day 2 and Day 3 were Mike Hartfield (Long Jump), Heath Nickles (Decathalon), Thomas Murdaugh (400) and the 4x400 Meter Relay (Murdaugh, Smith, Marvel Brooks, and Aaron Roberts). Second place finishers for the Bucks were Mike Hartfield (Triple Jump) and Stephen MacDonald (Long Jump).

Overall, OSU had a very solid meet with some very surprising performances (PV, Dec) and some not so good (Throws, 400 Hurdles).

I'll be back with a more comprehensive breakdown later this week.

Full results are here: http://cfpitiming.com/2011_Outdoor_Season/Big_Ten_outdoor_2011/Big_Ten_full_meet_results_2011.htm
 
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Hartfield Named Big Ten Field Athlete of the Year

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Junior All-American Michael Hartfield was named Big Ten Field Athlete of the Year and Athlete of the Championships Wednesday by the conference office in recognition of his outstanding outdoor season and remarkable performance at the Big Ten championship meet.

The first Buckeye to receive the Athlete of the Year award for the outdoor season since NCAA champion Dan Taylor in 2004, Hartfield has become one of the dominant field athletes in the Midwest and is considered a top candidate for the title of Great Lakes Field Athlete of the Year.

"Michael has been everything a student-athlete is asked to represent at The Ohio State University," head coach Robert Gary said. "His athletic talents are obvious and the product of a great work ethic of Michael and superb guidance under Coach Brillion and Coach Beathea. Add to his athletics, the fact he is a scholar-athlete and a great leader on our team, I feel honored to have such a young man in our program."
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Congrats Mike!
 
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Off-Week Release: Buckeye News and Notes

NCAA Preliminary Field Announced; 19 Buckeyes Invited
The NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Track and Field Committee announced the participants in the 2011 NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Outdoor Track and Field Preliminary Championship Competition May 19.
Nineteen members of the Ohio State men's track and field team will be represented at the East prelims May 26-28 at Indiana University. They are:

Qualifiers from regional competition will be eligible to compete at the 2011 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships June 8-11 in Des Moines, Iowa.

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Regional meet information, held at Indiana University:
http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/m...1.html?SPSID=87792&SPID=10416&DB_OEM_ID=17300
 
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A quick update on how OSU's incoming class fared at their District track meets last weekend:

Tyler Parish jumped 6'08" to take 1st place at the D1 Amherst District.

Josh Sabo ran 1:55.26 in the 800 and 4:25.25 in the 1600 to take 1st in both events at the D1 Lakewood District. Sabo also ran on Revere's 2nd place 4x4 and 4x8 teams.

Curtis Hanle ran 4:17.64 in the 1600 and 9:45.91 in the 3200 to take 1st in both events at the D1 North Canton District. Hanle's time in the 1600 set a new stadium record. The old record was held by OSU alum Glenn Collins. Hanle also ran on Louisville's 1st place 4x8 team.

In his second meet of the outdoor season (after coming off an injury), Michael Brajdic ran 4:23.48 in the 1600 and 9:34.61 in the 3200 to take 1st in both events at the D2 Midview District. He also ran on Bay's 1st place 4x8 team.

J.C. Murasky threw 55'09" in the shot to take 1st and 154'2" in the discus to take 2nd at the D2 Meadowbrook District.

Brian Hannaford ran 9:23.76 in the 3200 to take 2nd at the D1 Hilliard Bradley 1 District. He also ran on Westerville North's 1st place 4x800 team.

Blake Taneff ran 9:33.13 to take 3rd in the 3200 at the D1 Hilliard Bradely 1 District. He also ran on New Albany's 4th place 4x8 team.

Evan Schwartz ran 9:52.53 in the 3200 to take 1st at the D1 Hilliard Bradely 3 District. He also ran on Whetstone's 5th place 4x8 team.

Brant Reardon jumped 7'0.25" in the HJ to take 1st and 20'10.5" in the LJ to take 2nd at the D3 Eastwood District. Reardon's jump in the High Jump set a new Division 3 state record and obviously set a new District record as well.

Luke Norris ran 16.69 in the 110H to take 8th, 37.55 in the 300H to take 1st, and 22.28 in the 200 to take 1st at the D1 Dayton District. Norris also anchored Lebanon's 1st place 4x4 relay with a reported low 47 split. Norris was first in the 110H prelims, but lost a contact during the finals and became dizzy so he opted to slow down to avoid potential injury. I think Norris has a shot to better the state record in the 300H if the weather cooperates, as he has already gone sub 37 this year.

Antonio Blanks, who had been hampered by injury for much of the outdoor season, started the 110H but did not finish and did not start any other races. Blanks season is sadly over unless he becomes healthy enough to compete on a Dunbar relay by the end of the season.

Jeff Hannaford has not competed during the outdoor season (perhaps stemming from the reasons he was not allowed to compete at the XC State Championships?)

All in all, I would say that the Buckeye recruits all had excellent weekends at their District meets and I wish them luck at Regionals.
 
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Four individuals and a relay advanced to the NCAA Finals from the East Preliminaries this weekend for the Buckeyes. Mike Hartfield (LJ), Thomas Murdaugh (400), Cory Leslie (3000 Steeple), Jake Edwards (1500), and the 4x400 Relay (Murdaugh, Smith, Roberts, Marvel Brooks) will all represent the Buckeyes in the National Finals.

Leslie had the best performance of anyone, running a nice PR of 8:40. Edwards also really impressed, advancing to the first NCAA meet of his career.

Other strong performances for the Buckeyes were turned in by Korbin Smith and Demoye Bogle. Smith finished 13th in the long jump (top 12 qualify) and Bogle took 16th in the 110 hurdles and 18th in the 400 hurdles. Unfortunately for Bogle, his heat of the 110s had the slowest tailwind.

Other Buckeye competitors were Max Mays (20th Hammer; 30th Disc), William Lauricella (32nd Javelin), Bryan Bunnell (34th Javelin), Tyler Branch (24th Shot, No Distance in the Hammer), Tom Davis (36th Hammer), Marcus Brooks (39th 400 Hurdles), Matt DeChant (32nd Shot Put), Donny Roys (25th 3000 Steeple), Stephen MacDonald (38th Long Jump), and Heath Nickles (PV No Height). Cody Marshall was entered in the Pole Vault but did not compete.

Overall, a pretty solid meet for OSU. Very sad to see DeChant end his season so poorly. Not sure what has been wrong with him during outdoors - hopefully he can return to form next year.

At Nationals, I think Hartfield has a strong chance to score (top 8), and that Leslie and Murdaugh both have solid chances of making the finals in their events. I don't see Edwards or the 4x400 advancing to the finals.
 
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OSU Signee Regional Roundup:

Tyler Parish jumped 6'05" to take 1st place in the High Jump at the D1 Amherst Regional.

Josh Sabo ran 1:52.08 in the 800 and 4:15.00 in the 1600 to take 1st in both events at the D1 Amherst Regional. Sabo also anchored Revere's 1st place 4x800 relay with a split reported as being in the 1:50/51 range.

Curtis Hanle ran 4:19.81 in the 1600 and 9:23.04 in the 3200 to take 1st in both events at the D1 Youngstown Regional.

Michael Brajdic ran 4:19.41 in the 1600 and 9:29.29 in the 3200 to take 1st in both events at the D2 Ravenna Regional. He also ran on Bay's 1st place 4x8 team.

J.C. Murasky threw 52'00.75" in the shot to take 2nd and 155'03" in the discus to take 5th at the D2 Byesville Regional.

Brian Hannaford ran 9:14.42 in the 3200 to take 1st at the D1 Pickerington Regional. He also ran on Westerville North's 1st place 4x800 team. Hannaford's time in the 3200 set a new Regional record.

Blake Taneff ran 9:18.96 to take 3rd in the 3200 at the D1 Pickerington Regional. He also ran on New Albany's 5th place 4x8 team.

Evan Schwartz ran 9:43.41 in the 3200 to take 8th at the D1 Pickerington Regional.

Brant Reardon jumped 6'06" in the HJ to take 1st and 20'10" in the LJ to take 3rd at the D3 Tiffin Regional.

Luke Norris ran 37.25 in the 300H to take 1st. He made the finals of the 200 but did not compete for some reason.
 
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Thanks for the regional recap. Hopefully OSU goes after Brannon Kidder, mid-distance runner from Lancaster, next year. He won both the 1600 and 800 at the Pickerington regional in an impressive 4:16.80/1:51.09 double. It will be fun to watch him battle Sabo this weekend. The 3200 race at that regional looked like a barn-burner too... under 9:23 to make it to state, under 9:44 to place.
 
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I also forgot to mention that Barron Witherspoon competed for OSU in the 110 Hurdles and placed 46th in 15.01. Not a good race for Barron - I'm assuming he hit some hurdles.

I've got to assume Kidder will be OSU's #1 Distance target next year. Here is a link to a recent interview with him: http://oh.milesplit.com/articles/68759

Really looking forward to Kidder v. Sabo, the 4x8s, and the D1 3200 which looks like it has the potential to be insane (if the heat doesn't slow things down).
 
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OSU signee state meet roundup:

A tough meet for a lot of the future Buckeyes, but some good results as well. I will start with the good and go from there.

Brant Reardon won the Division 3 High Jump title with a jump of 7'00", a mark that tied the Division 3 state meet record. Brant also placed in the Long Jump with a jump of 20'11.5".

Michael Brajdic won the Division 2 3200 Meter Run in a time of 9:25.07, comfortably pulling away from the rest of the field. Brajdic lost a shoe midway through the race, but that did not seem to affect him. He also ran the leadoff leg on Bay's 4x800 Meter Relay that ran very well to finish in 4th place.

Antonio Blanks was able to come back from injury and run on Dunbar's 4x100, 4x200, and 4x400 relays. The 4x100 and 4x200 both placed 2nd, while the 4x400 finished in a dominating 1st place in a new Division 2 state meet record time of 3:16.09. Nice to see Antonio finish his career off on a positive note after the injury.

Josh Sabo took 2nd in the Division1 1600 Meter Run in a time of 4:12.48. Sabo and Kidder both pulled away from the field early with Josh leading the way. Kidder made a move with about 300 to go and the race was over. Josh also took 16th in the 800 and ran on Revere's 14th place 4x800 Meter Relay. Revere was never really in the race and Josh did not have the opportunity to do much when he got the baton.

JC Murasky took 3rd in the Division 2 Shot Put with a throw of 56'8".

Tyler Parrish took 3rd in the Division 1 High Jump with a season best jump of 6'10".

Curtis Hanle took 5th place in the Division 1 3200 Meter Run in a time of 9:29.51. A disappointing result for Curtis, who scratched from the 1600 to run the 3200 fresh after winning both events at his Regional meet, yet finished behind two athletes who he defeated in that Regional 3200. Hanle was in 3rd for during the beginning stages of the race, fell back, but was able to put on a bit of a late surge to move up into 5th.

Blake Taneff finished 11th in the Division 1 3200 Meter Run in a time of 9:54.29. A tough outing for Taneff after his huge performance at his Regional meet last week.

Brian Hannaford dropped out of the Division 1 3200 Meter Run. Hannaford was running well through the first 5+ laps, sitting right on the leader in 2nd place, but lost his shoe and dropped out, appearing to be in serious pain. Really too bad for Hannaford, who appeared to be the only athlete capable of challenging Hiluf for the win.

Luke Norris advanced easily to the finals of the 300 Hurdles, but was disqualified in the final. Norris got out extremely hard and was leading the race going into the second to last hurdle. Norris was was clearly fading and it looked like Donovan Robertson would pass him for the win when Norris hit the hurdle and wiped out. A sad way for Norris to end his season, but it looked like this race was an all or nothing proposition for him and he was going to need a personal best effort to beat Robertson. Kudos to Luke for going for it.

In out of state action, Bradley Hess finished 8th at the Indiana State Championships in the 3200 Meter Run in a time of 9:14.23. A strong effort from Hess who I believe was competing in track for the first time this season.

Several OSU football signees also competed at the state meet. While I don't expect any of them to compete for OSU in track, there is always a chance that one will (recent football players on the track team were Chimdi Chekwa, Lamaar Thomas, and Brian Hartline). Here is how they fared:

Devin Smith took 1st in the Division 1 Long Jump with a jump of 24'07", setting a new stadium record. Smith also finished 1st in the 100 Meter Dash in a time of 10.74. Smith had a rougher go in the High Jump, finishing 8th in 6'06", after taking 1st at his Regional meet last week in 7'00". Overall, a great effort from Smith.

Michael Bennett took 1st in the Division 1 Shot Put with a throw of 63'11". He also finished 2nd in the Discus Throw with a throw of 185'04". Very strong meet for Bennett as well.

Doran Grant took 2nd in the Division 2 110 Meter Hurdles in a time of 14.22, after finishing 1st last year. Grant also ran on St. Vincent-St. Mary's 1st place 4x100 Meter Relay.

DerJuan Gambrell finished 3rd in the Division 1 400 Meter Dash in a time of 48.72. He also took 11th in the 110 Meter Hurdles in 14.71 and ran on Rogers' 9th place 4x400 Relay. Rogers' 4x400 took first in their preliminary heat, but struggled in the finals.

In out of state action, Brian Bobek took 5th in the Illinois Class AAA Shot Put with a throw of 57'08".
 
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The National Championships at Drake University (Iowa) start today and go through Saturday. As stkoran mentioned above, here are the men's National Championship participants. Number in parentheses is their seed place out of 24 participants:

400m - Thomas Murdaugh (20th)
1500m - Jake Edwards (19th)
3000m Steeplechase - Cory Leslie (5th)
4x400m Relay - Aaron Roberts, Korbin Smith, Marcus Brooks, Thomas Murdaugh (13th)
Long Jump - Mike Hartfield (7th)

If the men finish where they are currently ranked they will have 6 points for the National Championship meet. Here's hoping they perform better than that.

Start List
 
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Results from the first day at Nationals:
Thomas Murdaugh finished 4th in his heat and 15th overall in the 400m with a slow-for-him time of 46.02. He needed to run at least a half second faster to make the finals.
Cory Leslie couldn't duplicate his regional feat in the 3000m Steeplechase and finished 18th in the prelims with a time of 9:00.68, 20 seconds slower than his regional time.

Competing today (all times CST):
Mike Hartfield in the Long Jump at 5:35PM. Top 9 qualify for the finals immediately after the prelims.
Jake Edwards in the 1500m at 6:15PM. Top 5 from each of 2 heats plus the next 2 fastest times qualify for Saturday's finals.
4x400m Relay at 8:20PM. Top 2 from each of 3 heats plus the next 2 fastest times qualify for Saturday's finals.
 
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Murdaugh was only 0.21 off of his PR, so I don't think the race was a disaster. He would have needed to run a big PR (45.50) to advance. Leslie, on the other hand, did not run well. He was in second place for much of the race, but died big time with about 900 to go. If he could have hung on and just run sub 8:50 he could have advanced to the final. He looked great for the first 2k, not sure if the heat got to him or what.

In today's action, Jake Edwards has virtually no chance of advancing to the final, but Hartfield certainly has what it takes to finish in the top 8. The 4x4 has no chance of winning their heat (Texas A&M), but seem like they could grab that second auto spot if they all run their best.
 
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