Buckeyes Break Three French Field House Records at Buckeye Tune Up
2/17/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Track & Field
Feb. 17, 2017
Columbus, Ohio – The Buckeyes closed out their indoor regular season slate with a bang Friday evening at the Buckeye Tune Up inside French Field House. Rachel Weber (800m run), Sade Olatoye (weight throw) and Maggie Barrie (300m dash) shattered the prior French Field House records.
“To see Rachel do what she did in her final meet here at French was special,” director of track and field Karen Dennis said. “Props to Sade and Maggie as well, I think our performance tonight will give us some much needed momentum headed into Big Ten’s next weekend.”
Weber left it all on the track in her final race as a Buckeye inside of French Field House. The senior clocked the best indoor 800m run of her life to break the 32-year-old Field House record held by Tina Parrott. Weber outran the field by a whopping nine seconds, and her time of 2:04.82 was nearly five seconds faster than the previous record.
Another weekend and another weight throw win for standout sophomore Sade Olatoye. The Dublin, Ohio native improved her already unanimous school record with a heave of 21.73m (71-3.50) on her third attempt of the evening; her personal best ranks fifth in the nation and reclassified the Field House record. A little over 30 minutes after her weight throw triumph, Olatoye decided she was going to move into No. 2 all-time in program history in the shot put. Olatoye tossed the shot a personal best 16.32m (53-6.50) to run away with gold in the event. Her shot put mark ranks No. 2 in the Big Ten.
Maggie Barrie was the third Buckeye of the evening to set a Field House record. In the rarely contested 300m dash, Barrie flew through the race and finished with a personal best time of 38.17 for gold.
Aside from Weber’s stellar evening, three other mid-distance athletes a career nights. In the men’s 800m run, Anthony Johnson clocked a personal record of 1:50.86 to cruise to gold. In the 600m run, Dominik Seitzer (1:20.29 – personal record) and Annie Ubbing (1:33.60 – personal record) both won their respective events.
The sprints portion of the meet was dominated by the Scarlet and Gray. In the 200m dash, Allison Mayfield-Brown captured gold with a time of 25.47. Both Keilan Beacham (51.86) and Karrington Winters (55.53) won titles for the men and women in the 400m dash.
In the shorter sprints, Aaliyah Barnes (7.43) and Bliss Soleyn (7.46) both set personal records on their way to a one-two finish in the 60m dash. In the men’s final, James Clark (6.73 – personal record) edged Deshawn Marshall (6.79).
In the 60m hurdles, Chantel Ray won gold with a season-best readout of 8.32 and she was followed by Christine London (8.40 – personal record) in second place. Freshman Brent Carroll clocked two personal bests (prelims and finals) on the evening in the 60m hurdles and he placed second in the finals with a time of 8.03.
Pole vaulters Cole Gorski and Madison Roberts both earned silver this evening. Gorski registered a personal-best clearance of 5.28m (17-3.75) and Roberts set a mark of 3.86m (12-7.75).
The jumps squadron collected two first-place finishes during the meet. In the women’s triple jump, Mikaela Seibert (12.45m – 40-10.00 – season best) and Olivia Small (12.26m – 40-2.50 -personal best) took the top two spots. In the women’s long jump, freshman Taylor DeLoach claimed the title with a leap of 5.82m (19-1.00).
In the women’s mile, freshman Abby Nichols won the first race of her career with a personal-best time of 5:01.92. Mitch Leitch placed second in the men’s mile with a personal record of 4:11.88.
The weight throw treated the Scarlet and Gray swell with Olatoye’s performance, but she wasn’t the only Buckeye to succeed in that event. On the men’s side, Max Seipel launched the apparatus 19.10m (62-7.75) for a second place finish. Grace Azenabor (17.96m/58-11.00), Alexis Dowdy (17.88m/58-7.75) and Lyne’a Diller (17.36m/56-11.25) all recorded the best marks of their career.
UP NEXT
The Buckeyes make the trip to Geneva, Ohio, next weekend (Feb. 24-25) for the Big Ten Championships.
