Buckeyes Head West for Stanford Invitational – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/2/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
April 2, 2015
Live Results | Live Stream ($) | Miami Invitational Live Results
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio State track and field team travels to Palo Alto, Calif., this Friday and Saturday, April 3-4, for the 2015 Stanford Track & Field Invitational. The Buckeyes will compete against athletes from 109 four-year colleges and universities at the two-day event, now in its 40th year.
Competition is scheduled for 9 a.m. — 10:30 p.m. PT Friday and 9 a.m. — 5:40 p.m. PT Saturday from Cobb Track and Angell Field. Recaps will be available the following day on OhioStateBuckeyes.com. Live results, as well as a FloTrack live stream, can be found at the above links.
Notable Competing Teams
Arkansas (No. 6 M, No. 7 W)
Indiana
Minnesota
Notre Dame
Ohio State
Texas A&M (No. 1 M, No. 1 W)
Stanford (No. 12 W, 14 M)
Washington (No. 21 M)
Wisconsin
Throwers Compete at Miami Invitational
Ohio State’s throws team will compete at the Miami Invitational in Oxford, Ohio, on Saturday. Events from George Rider Track are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. ET.
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 March 28.
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.
Week 1 regular season rankings are released April 6.
Buckeyes in the Individual Top 25
Four individual athletes and one relay team have posted Top 25 times/marks in Division I this season according to Track & Field Results Reporting System (TFRRS). A look at where the Buckeyes sit:
Men
· J.C. Murasky — No. 5, shot put
· Zack Bazile — No. 8, long jump; No. 16, triple jump
· Champ Page — No. 17, 400-meter dash
Women
· Abie Ehimwenman — No. 16, triple jump
· 4×400-meter relay — No. 22 (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.
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, Ehimwenman in the women’s long jump and Bazile, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, in the men’s long jump. In addition, the women’s 4×400-meter relay team 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), 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.
Last Time Out
The Ohio State men’s team was victorious in its outdoor season opener at the FSU Relays in Tallahassee, Fla., last Saturday, amassing a team score of 152 to defeat host and ninth-ranked Florida State, Miami (Fla.) and North Carolina.
Ohio State won a total of five events over two days of competition, highlighted by a personal-best throw of 19.36 meters (63-6.25) from Murasky in the shot put, a performance that ranks fourth in Ohio State outdoor history and fifth in Division I so far this season.
Bazile captured the long jump title with a mark of 7.56 meters (24-9.75), the eighth-best jump in Division I this season. Bazile also set a massive personal best of 15.38 meters (50-5.50) to finish third in the triple jump, a Top-20 performance in DI this season.
Also picking up wins for OSU was Page in the 400-meter dash (46.99), Blanks in the 400-meter hurdles (52.49) and sophomore Anthony Johnson in the 800-meter run (1:52.92). Page’s winning time ranks seventh in the country so far this season.
The Buckeye women placed third overall with 146 points behind No. 9 FSU (187) and No. 19 Miami (161). North Carolina was a distant fourth with a team score of 49.
Sykes won the 100-meter dash in 11.94 seconds and helped the 4×100-meter relay team to a first-place time of 45.81.
In the field, Ehimwenman won the triple jump with a 12.45-meter (40-10.25) leap, 16th in Division I this season. Junior Allie Missler picked up a win in the javelin in her Buckeye debut, clearing a personal-best 45.04 meters (147-9.25), ranking her No. 2 all-time in the event at Ohio State behind Maggie Mullen.
Up Next
Ohio State challenges its fellow Ohio universities and colleges at the 2015 All-Ohio Championships April 10-11 in Oxford, Ohio.
