Men’s XC: Competition Heats Up for Buckeyes at Purdue Invitational – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/4/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Fresh off a strong performance last Friday at the Kent State open, the Ohio State men’s cross country team will look for another solid team effort this Friday at the Purdue Invitational.
Friday’s events are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. with the women’s 5,000-meter race followed by the men’s 8,000-meter contest to follow at 6:45 p.m. Other Big Ten teams at the event will be host Purdue and Northwestern (women) along with Butler, Ball State, Central Michigan, Taylor and Miami (Ohio). Complete results will be posted after the race at www.deltatiming.com.
Last week the Buckeyes were led by redshirt freshman Taylor Williams who placed first at Kent State, 12 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. A total of four Buckeyes finished in the Top 10. Christopher Olinger, Jake Edwards, Skyler Schmitt and Taylor Candella rounded out Ohio State’s top runners.
Season Preview
This season will look to be one of the final steps in head coach Robert Gary’s vision to claim a Big Ten title for Ohio State for the first time since 1923.
“Our biggest focus is training right now and the Griak will be our first real test at the end of September. Despite redshirting a lot of our runners, the goals of this program are always to qualify for the national meet and place in the Top 3 at the Big Ten championships.”
One of his goals since becoming head cross country coach 12 seasons ago was to win a Big Ten title. After a strong third-place finish in 2007, Gary is continuing to build toward that goal with some of the top recruits in Ohio in conjunction with a team atmosphere.
“One thing I have really stressed since becoming the head coach of cross country is keeping the Ohio talent in Ohio,” Gary said. “I have always believed there is enough talent in the state to win a national title.”
In order to accomplish his goals, Gary will redshirt three of Ohio State’s top five runners in 2008 in order to make a serious run at the Big Ten title in 2009. Two-time All-American Jeff See, Chad Balyo and Andy Arnio will all sit in 2008.
However, other Buckeye runners will look to keep the Buckeyes in the Top 3 at the Big Ten championships. Even with the redshirts, Gary is putting a team on the course that he believes can still reach the NCAA championship meet for the seventh time in the last eight years.
Redshirt junior Taylor Candella also returns, looking to close out his career on a high note. According to Gary, Candella is the team workhorse and is “constantly overachieving.”
“Taylor is coming off surgery on a knee injury that has been bothering him since he came to Ohio State,” Gary said. “He might not hold the top spot on our team this season but he is going to be one of the leaders.”
Christopher Olinger, Daniel White and Jake Edwards will all be pushing each other for the other top spots on the team. Olinger, the brother of four-time Ohio State All-American Brian Olinger, was in the team’s Top 7 for most of 2007 and will look to be the same mainstay in 2008 except this season he plans to be in the Top 5. White was an NCAA regional qualifier during the 2008 track season in the 800-meter run. Edwards broke on the team last season for the Bill Dellinger meet in Eugene, Ore., posting a solid time against one of the top fields in the country.
“Dan had a great season during the outdoor track season,” Gary said. “One thing we have been working with Chris and Jake on is consistency. However, this season should be a big year for them.”
Redshirt freshman Taylor Williams finished fifth at the USA junior championships in the 10,000-meters while fellow redshirt freshman Brian Gallagher also qualified for the USA junior championships and was 13th in the 5,000-meter run. Both Williams and Gallagher will look to push the older runners and prove themselves in 2008.
“Taylor and Gallagher had a great year last season and didn’t use any of their eligibility, which is great,” Gary said. “These guys got the chance to work with our team and go up against great national competition at the USA junior championships.”
