Tag: Ohio State Track And Field

Hayden Tobias named Big Ten Male Co-Field Athlete of the Week

Another Big Ten honor for an OSU athlete this week. #GoBucks

Ohio State senior thrower Hayden Tobias was named the Big Ten Male Co-Field Athlete of the Week on Wednesday. It’s the second time he’s been recognized with the honor during his career and the first this season.

So what led to Tobias receiving the honor? All he did is break the shot put meet record at the PNC Lenny Lyles Invite at Louisville with a best mark of 19.86m / 65’2.” That was good enough to win the competition and beat the runner-up by nearly two meters.

Tobias currently ranks third in the country in the shot put, leading all other Big Ten athletes. He isn’t just proficient at shot put though, he also finished sixth in the weight throw (18.38m / 60’3.75”).

Congrats are in order for Tobias and here’s to hoping there’s many more honors before this season is over.

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Ohio State men’s track and field sends three to national field events

OSU sent three men along to Austin on Friday. #GoBucks

There’s been a lot of positive happenings with Ohio State athletics during the spring and you can add the men’s track and field to that list.

On Friday, the Buckeyes sent three field event athletes to nationals. In the discus, Carlos Aviles earned a spot at nationals by unleashing a best throw of 56.94m / 186’10” to finish eighth. 

Shaun Miller Jr. qualified by clearing 2.14m / 7’0.25” on the first attempt in the high jump to also punch his ticket to the NCAA Championships. Not to be outdone, Clarence Foote-Talley finished eighth (15.90m / 52’2”) to earn a spot at the NCAA Championships.  

The women will complete their competition at the NCAA East First Round on Saturday, beginning with the discus at 1 p.m

The 2023 NCAA outdoor track and field championships are from Wednesday, June 7 to Saturday, June 10, 2023. Both the men’s and women’s championships are held simultaneously.

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Ohio State’s Adelaide Aquilla qualifies for World Championships

Aquilla just keeps on making her mark in the shot put. #GoBucks

Ohio State track and field star Adelaide Aquilla has qualified to represent Team USA in the upcoming World Championships.

The 2022 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships were taking place in Eugene, Oregon this week, and Aquilla threw over 14 meters twice, with her 19.45m throw being good enough for second place.

With the result, Aquilla has punched her ticket to the World Championships, also set to take place in Eugene, Oregon from July 15 through the 24.

For Aquilla, it’s the next step on a journey she hopes leads to another Olympic Summer Games appearance when the world descends on Paris in 2024.

We will continue to follow Aquilla as she continues to represent Ohio State well. Here’s wishing her luck in the upcoming World Championships.

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Ohio State names Rosalind Joseph director of men’s and women’s track and field and cross country

It didn’t take long to name a former Buckeye as the new leader of the track and field program. #GoBucks

Just one day after announcing the retirement of the legendary Karen Dennis, Ohio State has a new leader of the track and field program. On Tuesday, the university named Rosalind Joseph the new director of men’s and women’s track and field and cross country.

Joseph, an alum of Ohio State, returns to Columbus following a four-year run at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale where she served as Director of Track & Field and Cross Country. While there, the Saluki women’s teams captured four runner-up finishes at the Missouri Valley Conference indoor and outdoor track and field championships while the men finished as high as third. A total of 10 Salukis earned All-America honors, seven women and three men.

“I am thrilled to introduce Rosalind Joseph as our new Director of Track & Field and Cross Country,” OSU athletic director Gene Smith said. “She has head coaching experience overseeing a dual men’s and women’s program at Southern Illinois, and now she is coming back home to Ohio State. She won six individual Big Ten championships as a Buckeye, graduated from Ohio State, and then coached here under Karen Dennis and helped us win six Big Ten team titles.”

Prior to her time at SIU, Joseph spent a decade coaching the Buckeyes. She served as an assistant coach under Dennis from 200 to 2012 before being promoted to an associate head coach position in 2013 and coaching through the 2017-18 season. She was named Great Lakes Region Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year before leaving for Southern Illinois.

“We are excited to welcome Rosalind back home to Columbus as our new Director of Track & Field and Cross Country,” Jamie Wood, the sport administrator for track & field and cross country, said in a statement. “In the wake of such a historic coaching run by Karen Dennis there was no doubt in our minds that Coach Joseph puts us in the best position to continue building on the foundation of success established through Karen’s years.”

“WOW – this is a dream come true,” Joseph said. “It is not often one gets to return to their alma mater to lead. Ohio State is a place that has given me so much as a student-athlete and as a young professional, so to come full circle as director is almost unbelievable. Thank you to Mr. Gene Smith and his administration for entrusting me with this role. These are BIG shoes to fill in following Karen Dennis, but so would be the case for anyone in the country. I feel poised and prepared to come back to my second home and take on the task of continuing the tradition of greatness with this historic program.”

What better way to make as seamless of a transition after Dennis’ retirement than bringing in a former Buckeye that’s worked under her and is familiar with the culture and winning ways of the program.

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Karen Dennis, Director of Ohio State men’s and women’s track and field, announces retirement

In case you missed it, Ohio State director of men’s and women’s track and field and cross country, Karen Dennis, announced her retirement.

It’s been a long, productive run for Ohio State director of men’s and women’s track and field and cross country, but it’s coming to an end. The university announced the retirement of Karen Dennis on Monday after 20 years at Ohio State.

Dennis came to OSU in 2002 as an assistant coach with the women’s track and field team and was elevated to women’s head coach in 2006. In 2014, she took on both the women’s and men’s track and field and cross country programs as the director.

During her time running the show, the Buckeyes took home 12 Big Ten championships including women’s indoor (2011, 2015, 2019, 2020) and outdoor (2011, 2012, 2019, 2021, 2022) crowns as well as men’s indoor and outdoor championships in 2018, their first in 25 years, and an outdoor title in 2022.

“I hope this isn’t too much of a surprise,” Dennis said in a statement. “I have coached for a long time and there are still things in life I’d like to do. I am truly thankful for this profession, and I want to express my gratitude to the many assistant coaches and support staff that have shared and sweated alongside me on this incredible journey. They share a primary role in the success of our programs.

“I also want to thank the hundreds of student-athletes who have shared their lives and careers as Buckeyes, and also their parents.

“I want to thank the great coaches here at Ohio State, and in the Big Ten Conference and nationally, who have served as examples of excellence and who have challenged and motivated me to be better.

“And, I want to thank my family for the sacrifices they made while I pursued coaching, and specifically my daughter Ebony, who shared with me and introduced me to 100s of kids through her work.”

To say that Dennis went out on top would be an understatement. She retires the same year that both the men’s and women’s track and field teams took home the outdoor Big Ten championship, the only time that’s happened in the program’s history.

“I can’t thank Karen Dennis enough for her friendship, her mentorship and the love she has for her student-athletes and Ohio State athletics,” Gene Smith, Senior Vice President and Wolfe Foundation Endowed Athletics Director, said. “I want to congratulate her on a truly legendary career in coaching. We have been incredibly fortunate to have her leading our programs.”

She will be missed.

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Ohio State’s Adelaide Aquilla breaks NCAA shot put record, defends national title

This is a very underrated result that should probably be more of a discussion point than what it will get. #GoBucks

Ohio State track and field star Adelaide Aquilla has done it again, this time in an even more impressive fashion. Aquilla won her second-straight NCAA title in the shot put by breaking the collegiate record with a throw of 19.64m.

Last year’s Olympic bronze medalist also had the top four throws in the entire competition to dominate the field and help place Ohio State No. 6 in the overall women’s NCAA championships after the first day of events. Aquilla beat the second-place finisher by more than a whole meter.

Perhaps even more impressive, Aquilla’s winning throw is the fourth-best in the entire world this year. In other words, the current Buckeye athlete is a star in the making on the world stage.

Keep an eye on the senior shot-putter as she no doubt begins to have more time to train even more intensely after college and perhaps make a run at some pretty special things in the next Olympic Games in Paris in 2024.

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Jesse Owens a part of the inaugural Collegiate Athlete Hall of Fame class

Jesse Owens may have had the most impressive 45-minutes any collegiate athlete experienced in 1935. #GoBucks

An Ohio State legend is a part of the inaugural class of the Collegiate Athlete Hall of Fame according to a release on Tuesday. The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association (USTFCCCA) held its first-ever induction ceremony in Eugene, Oregon, on Monday night, and the “Buckeye Bullet,” Jesse Owens, was a part of 30 individuals enshrined.

Owens really needs no introduction, but he competed at the varsity level for the Ohio State track and field team in 1935 and 1936, when he won four individual NCAA championships in back-to-back years, the first and only athlete to do so, even to this day. The eight individual championships are also still a record despite Owens only competing for two years.

The track legend had one of the greatest feats any athlete has ever experienced when he won four events at the Big Ten Championships in a span of just 45 minutes on May 25, 1935. His efforts on that day resulted in five world records and the tying of a sixth.

That was all before he stuck it to Hitler at the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936 where he won four gold medals in the 100m, 200m, long jump, and 4x100m relay world record-setting team.

To be eligible for the first-ever class, athletes had to be men who had completed their collegiate eligibility prior to 2000 and women prior to 2010.

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Ohio State men and women both win Big Ten outdoor track and field championships

Both the men’s and women’s track teams brought home the Big Ten outdoor title Sunday. #GoBucks

It’s been a great day at the Big Ten outdoor championships for both the men’s and women’s track teams. That’s because they swept the event on Sunday in Minneapolis, the first time a school has swept the event since Wisconsin did it in 1997.

The men outpaced second-place Iowa by scoring 124 points to the Hawkeyes’ 103 points to take the title. Wisconsin finished in third place with 90 points, while Nebraska (82) and Minnesota (73) rounded out the top five.

On the women’s side, the Buckeyes were dominant, breaking the record point output set by Michigan (179 points) back in 1994 by racking up 185.5 points. Wisconsin finished in second place with 98 points, while Minnesota (87), Penn State (82.5), and Nebraska (71) rounded out the top five.

It was the fifth title overall and second-straight for the women’s program, and sixth for the men.

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Sade Olatoye Named Big Ten Honoree for 2021 NCAA Woman of the Year Award

Congrats to track and field star Sade Olatoye!

Ohio State track and field star Sade Olatoye was selected as the Big Ten honoree for the 2021 NCAA Woman of the Year Award on Monday. She is one of 152 conference-level honorees selected. The news follows a previously nominated 2020 NCAA Woman of the Year Award.

In the classroom, Olatoye was a four-time academic All-Big Ten honoree and six-time OSU Scholar-Athlete. She also won the Big Ten’s Wayne Duke Postgraduate Scholarship towards her graduate studies after receiving the NCAA Winter Sports Postgraduate Scholarship last winter.

On the field, she was dominant in the shot put and weight throw for the track and field program. She tied the school record for most individual Big Ten championships in field events – six. Four of those came in the shot put with three of those coming indoors (2017, 2018, 2019), and one of the outdoor variety (2017). Olatoye took two Big Ten championships home in the weight throw (2017, 2019).

As a 2019 First-Team All-American in the weight throw, she also owns four school records. shot put indoor (17.88m), shot put outdoor (17.88m), weight throw (24.46m), and hammer throw (67.49m).

Congrats are definitely in order for Olatoye for not only a great career, but for this distinguished honor.

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Buckeyes Wire sits down with former Ohio State track star, Olympic gold medalist Butch Reynolds

Hey, the Olympics are going on. What better time to sit down with former Buckeye Butch Reynolds to get his thoughts on the international competition, Ohio State football, the time he tried out for the Browns, and more.

There are some guys that need no introduction. Former Ohio State track star Butch Reynolds is one of those. The list of accomplishments is astounding when it comes to international competition in track and field and beyond.

Reynolds once held the world record in the 400 meters, has a gold medal as a part of the 4×400 meter USA relay team, and still holds the world record in that same discipline with a foursome including Michael Johnson that set it in competition in Germany back in 1993.

But that’s not all Reynolds is known for. Jim Tressel tapped him to be the Ohio State football speed coach in 2005. He coached and developed guys like Ted Ginn, Jr., A.J. Hawk, Troy Smith, Santonio Holmes, and more. He also is a speed coach still to this day who works with OSU linebacker commit Gabe Powers,

But that’s not all. Reynolds has a noble charity named “Care for Kids” that’s been making a difference since 1995. Oh, and did we mention he has a book in the works? Sounds like a page-turner to us.

Buckeyes Wire’s Josh Keatley sat down for a timely interview with Reynolds as the Olympics are in full swing out in Tokyo for a wide-ranging and engaging interview. So head on over to our YouTube channel by clicking on the below video and listen to Reynolds talk about the fastest guy he ever coached at Ohio State, what his fondest accomplishment is, the time he tried out for the Browns, and much, much more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYLDrUKeATs

To learn more about Butch Reynolds, including his speed and agility coaching as well as his charitable work, do yourself a favor and visit ButchReynolds.com for more.

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