Seniors Lead the Way to Fifth-Place Finish at the Big Ten Championships – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/15/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
May 15, 2016
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The senior trio of SoSo Walker, Alexis Franklin and Aisha Cavin combined for six medals and 52 points for the Ohio State women’s track and field team on the third and final day of competition at the 2016 Big Ten Outdoor Championships Sunday in Lincoln, Neb. Ohio State finished fifth overall in the final team standings.
Walker, a native of Lawrenceville, Ga., competed in four events on Sunday for the Scarlet and Gray, amassing 18 points for her team. The highlight came in the 400-meter dash, where she claimed her first Big Ten individual title, defeating two-time defending champion Elexis Guster of Iowa at the finish line in a season-best and Top-20 Division I time of 52.08. She was also fifth in the 200-meter dash (23.51) and a member of Ohio State’s runner-up 4×100-meter and 4×400-meter relay teams.
Franklin, from Millersville, Md., competed in three events, scoring 16 points. She captured her second career gold medal in the 400-meter hurdles with a Big Ten- and school-record time of 55.66, the No. 5 performance in the NCAA this season. She was also fifth in the 100-meter hurdles (13.45) and a member of the runner-up 4×400-meter relay team.
Cavin, a Columbus product, also competed in four events. She earned three silver medals – an individual medal in the 200-meter dash (season-best 23.02) and awards in both the 4×1 and 4×4 relays – along with a bronze in the 100-meter dash in a time of 11.56. In all, Cavin totaled 18 points for the Buckeyes in her final Big Ten meet.
The three seniors combined with freshman Karrington Winters to take second behind Iowa in the 4×400-meter relay in a season-best time of 3:31.59, No. 2 in the OSU outdoor record book and No. 15 in Division I this season, while Walker and Cavin ran with senior Aliyah Everson and sophomore Maggie Barrie in the 4×100-meter relay, posting a season-best and runner-up time time of 44.27, No. 5 in the outdoor record book.
Freshmen Mikaela Seibert and Sade Olatoye also scored for OSU on the final day of competition, posting personal-best marks in the process. Seibert, a freshman from Waxhaw, N.C., cleared 12.70 meters (41-8.00) to finish fifth in the triple jump, while Olatoye, a Dublin, Ohio, native was sixth in the discus at 50.38 meters (165-3.00)
Ohio State closed the meet with a team score of 74. Michigan and Minnesota shared the conference title with 106 points, followed by home-standing Nebraska (94), Purdue (87) and the Buckeyes.
All-Big Ten
SoSo Walker – First Team
Alexis Franklin – First Team
Aisha Cavin – Second Team
Maggie Barrie – Second Team
Aliyah Everson – Second Team
Karrington Winters – Second Team
Scoring Breakdown
200m – 12 points
400m – 10
400m hurdles – 10
4x100m Relay – 8
4x400m Relay – 8
100m – 6
100m Hurdles – 4
Triple Jump – 4
Discus – 3
Hammer – 3
Javelin – 3
10,000m – 2
Shot Put – 1
Total – 74 points
Team Standings
T-1. Michigan & Minnesota – 106
3. Nebraska – 94
4. Purdue – 87
5. Ohio State – 74
T-6. Iowa & Michigan State – 58
8. Wisconsin – 55.5
9. Indiana – 53.5
10. Penn State – 47.5
11. Maryland – 32
12. Rutgers – 29
13. Illinois – 18.5
Up Next
Ohio State competes at the 2016 NCAA East Preliminaries May 26-28 in Jacksonville, Fla.
