Ohio State Opens Outdoor Season at FSU Relays – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/26/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
March 26, 2015
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State track and field team opens its 2015 outdoor season this Friday and Saturday, March 27-28, at the FSU Relays in Tallahassee, Fla. The Buckeyes will compete in a scored quad meet with the home-standing Seminoles (No. 9, M; No. 9, W), North Carolina and Miami (Fla.) (No. 19, W).
Events from Mike Long Track are slated for 9 a.m. ET Friday and 8 a.m. ET Saturday. A complete recap will be available after the meet at OhioStateBuckeyes.com.
College Quadrangular Scoring
Only two individual entries per school shall score. Only one relay entry per school shall score. The Top-8 places in each individual event will be awarded points in 9-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 format, while the Top-4 relay teams will accrue points in a 9-7-6-5 format.
Buckeyes in the USTFCCCA Preseason Rankings
The Buckeye men are ranked 35th in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division I Outdoor Track & Field Preseason Poll, released Tuesday.
OSU totaled 56.87 points in the season-opening poll, finishing .12 points behind 34th-ranked Northern Arizona. Seven Big Ten teams are featured in the Top 35: No. 15 Penn State, No. 17 Nebraska, No. 24 Michigan, No. 28 Purdue, No. 29 Illinois, No. 33 Iowa and the Buckeyes. Texas A&M is the preseason No. 1-ranked team, followed by No. 2 Florida and third-ranked Oregon.
Redshirt sophomore Billy Stanley (No. 7, javelin) is the top-ranked individual for the Buckeyes, while the 4×400-meter relay team is ranked 10th.
The OSU women open the season ranked 45th overall. Three Big Ten rivals are represented in the Top 35: No. 17 Michigan, No. 20 Michigan State and No. 35 Penn State. Texas A&M is also the top-ranked women’s team in the preseason poll, followed by No. 2 Florida and No. 3 Texas.
Junior Alexis Franklin (No. 7, 400-meter hurdles) is the top-ranked individual for the Buckeyes, while the 4×100-meter relay team is ranked ninth.
#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.
Looking Back at the Indoor Season
It was a successful indoor season for the newly combined track and field program. The Buckeye women won their first Big Ten indoor championship since 2011, while the men finished sixth overall in a highly competitive field.
Four individuals won gold medals at the Big Ten meet – Chesna Sykes in the women’s 60-meter dash, Katie Borchers in the women’s 800-meter run, Abie Ehimwenman in the women’s long jump and Zack Bazile, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, in the men’s long jump. In addition, the women’s 4×400-meter relay team – Aaliyah Barnes, SoSo Walker, Beatrice Hannan and Aisha Cavin – sprinted its way to a first-place finish.
A total of eight individuals would go on to earn Second Team All-America honors at the NCAA championships: Donovan Robertson (men’s 60-meter hurdles), LaMar Bruton (men’s 400-meter dash, 4×400-meter relay), Champ Page (men’s 400-meter dash, 4×400-meter relay), Antonio Blanks (men’s 4×400-meter relay), Timothy Faust (men’s 4×400-meter relay), Sykes (women’s 60-meter dash), Borchers (women’s 800-meter run) and Ehimwenman (women’s long jump).
Dennis Earns Coach of the Year Honors
Ohio State director of track & field and cross country Karen Dennis was named USTFCCCA Great Lakes Women’s Indoor Coach of the Year and Big Ten Women’s Indoor Coach of the Year after leading the OSU women to the Big Ten indoor championship.
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 Buckeyes to their second-ever league title in February, topping runner-up Michigan by 15 points. 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 region.
Up Next
Ohio State competes at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., next Friday and Saturday, April 3-4.
