Buckeyes Ready to Run at NCAA Championships – Ohio State Buckeyes
11/19/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The 2009 cross country season will come to a crescendo Monday, Nov. 23 when the Top 31 teams in the country run for a national title at the 2009 NCAA Division I Championships in Terre Haute, Ind.
Among those teams will be the Ohio State Buckeyes, making their first appearance at the national championships since 2007. Led by 13th-year head coach Robert Gary, the Scarlet and Gray has enjoyed one of the more successful campaigns in school history this fall, finishing second at the Big Ten championships and third at the Great Lakes regional finals.
Senior Jeff See, the 2009 Great Lakes Athlete of the Year, has been the unquestioned leader for the Buckeyes, finishing in the Top 5 in five out of six races this season while winning individual titles at the Great Lakes and All-Ohio championships. Taylor Williams, a sophomore from Cincinnati, Ohio, has been a reliable No. 2 runner for Ohio State, finishing in the Top 15 at both the conference and regional championships. Sophomore Adam Green and senior Christopher Olinger bring experience and depth to the Buckeye roster, while freshmen Donny Roys and Julian Meyer have proven to be solid contributors as well, despite their relative inexperience at the collegiate level.
Indiana State University will host the 10k championship race at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Complex. Men’s action will begin at approximately 12:08 p.m. ET Monday, followed by the women’s 6k finals around 1:00 p.m. A complete recap will be available at www.OhioStateBuckeyes.com following the race.
The Field
Alabama
Arizona State
Arkansas
Auburn
BYU
Colorado
Duke
Florida State
Georgetown
Iona
Iowa State
Louisville
Michigan State
Minnesota
New Mexico
Northern Arizona
North Carolina
Ohio State
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Oregon
Portland
Providence
Stanford
Syracuse
Texas
Villanova
Virginia
Washington
William & Mary
Wisconsin
National Championship Coverage on Versus
The 2009 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships will be broadcast live on Versus, marking the third-consecutive year the championships will be seen on live television, and the first with Versus. A live web stream of the championships will also be available at www.NCAA.com.
Versus is a nationally renowned sports network that is distributed to over 75 million U.S. households. It is available in Columbus on Time Warner Cable (Channel 69) and WOW (Channel 88).
See Selected Great Lakes Athlete of the Year; Williams named to All-Regional team
Senior Jeff See was named 2009 Great Lakes Athlete of the Year Wednesday by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
The Middletown, Ohio native claimed the individual crown at the NCAA Great Lakes regional and became the first Buckeye since Brian Olinger in 2005 to win the region. Teammate Taylor Williams earned a place on the All-Regional team based on his 13th-place finish.
Buckeyes Third in USTFCCCA Regional Rankings
Ohio State remained third in the Nov. 17 addition of the USTFCCCA Great Lakes regional rankings.
No. 10 Wisconsin remains the top team in the regional following its eighth-consecutive Great Lakes championship. No. 28 Michigan State, a surprise second-place finisher at the regional meet, moved up to second in the regional rankings, followed by OSU, Indiana State and Butler.
Two weeks after entering the national Top 30, the Buckeyes once again found themselves on the outside looking in – the team received 24 votes overall.
Ohio State History at the NCAA Championships
The Buckeyes have appeared in 11 NCAA championships during their 96 year history, including six this decade under head coach Robert Gary. Ohio State’s top finish at the national championships came in 1944, when the team finished 3rd overall. Gary’s 2005 squad took home an 11th-place finish thanks to an 11th-place run from current assistant coach Brian Olinger.
Former All-American Olinger Added to Coaching Staff
Brian Olinger joined the Ohio State staff in August 2009 as a volunteer distance coach for both cross country and track and field.
A constant threat on the national stage, Olinger is one of the top American athletes in distance events, specializing in the 3000m steeplechase, in which he owns a personal record time of 8:19.56. Olinger has competed on some of track and field’s biggest stages, including the 2009 USATF Championships, the 2009 USA 7 Mile Challenge and the 2008 Olympic Trials.
During his four years in Columbus, Olinger was a five-time All-American, competing in five NCAA championship races while winning the 2004 Big Ten title in the 5000m (14:09.80). In June 2005, Olinger became just the second American collegiate athlete to break the 8:20 mark in the 3000m steeple at the KBC Night of Athletes in Heusden, Belgium.
“Brian is a great illustration of what you can accomplish when you get out with the team daily and put your best effort into getting better,” head coach Robert Gary said of Olinger. “He is a great role model for out student-athletes because he overcame struggles in our program and became an outstanding runner. I expect him to be a huge asset to our cross country and track teams because of this.”
Head coach Robert Gary
Robert Gary is in his fourth season as the head men’s track and field coach and his 13th coaching the cross country team at Ohio State.
Gary ended a decorated running career in 2005. In 2004, he became the fifth former Buckeye to gain a bid to two separate U.S. Olympic teams and continued running by making the finals for the 11th-straight year at the 2005 USA Nationals.
A 1996 participant at the Atlanta Games, Gary placed second in the men’s steeplechase at the Olympic Trials with a career-best 8:19.46. Eight years later, his third-place finish at the trials gained an automatic bid on the U.S. team headed to Athens, Greece for the 2004 Olympic Games.
Gary also earned honors as a cross country athlete, winning the 2004 Track and Field News Cross Country Runner of the Year. He qualified for the U.S. team for the second-straight season in both the four-kilometer and 12-kilometer events and finished as the top American at the 2004 World Championships in the 4k. Gary’s 2004 qualification to the world championships in two events marked the first time a U.S. runner made both teams in consecutive years and moved his tally to 11 national cross country teams qualified for.
In 2003, Gary qualified for his sixth United States world cross country team by winning the 2003 U.S. 4-kilometer Cross Country Championship in Houston, Texas. That same year, he claimed a third-place standing in the steeplechase at the USATF championships in June with a time of 8:24.82. Gary ended the year by representing the U.S. at the 2003 Outdoor World Championship en route to earning a No. 3 ranking by Track and Field News. During the 2002 outdoor campaign, Gary ran the fourth-fastest time by an American in the 3000-meter steeplechase. As a result of his performance, Gary was ranked among the Top 10 in the U.S. for the seventh-straight year.
As a student-athlete at Ohio State from 1992-1995, Gary was a six-event All-American, winning the Big Ten 3000m steeplechase outdoor title in 1994, where he set the Ohio State and Big Ten record in the event. He was a three-time All-Big Ten selection and member of three Big Ten champion teams (1992 outdoor, and 1993 indoor and outdoor).
Along with his numerous accolades in cross country and track, Gary has established himself as one of the nation’s elite coaches. Former Buckeye greats Rob Myers (1500m), Dan Huling (steeplechase) and Brian Olinger (steeplechase) along with current Buckeye Jeff See (1500m) trained under Gary while preparing for the 2008 Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore. Myers, Huling and Olinger advanced to the finals of their events before coming up short while See – just a sophomore at the time – missed the finals by one spot. Gary was selected to be an assistant coach for Team USA’s U23 team in July 2008 at the North America, Central America and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) meet in Toluca, Mexico. Joining him was See, who competed in the 1500m run. Myers and Huling finished the year having run the second-fastest times by an American in their respective events. At the 2009 USATF Championships, two former (Olinger and Huling) and one current Buckeye (See) qualified for final day competition, with Huling making the USA track and field team after a second-place finish in 8:32.86. In Sept. 2009, Huling ran the sixth-best steeplechase in U.S. history, finishing fourth at the Brussels Golden League in 8:14.69 while shattering the previous American-best time in 2009 by more than seven seconds.
Coach Gary’s student-athletes are known nationally for their work in the classroom – 18 members of the 2009 track and field team were named Academic All-Big Ten, while five members of the cross country team claimed the honor. The cross country team was named 2009 Division I All-Academic for the eighth straight season.
A recent inductee into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame, Gary received a degree in English education from Ohio State in the fall of 1996.
Last Time Out
Jeff See ran a first-place time of 31:03.16 to lead the Ohio State men’s cross country team to a third-place finish at the 2009 NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships Nov 14.
Taylor Williams enjoyed a successful second trip to the regional finals. The sophomore from Cincinnati took 13th in 31:25.94, a 12-spot improvement from 2008, when he led Ohio State to an eighth-place team finish. Fellow sophomore Adam Green was next up for the Buckeyes, finishing 28th in 31:53.70.
A freshman and senior locked up the Buckeyes’ third-place finish – Julian Meyer placed 44th in 32:19.57, while Christopher Olinger took 58th with a time of 32:38.73. Rounding out the Ohio State contingent were freshmen Cory Leslie (79th, 33:03.99) and Donny Roys (149, 34:42.73).
No. 10 Wisconsin won its eighth-consecutive regional championship with a dominating team performance, placing five runners within the top 25. The Badgers 62 points easily outdistanced second-place Michigan State at 128 – Ohio State’s 144 points were just enough to hold off fourth-place Indiana State (151). Rounding out the Top 5 was No. 26 Butler with 160 points.
