Buckeyes Set for Big Ten Indoor Championships
2/24/2021 8:20:52 AM | Women's Track & Field
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State men’s and women’s track and field programs will travel about three hours away this week, just northeast of Cleveland to Geneva, Ohio, to compete in the 2021 Big Ten Conference indoor track and field championships. The Thursday-through-Saturday championships will be held for the eighth time at the SPIRE Institute.
The Ohio State women are the two-time defending Big Ten champions, winning by five points over runner-up Minnesota in 2020 at SPIRE and by 29 points over runner-up Indiana in 2019 at Ann Arbor, Mich.
The Ohio State men are coming off a fifth-place finish at the 2020 indoor championships and are seeking a second Big Ten indoor crown in four years, having won the title in 2018 at SPIRE.
Individual track and field championships will be awarded all three days of the event with the team champions being crowned Saturday mid-afternoon (men) and early evening (women).
2021 Big Ten Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships
Feb. 25-27; SPIRE Institute; Geneva, Ohio
Thursday Finals
10 a.m. start, men; 4 p.m. start, women
- 3,000
- Distance medley relay
- Long jump
- Weight throw
- Heptathlon (60, LJ, SP, HJ)
Friday Finals
10:30 a.m. start, men; 3:30 p.m. start, women
- Triple jump
- Heptathlon (60H, PV, 1,000 & champion crowned)
- Pentathlon (60H, HJ, SP, LJ, 800 & champion crowned)
Saturday Finals
11 a.m. start, men; 4 p.m. start, women
- Mile
- 400 meters
- 60 meters
- 800 meters
- 60 hurdles
- 600 meters
- 200 meters
- 5,000
- 4×400 relay
- Pole vault
- High jump
- Shot put
Seven scorers return for the men
As many as 17 members of the men’s team who have prior Big Ten championship meet experience may be competing this weekend in Geneva, including a talented and select group of individuals who have scored points toward the team total in one or more indoor championships the past three years. Leading the way is senior Tyler Johnson, who has scored team points in five events the past two meets and senior Eric Harrison Jr., who has scored in three events. A little on each of the returning scorers:
- Tyler Johnson was the indoor runner-up last year in both the 200 and 400 and as part of the runner-up 4×400 relay team. In 2019 he was fifth in the 400 and led off the runner-up 4×400 relay team;
- Eric Harrison Jr. was fifth in both the 60 and the 200 in 2020 and he was fourth in the 200 at the 2019 indoor championships;
- Senior Frank Hayes won the 600 at the 2019 Big Ten indoor meet and ran anchor on the runner-up 4×400 relay in 2019 as well;
- Junior Donnie James Jr. took sixth in the 200 and ran a leg on the runner-up 4×400 relay team at the 2020 championships;
- Sophomore Clarence Foote-Talley was runner-up in the triple jump last year;
- Senior Robby Oswald was fourth in the pole vault last year; and
- Sophomore Shaun Miller Jr. was seventh in the high jump in 2020.
Program of the decade
The Ohio State women’s team has been the team of the last decade in the Big Ten Conference, with four indoor championships, three outdoor titles and seven total titles. No other school has more than four indoor/outdoor titles from 2011 through 2020.
Big Ten Women’s Championships – 2011-20
- Ohio State – 7 (Indoor – 2011-15-19-20; Outdoor – 2011-12-19)
- Penn State – 4 (Indoor – 2014-17; Outdoor – 2013-14)
- Minnesota – 2 (Indoor – 2018; Outdoor – 2018)
Michigan – 2 (Indoor – 2016; Outdoor – 2016)
- Michigan State – 1 (Outdoor – 2015)
Purdue – 1 (Outdoor – 2017)
Nebraska – 1 (Indoor – 2012)
Illinois – 1 (Indoor – 2013)
Battle-tested Buckeyes
Senior All-American and two-time Big Ten track athlete of the championships Anavia Battle headlines a contingent of nine Buckeyes who have scored points and contributed to Ohio State’s 2019 and 2020 indoor titles. The Ohio State scoring contingent includes:
- Battle, who is the defending indoor champ in the 60 and the two-time defending indoor champ in the 200. She has scored in seven events the past three years, including second- and third-place finishes in the 60 in 2018 and 2019, respectively, a third in 2018 in the 200 and a leg on the third-place 4×400 relay team in 2019;
- Junior Divine Parker was the runner-up to Battle last year in both the 60 and 200;
- Senior Aziza Ayoub has made the 800 finals three times, finishing fourth, fourth and seventh in 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively;
- Senior Morgan Lewis has a couple of Top 5 finishes: third in the 60 hurdles last year and fifth in that event in 2019;
- Mary Figler, a senior, has scored at three Big Ten indoor championships, including finishing seventh in the 600 in 2018 and as part of two distance medley relay teams;
- Senior Adelaide Aquilla will defend her Big Ten indoor title in the shot put this week and she also has a seventh-place finish in the shot in 2019;
- Junior Cierra Pyles was seventh in the triple jump in 2019; and
- Junior Alyssa Marsh scored for the Buckeyes in 2019 as part of the third-place 4×400 relay.
Head coach Karen Dennis
One of the most respected names in the track and field community, Karen Dennis is in her seventh season as director of track & field and cross country at Ohio State and is in her 18th season overall in Columbus. Dennis spent eight seasons (2006-2014) as the Ohio State women’s track and field/cross country head coach and was an assistant track coach for four seasons (2003-2006) prior to her appointment as program director for both the men’s and women’s programs.
Dennis, who was inducted into the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Coaches Hall of Fame in 2018 and who is also in the Michigan State (2019) and Ohio State (2020) Athletics Halls of Fame, has Ohio State positioned as one of the top programs in the Big Ten Conference and nationally. Dennis’ Buckeyes have captured nine Big Ten titles, including women’s indoor (2011, 2015, 2019, 2020) and outdoor (2011, 2012, 2019) crowns as well as men’s indoor and outdoor championships in 2018, the programs first in 25 years.
Dennis has been honored as the Big Ten’s track and field coach of the year 10 times, including five honors in the last three years with the 2020 women’s indoor coach of the year honor her most recent.
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