Buckeyes Ready for NCAA Indoor Championships – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/12/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
March 12, 2015
Live Results | WatchESPN – Day 1, Day 2| Men’s Heat Sheets| Women’s Heat Sheets
COLUMBUS, Ohio –Eight members of the Ohio State track and field team are set to compete at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships this Friday and Saturday, March 13-14, at Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark. Sophomore LaMar Bruton, redshirt sophomore Donovan Robertson, senior Katie Borchers, senior Abie Ehimwenman, senior Chesna Sykes and the men’s 4×400-meter relay – Bruton, junior Champ Page, senior Timothy Faust and redshirt junior Antonio Blanks – will represent the Buckeyes at the championship event.
Championship Basics
Days: Friday, March 13 (11:00 a.m. – 10:20 p.m. ET) and Saturday, March 14 (11:45 a.m. – 9:45 p.m. ET)
Venue: Randal Tyson Track Center – Fayetteville, Ark.
Television: WatchESPN/ESPN3 will stream the meet live on March 13-14 at 7 p.m. ET. A tape delay of the championships will air March 22 at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPNU.
Twitter: @OhioState_MTRK and @OhioState_WTRK. Official hashtag: #NCAATF.
Previewing the Buckeyes at NCAAs
Bruton is top-seeded athlete for the Buckeyes, ranked No. 6 in the 400-meter dash after posting a runner-up finish and the second-fastest indoor time in school history at the Big Ten championships (45.76). Bruton ran with the 4×400-meter relay last season at the NCAA championships, earning Second Team All-America honors with a ninth-place performance. He will take to the track for semifinal heats at 8:10 p.m. ET Friday night.
Robertson is seeded 10th in the 60-meter hurdles with a season-best time of 7.76 seconds. Recovering from a sprained ankle, the Berea, Ohio, native placed fourth in the event at the Big Ten indoor championships. He earned First Team All-America honors with a seventh-place finish last season. He will compete at 7:45 p.m. ET Friday.
Borchers leads the women’s team with the No. 8 seed in the 800-meter dash. Borchers is making her first NCAA appearance indoors after earning Honorable Mention All-America in the 800 at the outdoor championships last season. Borchers is the Big Ten indoor champion in the event with a school-record time of 2:04.31. She will run in semifinal heats at 8:45 p.m. Friday.
Ehimwenman enters her first NCAA championship meet as the nine seed in the long jump. The Olympia Fields, Ill., product won the Big Ten long jump title with a school-record leap of 6.37 meters (20-10.75). She will compete in trials and finals at 7 p.m. Friday evening.
Sykes is the 15 seed entering her semifinal heat at 8:25 p.m. The reigning Big Ten champ in the 60-meter dash, Sykes was a Second Team All-American in the 60 dashfor the Buckeyes in 2012.
The men’s 4×400-meter relay team owns the 12th-seeded time (3:07.44) entering the championships. Page joined Bruton as a Second Team All-American with the 4×4 last season, while Blanks earned First Team All-America recognition as a member of Ohio State’s fifth-place 4×400 indoor relay as a freshman in 2012. Junior Deshawn Marshall qualified with the group but will sit out due to injury. His replacement, Faust, earned Second Team All-America honors in the 200-meter dash at last season’s indoor championships. Robertson will serve as an alternate. Competition is scheduled for 9:45 p.m. Saturday.
Buckeye Women = Big Ten Champs!
The Ohio State women’s track and field team won the second Big Ten indoor title in school history Feb. 28 at the 2015 Big Ten Indoor Championships. Borchers and Ehimwenman won individual titles in the 800-meter run and long jump, respectively, whileSykes became the fourth Buckeye in five seasons to win gold in the 60-meter dash. The 4×400-meter relay team clinched the team championship with a decisive victory in the final race of the meet.
Ohio State slowly pulled away from the field throughout the final day of competition, finishing with 84 team points. Michigan was second with 69 points, followed by Penn State and Purdue in a tie for third with 68.
Dennis Named Big Ten and USTFCCCA Coach of the Year
Ohio State director of track & field and cross country Karen Dennis was named Big Ten Women’s Indoor Coach of the Year and Great Lakes Women’s Indoor Coach of the Year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) last week.
Dennis, in her ninth season as head coach of the women’s team and first year directing the men’s and women’s combined program, led the Buckeye women to their second-ever Big Ten indoor title Feb. 28. She coached athletes to eight school records during the season, six of which were set at the conference championships. Ohio State athletes won four Big Ten event titles and earned ten Top-5 finishes. The team finished the season ranked No. 1 in the Great Lakes region.
Dennis is a four-time Big Ten Coach of the Year and a four-time USTFCCCA Great Lakes Coach of the Year selection.
Bazile Voted Big Ten Freshman of the Year
Freshman Zack Bazile, a native of Montvale, N.J., was voted Big Ten Men’s Freshman of the Year after winning gold in the long jump at his first-ever conference championships Feb. 27. Clearing a personal-best 7.67 meters (25-2.00), Bazile ranks 19th in Division I this season in the event.
He is the second-consecutive Buckeye to be named indoor freshman of the year – Robertson earned the recognition after winning a silver medal in the 60-meter hurdles last season.
Buckeyes in the USTFCCCA National Rankings
The Buckeye men are ranked 41st and the women 48th in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division I Indoor Track & Field Week 7 Poll, released March 10.
Three Big Ten teams are featured in the Top 25 on the men’s side: No. 9 Penn State, No. 12 Nebraska and No. 21 Illinois. Florida is the No. 1-ranked team, followed by No. 2 Oregon and third-ranked Arkansas.
The women’s rankings feature two Big Ten rivals in the Top 25: No. 11 Michigan State and No. 14 Wisconsin. Arkansas is the top-ranked women’s team, followed by No. 2 Florida and No. 3 Kentucky.
Final team rankings are based on final results from the NCAA championships.
Scarlet and Gray in the Great Lakes Regional Rankings
Men (Top 5)
1. Michigan – 297.43 points
2. Akron – 280.53
3. Ohio State – 260.84
4. Indiana – 258.29
5. Michigan State – 243.37
Women (Top 5)
1. Ohio State – 304.14
2. Purdue – 291.47
3. Michigan State – 290.64
4. Michigan – 281.01
5. Notre Dame – 240.39
Buckeyes in the Individual Top 25
Seven individual athletes and two relay teams have posted Top 25 times in Division I this season according to Track & Field Results Reporting System (TFRRS). A look at where the Buckeyes sit:
Men
?Bruton – No. 6, 400-meter dash
?Robertson – No. 9, 60-meter hurdles
?Page – No. 17, 400-meter dash
?4×400-meter relay – No. 17 (Page, Bruton, Blanks, Marshall)
?Bazile – No. 19, long jump
Women
?Borchers – No. 8, 800-meter run
?Ehimwenman – No. 10, long jump
?Chesna Sykes – No. 16, 60-meter dash
?4×400-meter relay – No. 18 (Beatrice Hannan, SoSo Walker, Aaliyah Barnes, Aisha Cavin)
#StrongerTogether
Stronger Together is the official team motto of the 2015 Buckeyes as the squad embarks on its first season as a combined program in nine years. #StrongerTogether will be featured throughout the season in social media posts.
Up Next
Ohio State opens the outdoor season March 27-28 at the FSU Relays in Tallahassee, Fla.
