2010 Ohio State Men's Track and Field

[bkochmc]

Men's National Championship Descending Order List

Buckeyes participating in Eugene, OR starting on June 9... 24 participants in each event:

Event - Name (Regional mark, ranking)
400m - Thomas Murdaugh (45.86, 21st)
1500m - Jeff See (3:43.14, 9th)
300m Steeplechase - Cory Leslie (8:49.06, 18th)
4x400m Relay - Brandon Woodard, Korbin Smith, Stephen Robinson, Thomas Murdaugh (3:03.97, 5th)
Shot Put - Matt DeChant (18.20m, 14th)

 

[stkoran]

See, Leslie, 4x400m Relay Move On to Eugene - The Ohio State Buckeyes Official Athletics Site - OhioStateBuckeyes.com

GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Ohio State men's track and field team enjoyed a record-breaking final day of competition Saturday at the 2010 NCAA East Regional Preliminaries.

Jeff See, Cory Leslie and OSU's four-time defending Big Ten champion 4x400m relay team will represent the Buckeyes June 9-12 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore., joining Matt DeChant and Thomas Murdaugh, who secured invitations Friday evening.

"Once again, I am proud to say that our team qualified guys in a four event areas - sprints, relays, distance and the field," Ohio State head coach Robert Gary said after the meet. "Qualifying eight athletes to the national championships is a great accomplishment for our program here at Ohio State."

See, a four-time All-American, finished second overall in the 1500m semifinals to qualify for his sixth NCAA championship meet as a Buckeye. The senior's season-best time of 3:43.14 was just off of the first-place pace set by Notre Dame's Daniel Clark (3:43.08).

Cory Leslie will compete in the first national championship of his career after a 14th-place and personal record time of 8:49.06 in the 3000m steeplechase. Although the redshirt sophomore was not among the Top 12 finishers, he advanced to Eugene thanks to a third-place finish in his heat. Teammate Adam Green took 15th overall in 8:51.73, but fell short of qualification due to a fifth-place finish in his heat. Louisville's Matt Hughes won the regional title in a time of 8:34.87, the top Division I time this outdoor season.

Ohio State's 4x400m relay team of Brandon Woodard, Korbin Smith, Stephen Robinson and Murdaugh finished third overall - second in their heat - in a time of 3:03.97 to qualify for the national championships for the second-consecutive season. All-American anchor Murdaugh, already an individual qualifier in the 400m dash, ran a blistering 44.65 final leg to clinch the Buckeyes' spot at the NCAA finals - had Murdaugh run a 44.65 in individual competition, it would be the fastest DI time this season and the second-best in Ohio State history.

After witnessing an impressive final day of competition from his squad, Gary is excited to see how his eight qualifying athletes perform on the big stage:

"All of our guys are peaking at the right time," Gary said. "I truly believe all eight could make finals at NCAAs. Hopefully we can make it happen."

Overall, I think the meet went pretty well for the Bucks. The biggest disappointment for me was probably that Elon Simms didn't make it in the 400 hurdles and then got replaced on the 4x4. As a senior and great Buckeye, it would have been nice to see him get to the national meet.

The biggest surprise was Leslie getting to the show in the steeple. It wasn't a surprise in terms of ability, but this is the first time he has really shown up in a big meet, and he did it in a big way, setting a nice PR and comfortably advancing. Fellow steepler Adam Green ran well, but unfortunately not well enough to advance.

The most exciting result was the 4x4, as they ran an absolutely fantastic race, capped by Murdaugh's blazing anchor leg (though the article's comparisons to open 400 results are completely misplaced). This is the kind of race I've been hoping to see from this group for a few years now. Hopefully they can run like this again in 2 weeks and make the finals.

I'll also throw in a Demoye Bogle update: Kid is a stud. At they D1 Dayton regional he placed:

1st in the 110 hurdles in 13.82 (+1.2 wind), 0.5 second ahead of second place;
2nd in the 100 meter dash in 10.67 (+3.0 wind);
1st in the 300 hurdles in 37.17; and
4th in the 200 in 21.98 (+2.7 wind).

If I had to make a guess for state, I'd say he wins the 110 and 300 meter hurdles, placed in the 100, and doesn't make the 200 final.

 

[muffler dragon]

I just may have to make it down to Eugene to see a little bit of this action. :hope:

 

[bkochmc]

I just may have to make it down to Eugene to see a little bit of this action. :hope:

Hopefully you do... Heyward Field is one of the iconic venues in American track and field. I'd love to make it out there one day to watch an NCAA Nationals, USA Nationals or Prefontaine Classic meet.

 

[southcampus]

Great stuff out of Corey Leslie. He has come on strong for us. I didn't realize his ceiling was so high coming out of HS. Great stuff from him.
Jeff has rounded out his career pretty well. I expected a little bit more out of him since his sophomore year of HS, but he's finished pretty strong this year. Good for him.


A little off topic, but does anybody know what happened to Blake Heriot this weekend at State? Injured in the 100 prelims or what?

 

[bkochmc]

A little off topic, but does anybody know what happened to Blake Heriot this weekend at State? Injured in the 100 prelims or what?

I was wondering that too... found a Dispatch article this morning that says his left hamstring was giving him issues... tough break for him.

Track and field: Heriot's dream spoiled | The Columbus Dispatch

Heriot's dream spoiled
Injury ends Gahanna sprinter?s titles quest

Saturday, June 5, 2010 02:53 AM
By Steve Blackledge

Three times yesterday during the Division I state track and field championships, Blake Heriot of Gahanna tried to make it around the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium oval, but his left hamstring wouldn't cooperate.

Heriot, who sought to become the first Ohio sprinter in 22 years to sweep the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes, crumpled to the track about 60 meters through his semifinal heat of the 100. He tried to run the 400 semifinal but made it only halfway around before walking off the track.

The Florida recruit, who led Gahanna to the state title last year with victories in the 200 and 400, did manage to struggle through his 200 heat, but his and his team's grand visions were gone by then.

"This same hamstring has caused me some problems before, but I've always fought through them," Heriot said. "Sometimes, I've run hurt and people never noticed. I broke a stadium record here (in 2009) in the 200 with a bad hammy.

"Today, after each time I warmed up, it felt fine and I thought I could give it a go, but whenever I tried to push harder, it knotted up on me again. I'm not going to give up. When you're the defending state champ, you've at least got to try something."

 

[stkoran]

Really too bad for Heriot. As for the team title, Lincoln got lucky last year with Glenville's 4x4 being DQd. This year that luck turned on them with Blake and Herman Washington getting hurt. Lincoln's rough luck, combined with Trotwood's 4x1 DQ and Latwan Anderson's apparent injury opened the door for Harding to take the team title this year. The title came down to the slimmest of margins, with Harding's DeAver Williamson taking the 200 title over Trotwood's William Henry by .01 seconds. Reverse the result and Trotwood wins the meet. Exciting stuff.

As for the two OSU recruits that I know of who competed, Cody Marshall took the D3 PV title in a new PR of 15-07. A very nice effort from him. Demoye Bogle finished first in the D1 110 hurdles, 2nd in the 300 hurdles, and 7th in the 100. A very strong weekend from him, just about what I expected.

If anyone knows of any other T&F recruits for OSU I'd love it if you could post them here.

 

[bkochmc]

If anyone knows of any other T&F recruits for OSU I'd love it if you could post them here.

Dylan Vogt from Columbus Grove (D-3) will be throwing for Ohio State next year. He placed 4th in the shot put (54'4") and 5th in the discus (167'0"). They weren't his best efforts this year but they were pretty solid. Almost any other year those efforts could have either won him the title or been runner up D-3 was absolutely stacked in throwing this year.

Side note... Dylan is from the same high school as current Buckeye decathlete Heath Nickles.

 

[bkochmc]

The NCAA National Championships start today... here is a link for the live results (times are PST):
NCAA Outdoor Championships -- Flash Results, Inc.

The NCAA is also streaming many of the events live! Here is a page with all the links:
NCAA.com – The Official Website of NCAA Championships - Outdoor Track

 

[bkochmc]

Day 1 of the National Championships featured 2 Buckeyes...

Thomas Murdaugh ran a bad race in the 400m and finished 6th in his heat with a time of 46.69. He needed to run 45.74 to qualify for the finals.
Cory Leslie ran a decent race in the 3000m Steeplechase with a time of 8:54.38 but finished 11th in his heat. He needed to run about 10 seconds faster to qualify for the finals. Good first national championship experience for him though.

Buckeyes participating today include Jeff See in the 1500m and the 4x400m relay team.

 

[bkochmc]

Buckeye results from Day 2 of the National Championships:

Jeff See qualified for Saturday's final in the 1500m by finishing 2nd in his heat with a time of 3:41.25. He also has the 2nd fastest time heading to the finals but that doesn't mean much as races like this are all about grabbing a qualifying spot for the finals and not time. My guess is he'll have to run under 3:40 to place.

The 4x400m relay team ran a poor race... finished 6th in their heat with a time of 3:08.22 and 14th overall. If they would have run what they did at Regionals or even the Big Tens they would have qualified for the finals. Heck, even Iowa, who they've beaten all year, ran better and qualified for the finals. This is a disappointing result as they had the right makeup to make the finals.

Side note for Gator... it looks like Florida is setting up to defend their national title... they have a lot of sprinters and both relays qualified for the finals and have already scored some good points in the field events.

 

[LitlBuck]

Side note for Gator... it looks like Florida is setting up to defend their national title... they have a lot of sprinters and both relays qualified for the finals and have already scored some good points in the field events.

Oh no. I can see the start of another thread right now.

 

[LitlBuck]

That's very disappointing along with Murdaugh not qualifying for the finals. I don't understand how you could run a bad race in the 4x400 relay unless you had extremely poor handoffs. I guess the only reason I say that is because it is such a long sprint race today you would think guys would be able to make up for a couple poor exchanges especially when you are probably much more talented than some of the other teams who did qualify.

I also didn't understand the statement regarding Murdaugh running a poor race (ran a bad race). I would think that speed would overcome poor judgment unless he ran the entire race in the outside lane. Hopefully, this will motivate him even more for next season along with the rest of the team.

 

[bkochmc]

That's very disappointing along with Murdaugh not qualifying for the finals. I don't understand how you could run a bad race in the 4x400 relay unless you had extremely poor handoffs. I guess the only reason I say that is because it is such a long sprint race today you would think guys would be able to make up for a couple poor exchanges especially when you are probably much more talented than some of the other teams who did qualify.

Handoffs aren't quite as important in the 4x400 as they are in the 4x100, though they are important... they are much easier to convert also. My guess is that one or two of the legs had a sub-par performance and at this level one bad leg can kill a relay.

I also didn't understand the statement regarding Murdaugh running a poor race (ran a bad race). I would think that speed would overcome poor judgment unless he ran the entire race in the outside lane. Hopefully, this will motivate him even more for next season along with the rest of the team.

I said that in comparison to his previous results. I haven't seen his race so I can't say where it was the worst... could have just been an off day for him, which as in all sports unfortunately happens.

 

[southcampus]

I think Ohio State's quarter system comes into play here. Finals coinciding with this takes a toll on an athlete, whether it's sleep, stress, or just not having your mind right. Everything gets out of whack this time of year and as a runner, 90% of it is routine. Jeff is pretty much graduated and I'd bet he is taking some classes right now that don't mean shit to him. Then again, I have no idea just throwing out a complete guess. It really is too bad about our younger guys and our relay though.