Women’s Track and Field Opens 2007 Big Ten Schedule with Tri-Meet – Ohio State Buckeyes
1/19/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
Jan. 19, 2007
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State women’s track and field team opens the Big Ten season with a tri-meet at Bloomington, Ind. with Indiana and Purdue in Harry Gladstein Fieldhouse.
INDIANA INVITATIONAL
Days: Saturday 10:30 a.m. – 5:05 p.m.
Venue: Harry Gladstein Fieldhouse
Meet Information: iuhoosiers.com
LAST WEEK: KENTUCKY INVITATIONAL
Junior thrower Veronica Jatsek won the women’s weight throw with an NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 64-3 ¼ to pace the Buckeye women’s track and field team Jan. 12 on the first day of the Kentucky Invitational at Nutter Field House in Lexington, Ky. The event, held on the University of Kentucky campus, opened the season for the Buckeyes and served as head coach Karen Dennis’ first meet at the helm of the women’s team.
Jatsek also completed day one with a fourth-place finish in the discus throw (146-05). In the triple jump, senior Veronica Vance came in third with a mark of 40-3 1/2. Kim Willett took eighth in the pole vault with a jump of 10-11 3/4. Also in the women’s weight throw, junior Ashley Riehm was 12th with a throw of 53-2 1/4.
Saturday – The Ohio State women’s track and field team finished the second and final day of action at the Kentucky Invitational Saturday at Nutter Field House in Lexington, Ky., with a great showing from its sprinters. The women’s team was led by a second-place finish from senior Jenna Harris in the 400-meter dash in a time of 54.13.
Junior Jessica Stringer, a three time Big Ten champion in the high jump, began her senior season with a second-place effort in the high jump with a leap of 5-8. In the 4×400-meter relay, Ohio State took third with a time of 3:43.33.
In the 60-meter hurdles, Bever-Leigh Holloway was ninth with a time of 8.80. Also in the 400m, freshman Ashley Caldwell made her Ohio State debut with an 11th-place finish in a time of 58.14. Caldwell was followed closely by senior Chandra Krempel, who finished 12th with a time of 58.20.
In distance events, the women’s team put two runners in the Top 5 of the 800-meter run. Junior Laura Piper took seventh in a time of 2:16.43 and sophomore Ashley Jones came in eighth with a time of 2:17.07
BUCKEYES INK STANDOUT HIGH JUMPER
Karen Dennis, Ohio State women’s track and field head coach, announced Friday the signing of recruit Laura Allred, a high jumper from Cypress, Texas. A participant in the 2006 U.S. Junior Nationals meet, Allred owns a personal-best mark of 5 feet, 8 inches.
Allred holds the high jump record at Cy-Fair High School and helped the team to district championships in each of the last two seasons. A participant in the 2006 U.S. Junior Nationals meet, Allred claimed the 2005 and district high jump titles. She also was named district jumper of the year the last two seasons.
“We are excited about Laura signing in the early signing period, Dennis, in her first season as Ohio State head coach, said. âÂoeShe is the fourth best high school high jumper returning for the 2007 year. She is smart, highly motivated and really studies her craft. We believe with hard work she will become one of the finest high jumpers in our conference, and nationally. It’s also good to have made an impact on the great state of Texas.”
Allred was a 2006 Jr. Olympic qualifier and National Youth Elite Athlete All-American. She was named to the 2006 All-Greater Houston Track and Field Team after taking third place at the Texas Relays. Overall, Allred has 18 event titles in her scholastic career.
A Special Olympics volunteer, Allred is a member of the Cy-Fair honor roll and serves as a mentor in her community.
2007 OHIO STATE TRACK AND FIELD OUTLOOK
Karen Dennis begins her first season as head coach of Ohio State women’s track and field in 2007. A split program for the first time since 1993, the women’s team returns several accomplished veterans, who have experienced success in Big Ten competition and on a nation scale. That group will have the opportunity to mesh with a talented assembly of newcomers in 2007.
“I am excited for this opportunity,” Dennis, a Detroit native who ran collegiately at Michigan State, said. “We plan to make great strides in this new era at Ohio State and refocus attention to the superior product we have here and move in a winning direction.
“Ohio State has a great tradition. There are so many great teams here and I’m proud to be a part of that. I want to make Ohio State the premier team in the conference and a top team nationally.”
Dennis, in her third stint as a head coach, having previously directed the Michigan State and UNLV women’s programs, welcomes back a pair of Big Ten champions in sprinter Jenna Harris and high jumper Jessica Stringer. Both All-Big Ten and All-District NCAA Academic award winners, Harris and Stringer have combined to claim five Big Ten titles in their careers. Harris won the 60-meter and 100-meter dashes at the 2005 indoor and outdoor Big Ten meets, while Stringer has won the last three league high jump titles at the 2006 indoor and 2005 and ’06 outdoor meets.
Fellow seniors Janell Mitchell, Melanie Price and Veronica Vance also add leadership. Price, who owns the Ohio State record in the steeplechase, will captain a veteran distance squad. Mitchell will represent the Buckeyes in sprints, hurdles, relays and jumps, while Vance will look to score again at the Big Ten meet in the long and triple jump events. Vance, a transfer in 2005 from Bowling Green, topped the Buckeyes in the long and triple jumps during both the indoor and outdoor campaigns and will vie for a league crown this season.
Several underclassmen gained valuable experience in 2006. In her first season with the Scarlet and Gray, Ayrizanna Favours earned All-Big Ten second-team honors in the outdoor 400 meters and qualified for her first NCAA Mideast Regional. Fellow sophomores Bever-Liegh Holloway (hurdles), Jessica Jones (sprints/relays) and Chandra Krempel bolster a solid Buckeye sprints squad and combine with Harris and Mitchell to present a formidable relay units as well. The group set the OSU indoor 4x400m relay record last season, turning in a 3:39.95.
Kim Willet, Ohio State’s pole vault record-holder, is back for her sophomore season as well, while classmate Veronica Jatsek is the top returning thrower.
SCHEDULE
Ohio State’s season kicks off at the Kentucky Invitational in Lexington, Ky., Jan. 12 before heading to Big Ten country in back-to-back trips to Bloomington, Ind., for a tri-meet with Indiana and Purdue (Jan. 20) and the Indiana Invitational (Jan. 26-27).
The Buckeyes head for another Big Ten site for the Sykes-Sabock Challenge in State College, Pa., Feb. 10, prior to returning to Columbus to play host to the regular-season finale Buckeye Invitational (Feb. 17) in French Field House.
The league indoor championships are slated to run Feb. 24-25 in Champaign, Ill. After Ohio State student-athletes attempt a final time to qualify for the national meet March 2-3 at the Alex Wilson Last Chance in South Bend, Ind., those who gain a NCAA bid will compete March 8-10 in Fayetteville, Ark.
The outdoor slate gets underway March 21-24 at the Arizona State Invitational in Tempe, Ariz. The Buckeyes head back to their home state April 6-7 for the All-Ohio Championships in Cincinnati.
Ohio State will utilize a selected squad to compete the next two weeks at the Sea Ray Relays April 13-14 in Knoxville, Tenn., and Oregon Invitational (April 20-21) in Eugene, Ore. Select members of the team also will travel the next week (April 25-28) to either the Penn Relays, Drake Relays or Stanford Invite.
Ohio State’s feature home event is the Jesse Owens Track Classic, held May 4-5 at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. “The Jesse” will celebrate its 22nd running in 2007.
This season, the Mideast Regional will be hosted by the University of Missouri and run May 25-26, two weeks prior to the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Championships, which again will be held in Sacramento, Calif.
DENNIS COMPLETES COACHING STAFF
In August, Ron Davis and Qingyi Zheng were named women’s track and field assistant coaches by head coach Karen Dennis. Davis will serve as distance coach and Zheng will guide field and multi-event athletes. Davis comes to Ohio State from South Alabama and Zheng last coached at Michigan State.
Both Davis and Qingyi Zheng (SHIN-yee ZENG) have coached track and field for more than 30 years.
“I’m excited both Ron and Qingyi decided to join our staff,” Dennis said. “They have the experience to hit the ground running and provide quality coaching our student-athletes deserve. I am familiar with both coaches and I think they will add that extra ingredient to move our program in a winning direction.”
Davis, a former track and field and cross country head coach at New Orleans and Maryland-Eastern Shore, headed the South Alabama distance program the last four seasons and guided the Jaguars to new levels of success in both cross country and track. Last season, he mentored Vincent Rono to South Alabama’s first individual NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship in the 1,500-meter run.
In the 2006 indoor season, South Alabama’s men’s distance team dominated the Sun Belt Conference championships, becoming the first unit in league history to sweep the 800m, mile, 3,000m, and 5,000m events. The men’s team also established six team records during the outdoor schedule.
Prior to his stint at USA, Davis directed the New Orleans women’s cross country program to a Sun Belt Championship in 2000, the first in school history.
Zheng previously coached with Dennis at UNLV from 1997-2002. He then directed field and multi-events at Michigan State until 2005.
During Zheng’s tenure at UNLV, the Lady Rebels finished second in the Mountain West Conference each of his last three seasons and eight individuals claimed league titles. Zheng also was an assistant coach on the 2001 U.S. Women’s Track and Field team for the World University Games in Beijing, China. Zheng returned to Beijing in August as jumps coach of the U.S. team at the 2006 World Junior Championships.
Prior to his stint at UNLV, Zheng was a men’s assistant coach at the University of Idaho from 1993-97. While at Idaho, the Vandals won the Big Sky Outdoor Track and Field championship in 1995 and 1996, and the 1997 Big West Outdoor Track and Field championship.
KAREN DENNIS HIRED AS OHIO STATE WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD HEAD COACH
Karen Dennis was named Ohio State women’s track and field head coach Tuesday in an announcement made by Miechelle Willis, Ohio State’s senior associate athletics director. A sprints and hurdles assistant with the Buckeyes the last four years, Dennis becomes the first women’s head coach since Mamie Rallins in 1993.
“I am excited for this opportunity,” Dennis, a Detroit native who ran collegiately at Michigan State, said. “It is great that Gene Smith and Miechelle Willis decided to separate the men’s and women’s programs. It is a beneficial move for Ohio State track and field and for collegiate women’s track and field as well.
“We plan to make great strides in this new era at Ohio State and refocus attention to the superior product we have here. Ohio will be reenergized as our core recruiting area. We plan to bring in student-athletes from in-state as well as regional and national talent to move Ohio State in a winning direction.”
Dennis previously has served as women’s head coach at UNLV (1992-2002) and Michigan State (1981-1991). In her four seasons with the Buckeyes, she has guided several NCAA qualifiers on both the men’s and women’s side. Joel Brown, a Buckeye men’s hurdler from 2001-04, was the most-decorated, winning the 2004 NCAA Mideast Regional title in the 110-meter hurdles and gaining multiple All-America honors. Molly Logan was the top female hurdler, claiming the 2004 100m Big Ten title.
Dennis, who led both UNLV and Michigan State to conference team championships, also has vast international coaching experience. She was the head coach for the U.S. Olympic Team at the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia.
In 11 seasons at Michigan State, Dennis guided the Spartans to the 1982 Big Ten Outdoor Championship and she was named District IV Coach of the Year. She mentored Spartan hurdler Judi Brown-King to the silver medal in the 400-meter hurdles at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and Cheryl Gilliam to 12 Big Ten championships. She also mentored former Spartan walk-on Odessa Smalls to 13 Big Ten titles and All-America honors three times.
At UNLV, Dennis’ Runnin’ Rebels won a conference team championship in her first season (1993), earning her league coach of the year honors. In her tenure at UNLV, Dennis guided 12 student-athletes to All-America honors. She also coached former distance standout Katie Barto to an NCAA championship in 2002. That same season, Dennis guided Michelle Davis, a six-time All-American, to the 2002 UNLV Sportswoman of the Year Award.
Dennis has been involved on the national and international track and field scenes for the past three decades. In addition to the 2000 Olympics, she served as assistant coach of the 1995 World Championships squad in Gotteberg, Sweden, and guided the U.S. women’s team at the 1991 Pan American Games in Havana, Cuba. She also served as an assistant women’s coach at the World University Championships in Duisburg, Germany, in 1989.
Dennis is on the USA Track & Field International Competition Committee and is a past president of the Athletic Congress Women’s Track Coaches Association. Dennis also has served as a member of the NCAA Women’s Track and Field Committee and the NCAA Track Coaches Association.
UP NEXT
The Indiana Invitational as the Buckeyes will have their second consecutive meet in Bloomington, Ind. on Jan. 26
