2010 Ohio State Men's Track and Field

[stkoran]

My Big Ten predictions. Much of it will likely be wrong, but it should provide some idea of how the teams will perform.

60:

1. Shane Crawford (Pur) 10
2. Andrew Riley (Ill) 8
3. D?Juan Richardson (Iowa) 6
4. Yury Ratomski (MSU) 5
5. Devin Pipkin (IU) 4
6. Denard Robinson (UM) 3
7. Stephen Robinson (OSU) 2
8. Stanley Azie (Ill) 1

Total: Purdue 10, Illinois 9, Iowa 6, Michigan State 5, Indiana 4, Michigan 3, Ohio State 2

Comments: Crawford and Riley are heavy favorites. After that, it?s kind of a jumble. Stephen has been running pretty bad in the 60 this year, but he has performed well at this meet in this event in the past.

200:

1. D?Juan Richardson (Iowa) 10
2. Mike Wiley (Purdue) 8
3. Curtis Leuenberger (OSU) 6
4. Kyle Jefferson (UW) 5
5. Gavin Robertson (UW) 4
6. Chaz Demmers (UW) 3
7. Stephen Robinson (OSU) 2
8. Stanley Azie (Ill) 1

Total: Wisconsin 12, Iowa 10, Purdue 8, Ohio State 8, Illinois 1

Comments: I think the top 5 could really end up in any order. It would be great for OSU if Murdaugh could run well here and pick up some points.

400:

1. Thomas Murdaugh (OSU) 10
2. Steven Willey (Iowa) 8
3. James Groce (UW) 6
4. Ray Varner (Iowa) 5
5. Kevin Dibbern (Iowa) 4
6. Daniel Jones (Ill) 3
7. Bai Kabba (Ill) 2
8. Korbin Smith (OSU) 1

Total: Iowa 17, Ohio State 11, Wisconsin 6, Illinois 5

Comments: Murdaugh should win easily. Kind of a mess after the top 3. Any points Smith or Baisden can pick up will be huge.

600:

1. Casimir Loxsom (PSU) 10
2. Lionel Williams (PSU) 8
3. Erik Sowinski (Iowa) 6
4. Zach Beth (UW) 5
5. David Pachuta (Minn) 4
6. Logan Stroman (Minn) 3
7. Nick Kuczwara (Iowa) 2
8. Harun Abda (Minn) 1

Total: Penn State 18, Minnesota 8, Iowa 8, Wisconsin 5

Comments: This event isn?t run much during the season, but I?m pretty comfortable with this prediction. The people who can shake it up the most are Simms and Woodward (from OSU) as they have scored well here in the past, but have not shown that type of performance yet this year. Both have the ability to be top 4 in this event.

800:

1. Ryan Foster (PSU) 10
2. Owen Dawson (PSU) 8
3. Dan White (OSU) 6
4. Adam Hariston (Iowa) 5
5. Luke Rucks (UW) 4
6. Zach Mellon (UW) 3
7. Stephen Humes (MSU) 2
8. Jacob Palmer (Purdue) 1

Total: Penn State 18, Wisconsin 7, Ohio State 6, Iowa 5, Michigan State 2, Purdue 1

Comments: Foster the heavy favorite. Anything less than 3rd for Dan will be a disappointment.

1 Mile:

1. Jeff See (OSU) 10
2. Craig Miller (UW) 8
3. Jack Bolas (UW) 6
4. Andrew Bayer (IU) 5
5. Ben Blankenship (Minn) 4
6. Corey Leslie (OSU) 3
7. Chad Balyo (OSU) 2
8. Andy Richardson (Minn) 1

Total: Ohio State 15, Wisconsin 14, Indiana 5, Minnesota 5

Comments: This race alone will be worth the price of admission, or at least watching the replay on BTN. See, Miller and Bolas have been consistently great throughout their careers, and Bayer has emerged as a stud this year, but this is his first real championship test. Corey and Chad both need to run well and score for OSU in this event. They can?t let Richardson or Finnerty beat them.

3000:

1. Craig Miller (UW) 10
2. Jeff See (OSU) 8
3. Chris Rombough (Minn) 6
4. Andrew Poore (IU) 5
5. Landon Peacock (UW) 4
6. Pat Sovacool (OSU) 3
7. Spencer Beatty (MSU) 2
8. Ben Hubers (IU) 1

Total: Wisconsin 14, Ohio State 11, Indiana 6, Minnesota 6, Michigan State 2

Comments: A little more watered down than I expected with Bayer, Bolas and presumably Blankenship opting for the DMR. In any event, it will still be a great race. Miller, See, Rombough and Peacock are All-Americans, and Poore has a great shot to pick up his first AA this year.

5000:

1. Chris Rombough (Minn) 10
2. Andrew Poore (IU) 8
3. Landon Peacock (UW) 6
4. Mohammed Ahmed (UW) 5
5. Ben Blankenship (Minn) 4
6. Pat Sovacool (OSU) 3
7. Maverick Darling (UW) 2
8. Kyle Dawson (PSU) 1

Total: Minnesota 14, Wisconsin 13, Indiana 8, Ohio State 3, Penn State 1

Comments: I feel good about the top two, but after that it?s sketchy. Ahmed and Darling will be fresh for UW, but Edwards will be fresh for OSU as well, and hopefully he will be able to score.

60 Hurdles:

1. Andrew Riley (Ill) 10
2. Josh Hembrough (Purdue) 8
3. Nate Larkin (UW) 6
4. Carl Buchanon (UM) 5
5. Jordan Mullen (Iowa) 4
6. Adum Gross (UW) 3
7. Shane Wells (MSU) 2
8. Jonathan Francois (OSU) 1

Total: Illinois 10, Wisconsin 9, Purdue 8, Michigan 5, Iowa 4, Michigan State 2, Ohio State 1

Comments: After the top 4 things are a jumble, and I could even see Larkin or Buchanon placing worse as they have been inconsistent.

4x400 Relay:

1. Ohio State 10
2. Iowa 8
3. Wisconsin 6
4. Michigan 5
5. Illinois 4
6. Minnesota 3
7. Indiana 2
8. Penn State 1

Comments: OSU v Iowa should be a good race. We already beat them at Meyo.

Distance Medley:

1. Wisconsin 10
2. Indiana 8
3. Minnesota 6
4. Ohio State 5
5. Illinois 4
6. Iowa 3
7. Michigan 2
8. Purdue 1

Comments: I don?t know who will be running for everyone, especially the teams at the bottom, but I?m pretty confident that Bayer and Bolas will duke it out over the final leg. For OSU, I?m guessing we run Murphy, Roberts, Hall and Leslie, but I could easily be wrong. Candella could be on the 12 instead, or we could double more guys and go Leslie, Baisden, White, Balyo, which would be very solid, but still probably not good enough to get past UW or IU unless we had a lead going into the last leg, which would actually be quite possible with that team. I?m interested to see what we do here.

As an aside, I would love to see us run a DMR of Leslie, Murdaugh, White and See next week. I think that team would be in national title contention.

High Jump:

1. Geoffery Davis (Purdue) 10
2. Matt Fischer (Minn) 8
3. Adetayo Adesanya (Purdue) 6
4. Greg Shroka (Ill) 5
5. Derek Drouin (IU) 4
6. Jeffery Herron (Iowa) 3
7. Dan Rolling (Iowa) 2
8. Paul Annear (UW) 1

Total: Purdue 16, Minnesota 8, Illinois 5, Iowa 5, Indiana 4, Wisconsin 1

Comments: Drouin has the best mark in the conference, but has not been jumping well lately. I highly doubt Blake scores for us in this.

Pole Vault:

1. Jeffrey Coover (IU) 10
2. Eric Sparks (Purdue) 8
3. Ben Peterson (Minn) 6
4. Mitch Erickson (Purdue) 5
5. Brock Spandl (Minn) 4
6. Logan Lynch (MSU) 3
7. Mickey DeFilippo (UW) 2
8. Chris Thoman (Purdue) 1

Total: Purdue 14, Indiana 10, Minnesota 10, Michigan State 3, Wisconsin 2

Comments: I will be shocked if Coover doesn?t win. I don?t see Nickles getting us any points here.

Long Jump:

1. Robert Peddlar (UM) 10
2. Chris Kirtz (Purdue) 8
3. Rayme Mackinson (UW) 6
4. Korbin Smith (OSU) 5
5. Joey Schwecke (Minn) 4
6. Andrew Riley (Ill) 3
7. Stephen MacDonald (OSU) 2
8. Cedric Hudson (IU) 1

Total: Michigan 10, Purdue 8, Ohio State 7, Wisconsin 6, Minnesota 4, Illinois 3, Indiana 1

Comments: Korbin is tied for the top mark going in, but the 3 I have above him have been much more consistent throughout the year. MacDonald has only had one good jump this year, but he stepped up big time in this event last year, and I?m hoping he can repeat the performance. Blevins has the ability to score for us as well, but has been jumping terribly of late.

Triple Jump:

1. Kyron Foster (MSU) 10
2. Olimude Olamigoke (IU) 8
3. Adetayo Adesanya (Purdue) 6
4. Hanif Johnson (PSU) 5
5. Oz Lif[censored]z (Ill) 4
6. Oladipo Fagbemi (Minn) 3
7. Robert Peddlar (UM) 2
8. Derek Blevins (OSU) 1

Total: Michigan State 10, Indiana 8, Purdue 6, Penn State 5, Illinois 4, Minnesota 3, Michigan 2, Ohio State 1

Comments: No one in this event has been consistent. Foster has by far the best mark, but hasn?t competed since mid-January, so if he is nursing an injury he may likely do worse. Blevins has been jumping poorly in this as well, but the conference is very weak in this event, and I know he has the ability to do well here. If enough people have a bad day and Blake jumps well, he could pick up a point or two as well (but don?t count on it).

Shot Put:

1. Aaron Studt (Minn) 10
2. Matt DeChant (OSU) 8
3. Blake Eaton (PSU) 6
4. Joe Kovacs (PSU) 5
5. Sean Pruitt (UM) 4
6. Bill Hardcastle (Purdue) 3
7. Ryan Lamparek (Iowa) 2
8. Tyler Branch (OSU) 1

Total: Penn State 11, Minnesota 10, Ohio State 9, Michigan 4, Purdue 3, Iowa 2

Comments: A lot of talent in this event. DeChant could just as easily get 5th, but I think he comes up big.

Weight Throw:

1. Aaron Studt (Minn) 10
2. Brad Wentzel (MSU) 8
3. Sean Pruitt (UM) 6
4. Matt DeChant (OSU) 5
5. Jay Gillespie (MSU) 4
6. Patrick Onye (IU) 3
7. Micha Hegerle (Minn) 2
8. Max Mays (OSU) 1

Total: Minnesota 12, Michigan State 12, Ohio State 6, Michigan 6, Indiana 3

Comments: Studt will win easily, but a lot of uncertainty after that. No reason why DeChant can?t get 2nd, but I went conservative with this one.

Heptathlon:

1. R.J. McGinnis (Minn) 10
2. Brock Spandl (Minn) 8
3. Joey Schwecke (Minn) 6
4. Frank Shotwell (UM) 5
5. Jack Szmanda (Minn) 4
6. Cliff Miller (MSU) 3
7. Heath Nickles (OSU) 2
8. Derek Steinback (UW) 1

Total: Minnesota 28, Michigan 5, Michigan State 3, Ohio State 2, Wisconsin 1

Comments: This is the event that wins Minnesota the title. McGinnis will win, but 2-6 could easily change.

Team Standings:

1. Minnesota 117
2. Wisconsin 106
3. Ohio State 97
4. Purdue 75
5. Iowa 68
6. Indiana 59
7. Penn State 54
8. Illinois 45
9. Michigan 42
10. Michigan State 39

Comments: Take these predictions with a grain of salt. There is tons of fluidity in many of these events, and there is always the chance that a stud will have a terrible meet, a DQ, a fall, etc. What this prediction should do is provide a general idea of what teams are in the hunt and which are not. Based on this, it looks like a three team race. Minnesota and Wisconsin have historically performed well at this meet, but I?d like to this OSU team has a punchers chance of pulling the upset.

 

[bkochmc]

Huge weekend for both the men's and women's track teams... both finished 2nd at the Big Ten Championships! That is the highest finish for the women in almost a decade. Good to see that program starting to turn around. Congrats to both teams!

No. 20 Ohio State Finishes Second at Big Ten Championships - The Ohio State Buckeyes Official Athletics Site - OhioStateBuckeyes.com

No. 20 Ohio State Finishes Second at Big Ten Championships

Complete Results (PDF) Complete Results (HTML)

Courtesy: OhioStateBuckeyes.com
Release: 02/28/2010

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The 20th-ranked Ohio State men's track and field team finished in second-place Sunday at the 2010 Big Ten Championships, the team's highest indoor finish since the 1996 season.

Head coach Robert Gary and the Buckeyes put together an outstanding two day performance at University Fieldhouse, capturing four individual Big Ten titles on their way to a total team score of 112.50. However, it was not enough to overcome home-standing and 17th-ranked Minnesota, as the Golden Gophers' 160.50 points helped them separate themselves from the rest of the league.

"I'd be lying if I didn't say we were hoping to be in the hunt to win," Ohio State head coach Robert Gary said after the meet. "Minnesota just had a very good weekend at home, with a lot of positive results. I'm still very pleased with the effort from our guys."

Ohio State defended its 2009 indoor and outdoor titles in the 4x400m - Thomas Murdaugh, Elon Simms, Brandon Woodard and Stephen Robinson brought the win home to Columbus with an NCAA provisional run of 3:11.18, a University Fieldhouse record. Iowa was second in an NCAA provisional time of 3:12.00.

Cont...

Manning, McGinnis Help Buckeyes Finish Second at Big Ten Championships - The Ohio State Buckeyes Official Athletics Site - OhioStateBuckeyes.com

Manning, McGinnis Help Buckeyes Finish Second at Big Ten Championships

View Photos Final Results

Courtesy: OhioStateBuckeyes.com
Release: 02/28/2010

[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]Runner-up finish is highest in nine years for Ohio State[/FONT]

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Ohio State women's track and field team captured second-place Sunday at the 2010 Big Ten Championships, the Buckeyes' highest team finish in nine years.

A year removed from placing ninth, the Scarlet and Gray used a balanced team effort to take the conference by storm. No. 10 Penn State - competing on its home track - won the championship with a total of 111 points, ahead of the Buckeyes (88) and No. 19 Indiana (83).

"I am just so proud of this team," head coach Karen Dennis said after the meet. "We knew that we had the personnel to put together this type of turnaround and it is very rewarding to see it come true."

While the Buckeyes witnessed outstanding performances across the board, it was Christina Manning who stated her case for the Athlete of the Championship award, recording two runner-up finishes and an individual title in the 60m hurdles.

Cont...

 

[stkoran]

Alex Wilson Last Chance Meet

4x400m Relay Posts Season-Best Time at Alex Wilson Invitational - The Ohio State Buckeyes Official Athletics Site - OhioStateBuckeyes.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio State's Big Ten champion 4x400m relay team posted a season-best time of 3:08.20 Saturday at the Alex Wilson Invitational in South Bend, Ind., leading the Buckeye effort at the annual "Last Chance" meet.

Brandon Woodard, Elon Simms, Stephen Robinson and anchor Thomas Murdaugh finished in second-place with a Big Ten-best and NCAA provisional qualifying time, also a Top 20 time nationally. Oklahoma edged the Buckeyes at the finish line with a provisional time of 3:08.06.

Sophomore Matt DeChant finished fifth in the shot put with a toss of 17.27m (56-8), falling short of an NCAA provisional qualifying mark. Indiana State's Brandon Pounds finished first at 17.70m (58-1). DeChant still sits amongst the Top 15 nationally in the shot put with a season-best mark of 18.56m (60-10.75), set last month at the Buckeye Tune-up.

Senior Patrick Sovacool finished 21st in the 5000m with a time of 14:36.25. Chris Barnacle of New Mexico was first with an NCAA provisional time of 13:47.16.

DeChant and the 4x400m team still stand a chance of receiving at-large bids for the NCAA indoor championships. Murdaugh and Jeff See have already clinched spots in the national finals, March 12-13 in Fayetteville, Ark.

Not a very good meet for the Bucks. 4x4 ran ok, but probably needed to run a 3:07, if not a 3:06 if they wanted to secure a spot to NCAAs.

I am a huge supporter of Robert Gary, but I continue to be confused as to why so few Bucks compete at this meet every year. I figured we'd see Leslie in the Mile (though after a poor B10 meet perhaps the thought was to recharge for outdoor), Balyo in either the Mile or 3k, Mays in the WT and Branch in the SP, Green in the 3k or 5k, Edwards in the 5k (though perhaps same rationale as Leslie) and a DMR. Not running DMR really eats at me, as it is by far my favorite indoor event, and it is an event I think we would have been very strong in (Balyo/Leslie on the 1200, Korbin on the 400 if the 4x4 makes it, any of the non-Murdaugh 4x4 guys if they don't, White on the 800 and See on the 1600). If the concern is Dan running the open 800 followed by the DMR, go Balyo, Smith, Leslie, See.

In any event, best of luck to Jeff and Thomas at nationals, and hopefully Matt and the 4x4 can join them.

 

[stkoran]

National Qualifiers Released:

http://web1.ncaa.org/track/eventFiles/d1minddecl.txt

Jeff See makes the meet in both the Mile (7th) and the 3k (12th)
Thomas Murdaugh qualifies in the 400 (7th)
Dan White qualifies in the 800 (13th)
Matt DeChant qualifies in the Shot Put (13th)

The 4x400 missed the meet by 0.08 seconds.

Good luck to all the Buckeyes this weekend. Thomas will hopefully be an All-American again, and Jeff honestly has a great shot at winning the Mile, as a lot of the top guys opted for different events.

 

[stkoran]

Thomas Murdaugh named Great Lakes Track Athlete of the Year, RObert Gary Great Lakes Coach of the Year, and Ed Beathea Great Lakes Assistant Coach of the Year.

Murdaugh, Gary, Beathea Honored by USTFCCCA - The Ohio State Buckeyes Official Athletics Site - OhioStateBuckeyes.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Sophomore All-American Thomas Murdaugh, head coach Robert Gary and associate head coach Ed Beathea were honored by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Tuesday for their outstanding accomplishments during the 2010 indoor track and field season.

 

[bkochmc]

National Championship results:
Jeff See earned yet another All-American honor by finishing 6th in the mile with a time of 4:04.34.
Matt DeChant just missed making the finals in the shot put and finished 10th with a best throw of 18.23.
Thomas Murdaugh also just missed the finals in the 400m, finishing 9th with a time of 46.75.
Dan White had an off day and finished 13th in the 800m.

Congrats on a good indoor season, though I'm sure they would have wanted a few more All-Americans. One spot out of the finals is a tough place to be.

Men's Results (pdf)

 

[osubucksfan2]

National Championship results:
Thomas Murdaugh also just missed the finals in the 400m, finishing 9th with a time of 46.75.

Thomas was named All-American

2 People finishing ahead of Thomas were not from America and that got him the spot.

(All this according to Thomas. I don't know anything about track :))

 

[stkoran]

Buckeyes kick off the outdoor season at the Raleigh Relays hosted by NC State.

Day 1:

Smith Impresses at Raleigh Relays - The Ohio State Buckeyes Official Athletics Site - OhioStateBuckeyes.com

RALEIGH, N.C. - The Ohio State men's track and field team opened the 2010 outdoor season Friday afternoon at the adidas Raleigh Relays on the campus of NC State.

Freshman Korbin Smith led the way for the Scarlet and Gray on the first day by setting the top collegiate mark in the long jump. A Delta, Ohio product, Smith used a personal record jump of 7.53m (24-8.50) to finish second behind Dexter Adams (7.71m/25-3.50), tops in the Big Ten so far this outdoor season.

The Buckeyes performed well in the 400m hurdles, led by senior Elon Simms, who finished in a tie for second with Brent LaRue of Wake Forest (51.74). Freshman Marcus Brook was eighth for Ohio State in 53.09, followed by Aaron Roberts (10th/53.63).

Day 2:

Buckeyes Wrap Up Opening Weekend in Raleigh - The Ohio State Buckeyes Official Athletics Site - OhioStateBuckeyes.com

RALEIGH, N.C. - The Ohio State men's track and field team wrapped up the opening weekend of the 2010 outdoor season Saturday afternoon at the adidas Raleigh Relays.

Redshirt freshman Jared Hall turned in the top performance on the day for the Buckeyes, capturing the title in the 800m invitational with an impressive season-opening time of 1:50.54, second-best in the Big Ten so far this season. Hall edged in-state foe Michael Rutherford of Cincinnati (1:51.24) for the win.

Great performance by Smith in the long jump. The Big Ten is very weak in the long jump, so continued performances like this from Korbin likely mean big points for OSU at the B10 Championships.

Jared Hall also had by far his best race as a Buckeye. Very happy to see him finally get on track.

Elon Simms also had a very nice performance in the 400 hurdles to start off the season. Very encouraging, after a sub-par indoor season for him. Marcus Brooks and Aaron Roberts also had good season openers at this distance.

All of the throws were very underwhelming, but I'm sure they will come around.

Also, not a very good performance from the 4x4, but I'm not worried about them either.

All in all, a relatively good opener for the Bucks.

As a side note, none of the distance runners competed, and the top sprinters didn't either, outside of Murdaugh in the 4x4.

 

[stkoran]

Buckeyes, Wolverines ?Dual? Saturday at Jesse Owens - The Ohio State Buckeyes Official Athletics Site - OhioStateBuckeyes.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio State men's track and field team will look to complete a season sweep of rival Michigan April 10 when they host the Wolverines in "The Dual" at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.

Saturday is the second match-up of the year between the schools - Ohio State defeated the Wolverines in January in Ann Arbor, 92-70. Since the renewal of the series in 2008, the Buckeyes hold a 3-2 advantage, with two indoor victories and an outdoor title. The Wolverines captured the inaugural indoor event and edged the Buckeyes, 105-98, last season at the outdoor meet. "The Dual" traveling pennant is awarded to the winning team, who holds onto it until the next meeting.

Action gets underway at 11:00 a.m. ET at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. Admission is free. Live stats will be made available at Welcome to Finishtiming.

For anyone in the Columbus area looking to get out and enjoy your Saturday, this is a really fun event. Both teams get really into it, the cheerleaders are there, and they have lots of giveaways (posters, and they fire t-shirts into the crowd after ever OSU event win).

 

[stkoran]

Ohio State picks up a convincing victory over Michigan today in "The Dual" by a count of 116-84.

Results are here: Meet Results

Many strong performances from the Bucks today. Jeff See led the charge with wins in the 1500 and 3k with a vicious finish in both races. See took down Michigan's Lex Williams, who has the best 10k time in the nation, in both races.

Jared Hall with a very impressive run in the 800, winning in 1:50.97, taking the lead from the gun, and never being challenged on a very windy day.

Francois pulled a big upset over Carl Buchanon in the 110 hurdles, and then Buchanon (defending Big Ten champ) was defeated again in the 400 hurdles by both Elon Simms and Aaron Roberts. Simms posted another solid race, and Roberts ran his best race thus far as a Buckeye.

Murdaugh took the 400 in dominating fashion (46.54), an especially strong run considering the wind and lack of competition.

The 4x4 also looked very solid, nearly matching their time from Raleigh (which was so-so), but with Roberts running for Robinson, in worse conditions, and with no competition.

Korbin Smith also had a nice day, winning the long jump and placing second in the 400.

Very solid performances from the hammer throwers as well.

 

[bkochmc]

Video of the running events and some interviews of The Dual on Flotrack (which is an awesome site for T&F videos):

Track and Field Coverage on Flotrack

 

[stkoran]

A few of the Buckeye's distance crew headed out to the Mt. Sac Relays this weekend. The only competitor last night for the Bucks was freshman Julian Meyer, who ran the 10k in 30:32. Nothing to write home about, but good to get his feet wet in his first 10k on the track and at a big time meet.

Results are here: Meet Results

 

[stkoran]

4/16 The majority of the men's team competed today at the Clark Wood/Lenny Lyles Invitational hosted by the University of Louisville.

Meet results are here: Meet Results

Pretty solid meet for the Bucks. Stephen Robinson with nice wins in both the 100 (in 10.63 w/ a 2.3 wind) and the 200 (in 21.11 w/ a 1.8 wind).

Dan White won the 800, albeit in a 1:53, but a win is a win (doubling back off the 1500 also makes this an even better performance). More concerning was Jared Hall finishing 6th in 1:57. He had been running very well so far this year, but a race like this gives me pause. Hopefully he comes back strong next week at Drake.

Chris Fallon won the 1500 in 3:52 over Louisville's Michale Eaton, who is a very good runner. Dan White took 3rd in 3:54. Very nice performance by Fallon.

The 3k Steeple also went well for OSU, as Corey Leslie took 2nd in 8:57 and Chris Olinger was 4th in 9:04. Matt Hughes of Louisville, a Big East Champ, took the win in 8:45. Leslie was only 2 seconds off his PR and Olinger 5 seconds off (and a big improvement from last week). Both times would have been regional qualifiers last year. I'm excited to see if Leslie can get under 8:50 this year, and Olinger in the mid to low 8:50s. Freshman Donny Roys finished well back in 9:23.

4x1 and 4x4 both won, though neither time was anything to write home about, but didn't expect much in the small meet.

Elon Simms with a season best in the 400 hurdles, taking the win in 51.38 and Jonathan Francois won the 110 hurdles in a season's best 14.44 (1.5 wind). Really happy to see the two seniors running well, and Simms looks to be in the hunt for the Big Ten title that has been eluding him, stringing together three strong performances thus far this year.

Nothing too exciting field event wise. No one competed in Jav or TJ, and only MacDonald long jumped, but he didn't record a mark. I have to assume that Blevins is injured, or simply redshirting to get his head back on straight after a poor season thus far. Smith took the meet off, just running the 200.

PV didn't go very well (Nickles 15-9, Dauge 14-11).

Big props to Tyler Branch with a very nice effort in the shot, finishing second in 58-4 (A PR I believe).

Tom Davis also with a PR and win in the Hammer, throwing 188-9.

Discus has been improving, with Max Mayes throwing 166-9, but that won't amount to anything at Big Tens.

DeChant had another sub par performance all around in the throws. Hope he gets it together.

Ryan Blake with his best mark of the year in HJ, going 6-11 for 3rd place. I'd really like to see him get over 7 feet, but if he can stay consistent at 6-11 that would be a start, as he usually goes 6-8.

Looking forward to the Mt. Sac 5k tonight to see how Green and Edwards fare.

Also wondering if Leuenberger is going to compete this season? The results said he ran on the 4x1 and 4x4, but that is not conclusive. Maybe a redshirt? I'd think he would have competed in an individual event otherwise by now. Rob Baisden was also scheduled to run the 400, but didn't compete, and hasn't so far outdoors, though it says he ran the 4x4. Maybe a redshirt too? Also, no Matt Terrell after his win in the 100 last week. Hope that was just a scheduled week off and not an injury.

See and Murdaugh both took scheduled weeks off and will be back in action at Drake.

 

[stkoran]

Mt. Sac 5k results:

Jake Edwards won his heat of the 5k tonight, finishing in a very nice PR of 13:57. I believe this is the fastest outdoor 5k run by an OSU athlete since Brian Olinger in 2004. Very happy to see Jake have this kind of success after dealing with what I believe were some pretty serious health problems last year.

Adam Green also competed for OSU, finishing in 14:15, which I assume he isn't too pleased with.

Two other Robert Gary coached athletes also competed tonight, both in the top section of the 5k. Dan Huling (who went to Miami) finished first in 13:24, while Brian Olinger (of OSU "fame") ran a 13:35 to finish 15th. I believe that this is a big PR for Huling, and that Olinger was 5 seconds off of his. Huge race for Dan, and a solid, but not spectacular performance from Olinger.

 

[stkoran]

Robinson, Buckeyes Take First at Louisville - The Ohio State Buckeyes Official Athletics Site - OhioStateBuckeyes.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Led by senior Stephen Robinson, the Ohio State men's track and field team recorded a number of personal best performances Friday afternoon on its way to a first-place finish at the Lenny Lyles/Clark Wood Invitational in Louisville, Ky.

Ohio State finished the day with 66 points, more than 20 better than second-place and host Louisville - the 21st-ranked Cardinals (44 points) had just enough to hold of third-place Central Michigan (43.50). Illinois State took fourth with a score of 32.50.

Robinson, a native of Trotwood, Ohio, was in top form on the Cardinal Park track, posting two impressive individual wins and personal records, while helping the Buckeye relay teams to a pair of victories.

The senior's top performance came in the 200m dash, where he ran a Big Ten-best time of 21.11 on his way to an easy win. Kayode Adegoke of Illinois State was second in 21.28 and Central Michigan's Kirkston Edwards third (21.51).

A time of 10.63 seconds, tied for fifth-best in the conference, gave Robinson his second win on the day. The order of finish was identical to the 200m, with Adegoke taking second (10.68) and Edwards third (10.78).

After two impressive individual efforts Robinson teamed with Curtis Leuenberger, Blake Callahan, and Elon Simms to capture first-place in the 4x100m relay with a time of 41.06, third-best in the Big Ten this season. Central Michigan finished second in 41.92, followed by Louisville (42.23) and Ball State (42.49).

Robinson, Leuenberger and Simms returned later in the meet for 4x400m relay. With the addition of Aaron Roberts, the team sprinted its way to an easy victory in 3:11.83, sixth-best in the Big Ten. Second-place Central Michigan finished more than four seconds behind the Buckeyes (3:15.78), while Louisville took third in 3:17.42.