Roys, Buckeyes Finish 13th at Pre-Nationals – Ohio State Buckeyes
10/16/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Sophomore Donny Roys ran a personal record and top 40 time of 24.21.4 Saturday at the 2010 Indiana State Pre-National Invitational, helping the Buckeyes to a 13th-place finish overall on the 8k course.
Competing in the highly competitive Blue division race, Roys and the Buckeyes totaled 400 points on the day, posting the top finish among schools from both the Big Ten and Great Lakes region. No. 1 Stanford dominated the meet, taking the team title with an impressive team score of 43.
“Today was a good race for the team,” Ohio State head coach Robert Gary said of the Buckeye effort. “Compared to years past, it was pretty encouraging, as this group has proven themselves with a big jump in performance from last season.”
Saturday’s race marked the first time this season that Roys posted the top time for the Buckeyes. Senior Chad Balyo, the No. 1 runner at the squad’s previous two meets, was the second runner wearing Scarlet and Gray to cross the finish line, taking 52nd overall in 24:28.4. Julian Meyer claimed the third spot (80th, 24:45.0), while Adam Green (97th, 24:53.8) and Jake Edwards (131, 25:15.8) rounded out the Ohio State scoring.
Taylor Williams, the Buckeyes No. 2 runner from 2009, struggled in his first action of the season – recovering from injury, the junior finished 148th in 25:24.9. Fellow junior Cory Leslie was the other non-scorer for Ohio State, completing his race in 25:18.0 for a 137th-place finish.
“Donny ran a terrfic race for us, and Chad is running as well as he ever has in his time at Ohio State,” Gary said. “Taylor will need to come around, but he is just getting back to full training and will need a bit of time to catch up. Overall, I like where we’re at headed into Big Ten’s.”
Up Next
The Buckeyes return to Madison, Wis., for the 2010 Big Ten Cross Country Championships on Oct. 31.
Ohio State Results
1 40 Donny Roys 24:21.5
2 52 Chad Balyo 24:28.4
3 80 Julian Meyer 24:45.0
4 97 Adam Green 24:53.8
5 131 Jake Edwards 25:15.8
(6) 137 Cory Leslie 25:18.0
(7) 148 Taylor Williams 25:24.9
