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2011-2012 Ohio State Men's Cross County and Track & Field

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Big time recruit

Hate to interrupt The Nationals discussion but

Donovan Robertson is nationwide.
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From Seattle to New York City, the Berea senior is establishing himself as the nation's premier high school hurdler.

Robertson broke the indoor 60-meter hurdles national record last weekend in Seattle, and he'll try to do it again this weekend in New York.
"I'm ecstatic. I'm riding on cloud nine. I'm happy to raise the bar for everybody else," Robertson said.

Robertson ran a 7.57 at the Brooks PR Invitational, a high school All-Star meet. The previous high school record of 7.6 was set by Wayne Davis of Southeast Raleigh (N.C.) in 2009. Robertson ran a 7.77 in prelims. His previous best was 7.78.

He will run the same event, which has five hurdles, at the New Balance Nationals in New York today and Sunday.

"I want to defend my spot there and hopefully stay No. 1," said Robertson, an Ohio State recruit. "It's really an extraordinary thing. I had never been west of Iowa, and I'm grateful for this experience."

At that pace, Robertson could put himself in position this spring to break the high school national outdoor 110 hurdles record (13.30) set by Dayton Dunbar's Chris Nelloms in 1990.
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http://highschoolsports.cleveland.c...ts-national-record-at-brooks-pr-invitational/
 
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At that pace, Robertson could put himself in position this spring to break the high school national outdoor 110 hurdles record (13.30) set by Dayton Dunbar's Chris Nelloms in 1990.
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Wow. Talk about smokin'!!!! I ran the 120 yard high hurdles back when dinosaurs walked the earth (so we ran the 109.728 meter highs :p ) - but a mid 13.00 would still have been stupid fast! Would have beaten my 15.1 pr anyway. :lol:

But back in the Old Fart days ('77) Renaldo Nehemiah ran the 120 highs in 12.9 in high school. That guy was the fastest human being I've ever seen.
 
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Gatorubet;2123175; said:
http://www.ncaa.com/news/trackfield-indoor-men/article/2012-03-10/florida-clamps-down-crown

And Florida wins its 3rd consecutive NCAA Indoor Track and Field title with 52 points. Piggies were second at 47, followed by Arizona and ASU at 41 and 31 respectively.
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Congrats to Florida's 3rd title... they would have won by even more but their stud multi-guy, Gray Horn (from Waynesfield-Goshen H.S. here in Ohio) pulled out before the pole vault... he was in 1st at the time. I haven't investigated what happened to him. EDIT: Looked like he hurt himself warming up for the pole vault, which makes sense since he had the second best time in the previous event, the 60m hurdles.

The Bucks finished off the Championships with a 5th place showing in the 4x400... 3:07.24. Overall they finished in 26th place with 8 points spanning over 4 events. Congrats to all the Buckeye All-Americans!
 
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bkochmc;2123239; said:
Congrats to Florida's 3rd title... they would have won by even more but their stud multi-guy, Gray Horn (from Waynesfield-Goshen H.S. here in Ohio) pulled out before the pole vault... he was in 1st at the time. I haven't investigated what happened to him. EDIT: Looked like he hurt himself warming up for the pole vault, which makes sense since he had the second best time in the previous event, the 60m hurdles.

The Bucks finished off the Championships with a 5th place showing in the 4x400... 3:07.24. Overall they finished in 26th place with 8 points spanning over 4 events. Congrats to all the Buckeye All-Americans!
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http://www.gatorcountry.com/other_sports/article/florida_tf_wins_third_straight_title/13779

Yeah. When Gray went out it looked bad, as Gray was one of those guys - a major producer of points - that we'd already psychologically "banked". It took lots of personal bests to get enough points for the win. I'm real proud of the heart they showed. Ya know....guys like Horn.....SEC Speed guys :p
 
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OSU_D/;2123253; said:
So how are potential Director's cup points awarded here? Is it by NCAA place? Or is there a 'final poll' like after the basketball tournaments?
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It's a little bit different than basketball. In basketball, everyone that gets to a certain point in the brackets gets the same number of points. In track, cross country, swimming, and other sports where individual performances contribute to team scoring, every team that scores at least one point at the National Championships scores Director's cup points. When teams are tied in the track final score those Director cup points are added up for the places they take up then divided by the total number of teams. For example, Ohio State men finished in 26th, tied with 8 other teams. So the Director's Cup points for 26th through 34th are added together and divided by 9... Ohio State men's team will end up with 44 Director's Cup points. The women's team finished tied for 18th with one other team so they will end up with 55.5 Director's Cup points... 99.5 total points for Ohio State in indoor track.

Here is the non-bracket scoring formula.. track would use the 64-team scoring system: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nacda/sports/directorscup/auto_pdf/dcscoring.pdf


Gatorubet;2123274; said:
http://www.gatorcountry.com/other_sports/article/florida_tf_wins_third_straight_title/13779

Yeah. When Gray went out it looked bad, as Gray was one of those guys - a major producer of points - that we'd already psychologically "banked". It took lots of personal bests to get enough points for the win. I'm real proud of the heart they showed. Ya know....guys like Horn.....SEC Speed guys :p
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3 indoor titles in a row... not too bad for a team that can practice outdoors year-round. :tongue2:
 
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http://tracksuperfan.com/ohio-state-fires-mens-head-coach

Big changes for men's track and CC. I am looking forward to bkochmc's take.

I've always wondered about this point from the article. Some of it may be due to weather and some due to the excellent distance programs in the Big 10. There are probably some other reasons too. Track and CC were my sports in high school so I have always followed Ohio High School Track and CC recruiting.

As a related note, I?ve always found it very odd that Ohio State isn?t a perennial top power in the Big Ten, let alone the entire NCAA. The Buckeyes have very good facilities, about the most temperate weather in the conference, and certainly don?t have budget difficulties. Even more importantly, the breadth and depth of high school track talent in Ohio is exceeded by only a few states in the union ? and Ohio State has a huge recruiting advantage because, unlike those other talent-rich states, Ohio State is the lone major university here. Every high school athlete in its 88 counties, from the mean streets of Youngstown to the rolling farms of Pleasantville, dreams of competing in the state championships at OSU?s Jesse Owens Stadium. And nearly every athlete in the state, track or otherwise, dreams of putting on the scarlet and gray. That recruiting class released today has a few blue-chippers in it, but where Ohio State should be kicking everyone?s butts is in the walk-ons. There is no reason for Ohio State not to have one of of Track and Field News? top-ranked recruiting classes, year after year after year.
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This is new news to me... and a shock. Gary put this program in a great position to compete for Big Ten titles year in/year out. Unfortunately I don't have any inside info.

I do see this is confirmed by Adam Widman (Assistant Director of Athletics Communications) via The Lantern: LINK
 
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My guess right now is that the recruiting class won't be hurt too bad. Seems there was a lot of smoke that Gary was out the door after the season anyway and I'm guessing at least some of the recruits picked up on that. The sprinters are the strength of the class, so as long as Bethea sticks around I don't see this being a problem. Also, I think all those guys just signed, so they can't leave now without OSU granting them a release.

As far as OSU "under performing," I believe Gary certainly had them on the right track in terms of becoming a complete team and competing for Big Ten titles. They didn't win any, but have been towards the top of the conference each season for the past few years. The number of athletes OSU had at Nationals indoors certainly shows that the program is doing well.

In terms of Ohio's level of HS talent, I believe the OSU men can win Big Ten titles by being able to consistently recruit the top Ohioan's with little support from outside the state. I do not believe they can compete for National titles by doing that. The women, however, may be able to be in the National title hunt by recruiting mainly Ohio.

Looking at the the success of Ohio HS males that are competing outside the state, I really have not seen too many big successes. Kynard is obviously one and Heriot is running well, also. A few throwers have been solid, Neff is ok at Georgia, and Fleck was obviously very good for Auburn, though he is now on the OSU roster but hasn't competed. But as a general matter, I just haven't seen Ohio men really light it up out of state. Lot's of our top sprinters and throwers end up going the football route and don't run track in college. Of the big distance fish that have left the state, I can't think of anyone who turned into a star. Andy Smith was big in the steeple, but Wesley never turned into a stud, though he was very good. Kollar also had a nice career for NC State, but he wasn't a player at National's. Borchers put together 1 good race and 1 good season for Penn State. Wills hasn't done much at Okie St. this year. Alexander nothing at Oregon. Neff has been ok but not spectacular at UGA. There may be some others I'm thinking of, so please let me know about any big names I missed.

Overall, do I think a new coach can push OSU to new heights? Absolutely. Even if the recruiting presence picks up only in Indiana and Illinois distance wise the XC team could be top 10 contenders every year. Track is already on the right path, but will still need to add a bit more depth/star power, likely from out of state, unless more football guys come out, to be a top 10 type team at Nationals.

Will be interested to see what the do with the hire. Could promote Bethea and get an up and comer to do XC and distance, or could look for a more established distance guy to take over the whole thing. Maybe even a whole new staff, though I really like who we have right now. Just hope the move doesn't hurt this years team. Seems like no coach could do that to you.
 
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Three bits of news before I hit the hay that haven't yet been posted.

#1: We now know what happened to Robert Gary... he was named the head coach at Furman University earlier in the week. LINK

#2: The Buckeyes won the All-Ohio meet at Miami University this weekend without their big distance runners and Thomas Murdaugh:
http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/m-track/recaps/042112aaa.html
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio State men's track and field team captured the 2012 All-Ohio Outdoor Track and Field Championship Saturday at Yager Stadium in Oxford, Ohio. With a combined score of 160.83, the Buckeyes finished 12.50 points ahead of second place Akron (148.33) and 47.50 ahead of third place and host Miami (104).

Matt DeChant starred for the Buckeyes, picking up a pair of victories in the shot put and discus. His winning distance of 19.34m (63-5.50) in the shot put was a season-best and top-10 mark nationally, while his 52.82m (173-3.00) toss in the discus was a personal best. In all, DeChant contributed 20 points towards the Buckeyes' team score.

"Our guys competed very hard this weekend and finished No. 1 in the state against some very strong competition," interim head coach Ed Beathea said. "The All-Ohio meet served as another opportunity for us to prepare for an anticipated tough conference championship. I know our guys will be up for the competition. I liked our effort and focus this weekend and our coaches did a god job of getting everyone ready to compete."
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There is a breakdown per event at the OSU link.

#3: Corey Leslie ran a very impressive steeplechase at the Mt. SAC Relays... he is now the owner the top time in Division I this year.
http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/m-track/recaps/042112aab.html
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Cory Leslie turned in a runner-up time of 8:37.59 in the Olympic Development section of the 3000m steeplechase Thursday evening at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif.

A native of Huron, Ohio, Leslie's second-place time is tops in Division I this season and the sixth-fastest in school history. Ryan Haebe of Division II Western State was the winner of the in 8:36.46, while Adam Green finished 22nd in 9:06.63.
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