The Ohio State cross country team will test its off-season training this Saturday at the Queen City Invitational.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State cross country team will test its off-season training this Saturday at the Queen City Invitational. The men will run a 5k at 9:00 a.m. E.T, and the women will follow with a 5k at 9:30 a.m. E.T. The meet will take place at Valhalla Cross Country Course located on the Northern Kentucky campus.
TEAMS IN ATTENDANCE
Cedarville, Cincinnati, Cincinnati Christian, Dayton, Eastern Kentucky University, Kentucky, Marshall, Morehead State, Northern Kentucky University, Thomas Moore, Wright State, Xavier, Queen City Rangers and UC Running Club.
QUOTING COACH ROBINSON
On the team’s preseason training
“It’s been pretty good. I’m fairly excited. Camp is pretty much for the kids to get to know each other and the freshmen coming in. They got along really well. Everybody came back healthy and came out healthy, so that was the main thing.”
On the team dynamic
“The team dynamics are really good, which is a blessing to be quite honest. You never know when you have new runners coming in and you still have some of the same things you would have from the previous year. The main thing for us, we always thought we had the pieces. Now it’s a matter of putting those pieces together. For me personally, I’m trying to change the mindset. The talent is there, but you can have the talent but if your mind and heart is not there as far as being tough, then it doesn’t matter.”
On what he is trying to accomplish with the first meet of the season
“What I’m trying to get done at this first meet is to see how people approach competing. I’m not one to just want to go to races and just be happy with running a personal best. It’s great to run a personal best, but I’m about going out there and trying to win. If that’s a personal best, great, if not – keep working. There has to come a time when you expect more out of yourself.”
OHIO STATE IN THE RANKINGS
The women’s team starts out the 2018 season ranked No. 29 in the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Coaches’ Poll, one of seven Big Ten teams to be ranked inside the Top 30. Those seven teams make up half of the field from the conference, proving the Big Ten as the strongest cross country conference.
2017 SEASON LOOK BACK
The women’s team ended the 2017 season with a seventh place finish at the Great Lakes Regionals with a team score of 189 points. Emily Stoodley, a returning senior for the 2018 season, came out of the starting gate with a fast pace and held the lead in the race for over half the race. Passing the 3,000-meter mark of the course at 10:25, Stoodley was out in front of the leaders pack for Ohio State and ended the race in 30th with a time of 21:14.3, just narrowly missing out on all-region honors.
Fellow senior Sarah Kanney was in the same boat as Stoodley and hovered around the lead pack for the first half of the race. The Coldwater, Ohio, native closed out the 6k race with a finishing readout of 21:28.0.
The men’s team rounded out the 2017 season with a 15th place finish at the Great Lakes Regionals with a team score of 398 points. Returning junior Alex Lomong placed 85th with a time of 32:49.7, and junior Aaron Wood was the next returner to finish at the NCAA Regional, clocking in at 33:02.3 to place 95th.
UP NEXT
Following the Queen City Invitational, the Buckeyes will be back in action on Saturday, Sept. 8 at the Golden Eagle Invitational hosted by Tennessee Tech in Cookeville, Tenn.
