Olinger Helps Men’s Team Remain in Contention at 2006 Big Ten Championships – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field
May 13, 2006
Results
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State men’s and women’s track and field teams completed Day 2 action at the 2006 Big Ten Outdoor Championships Saturday at Michigan State’s Ralph Young Facility in East Lansing, Mich. Brian Olinger, who won the 10,000-meter championship Friday, added a runner-up score in the 3,000-meter steeplechase Saturday to keep the Buckeye men in the hunt for the team title.
Ohio State, which led the men’s standings after events concluded Friday, slipped to third place Saturday with 32 team points. Two-time defending men’s team champion Wisconsin leads at 64.5 points. The OSU women were in third place yesterday, but fell to eighth at the end of the schedule Saturday with 17 points. Minnesota has 96.5 team points to lead the women’s team standings.
Friday, Brian Olinger headlined the action for Ohio State by winning his second career Big Ten outdoor title in the 10,000-meter run. He clocked a career-best 8:45.59 to best the 10K field and narrowly missed the Big Ten championship meet record of 8:45.25. Less than 24 hours later, Olinger timed an 8:46.93 for second place Saturday in the men’s steeple. David Rae of Purdue slightly bested Olinger at the finish line in a time of 8:46.69. In the last two days, Olinger has accounted for 18 of the Buckeyes 32 team points.
Also on the track, several OSU individual athletes and relay teams advanced to their respective final rounds Sunday with qualifying times Saturday. Defending Big Ten 100-meter dash champion Jenna Harris reached the finals in the event with a time of 11.76 Saturday. That mark stands third among the prelim times, the same spot she held at the 2005 meet heading to the finals. She also turned in the third-best 200m prelim time at 23.98. In the 400m dash, freshman Ayrizanna Favours clocked the second-fastest trials mark at 54.55 and will run in the finals Sunday. Favours and Harris also contributed to the women’s 4×100-meter relay team that posted a time (46.33) good enough to reach the event finals Saturday. For the men, a pair of freshman proved to be the class of the 400-meter hurdle trials. Elon Simms has the top time heading to the finals at 52.14, ahead of teammate Matt Comer and his time of 52.24. The men’s 4×100-meter relay grabbed the last spot in the finals Sunday with a prelim mark of 41.34.
In field events, Ohio State’s Lenny Jatsek scored for the second day in a row in the throws with a sixth-place tally in the men’s discus at 163 feet, 6 inches. Teammate Pat Whalen finished ahead of L. Jatsek at 165-3. On the women’s side, Veronica Jatsek, Lenny’s younger sister, placed fifth in the shot put at 47-7 3/4, while Keturah Lofton, the runner-up Friday in the hammer, was seventh with a distance of 46-4 1/4.
Updated team scores and results are available at www.bigten.org or http://flashresults.com/2006_Meets/outdoor/big10/.
The Big Ten championships conclude Sunday starting at 11:40 a.m.
2006 Big Ten Outdoor Championships – Team Standings
Men – 7 Events Scored 1) Wisconsin 64.50 2) Minnesota 62.50 3) Ohio State 32 4) Iowa 29 5) Indiana 24 6) Penn State 20 7) Purdue 18 8) Illinois 12 9) Michigan 9 10) Michigan State 2
Women – 8 Events Scored 1) Minnesota 96.50 2) Michigan 47.66 3) Purdue 36.33 4) Penn State 31 5) Illinois 26.66 6) Michigan State 19 7) Wisconsin 18.50 8) Ohio State 17 9) Indiana 15 10) Iowa 4.33
