Nine Buckeyes Travel to NCAA Indoor Championships

Thursday, March 11

Fayetteville, Ark.

Ohio State

NCAA Indoor Championships

Nine Buckeyes Travel to NCAA Indoor Championships

3/10/2021 5:45:00 PM | Men's Track & Field

Live Results | Schedule of Events |

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State University will be represented by nine student-athletes at the 2021 NCAA Men's and Women's Indoor Track and Field Championships, which run Thursday through Saturday at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark. The University of Arkansas is the host school. The event is closed and fans will not be allowed in attendance.

A couple 2021 Big Ten champions and athletes of the championships, plus a star sprinter and five-time Big Ten champion, will headline the Buckeyes' contingent to the championships. The competing Buckeyes this week will be (listed alphabetically):

Adelaide Aquilla (shot put; Friday prelims and finals) – The senior throws specialist is the 2020 and 2021 Big Ten shot put champion who was also named field athlete of the championships at the 2021 indoor championships. Aquilla qualified for the NCAA indoor championships last year that were cancelled because of the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. She has the nation's sixth-longest throw in the shot this indoor season: 17.70m /58-1.
Anavia Battle (200 meters: Friday prelims; Saturday finals) – Battle is a senior who has qualified for her third NCAAs – 2020 and 2021 indoors; 2019 outdoors – and who has a Top 5 time nationally in the 200 this season of 22.88. Battle is a five-time Big Ten champion and has twice been named track athlete of the championships. She qualified No. 1 out of prelims in the 200 at Big Tens two weeks ago but then was pulled out of the final.
Cameron Cooper (4×400 relay; Saturday finals) – The senior middle distance specialist is coming off a fine Big Ten championships where he set a personal best at 600 meters (1:17.97) and ran a team-best time of 1:49.78 at 800 meters. This is his first NCAA indoor championships.
Clarence Foote-Talley (triple jump: Saturday prelims and finals) – Foote-Talley is the Big Ten's triple jump runner-up in each of the past two seasons and has a 2021 best of 16.26m/53-4 ¼, good for No. 9 nationally. He competed at Big Tens in the long jump as well – his first competition in that event in over a year – and was runner-up with a personal-best leap of 7.53m/24-8 ½.
Allie Guagenti (mile: Friday semifinal; Saturday finals; 3,000 meters: Saturday finals) – Guagenti is a sophomore making her first NCAA championship appearance. She has had a terrific 2021 season to date: she finished fifth at the Big Ten cross country championship to help the Buckeyes to their best-ever finish; she set the school record in the 3,000 (9:17.43) plus has a personal best in the mile (4:40.89), and she had Top 5 finishes in both events at the Big Ten indoor championships (fifth and third, respectively).
Frank Hayes (4×400 relay: Saturday finals) – Hayes ran the anchor leg on Ohio State's Big Ten champion 4×400 relay team this year plus he also scored points for the third-place Buckeyes in the 600 (eighth) and 800 (fifth) at the meet. This is his second NCAA indoor championships appearance: he qualified in 2019 in the 800.
Donnie James Jr. (4×400 relay: Saturday finals) – James Jr., a junior, was on this relay that qualified for the 2020 NCAA indoor championships but wasn't able to compete because of the pandemic. This year he's a part of the Big Ten champion 4×400 relay unit heading to nationals. He has a career best of 47.31 in the 400.
Tyler Johnson (400 meters: Friday semifinals; Saturday finals; 4×400 relay: Saturday finals) – The 2021 Big Ten indoor track athlete of the championships, Johnson is having a terrific indoor season. He is the Big Ten champion in the 400, running a nation's best 45.07 in the process, and also the Big Ten champion in the 200 and as part of the 4×400-meter relay team. Tyler was an NCAA indoor championships qualifier last year in the 200, 400 and 4×400 relay.
Evan Matthews (4×400 relay; Saturday finals) – Matthews made the finals in the 400 at the Big Ten championships but pulled up midway through the race and wasn't able to finish. The team's second-fastest runner at in the 400 this indoor season is healthy now and has a personal best time of 47:08 in the 400, set at the Big Ten championships in February.

Live indoor championship coverage will be streamed on ESPN3. A re-air of the championship will take place starting at 9 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, March 14 on ESPNU.

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