Men's Track: Footballers Chekwa, Thomas propel relay team to victory

The Ohio State men's track team pulled out all the stops at the Jesse Owens Track Classic this weekend. Football players and Olympic trail competitors were unleashed on the competition.

The men's 4x100-meter relay finally reached the regional qualifying marks, winning with a time of 40.51 seconds.

The 4x100 was a "better race for me. I had everyone on the team counting on me," junior Stephen Robinson said.

The men received two additional runners in football players Chimdi Chekwa and Lamaar Thomas.

"They've only had five days to work with the team," coach Robert Gary said. "We didn't even know the line-up until yesterday."

The new team ran the second fastest time in the Big Ten.

Another exciting moment came during senior Jeff See's second race of the season. See was a semi-finalist in the 2008 Olympic trials. Saturday, with the help of two rabbits, he ran a regional qualifying time of 4:04.95.

"That was the primary goal," See said. "I was definitely trying to get under 4 [minutes]."

See plans on racing as often as possible to improve to under four minutes.

"It's hard to simulate that effort [of racing]," See said. "Keep racing and hopefully it'll fall into place."

Gary was pleased with See's performance.

"It was a lot of pressure," Gary said. "He was right on the rabbits' tail, which was probably too fast."

Another regional qualifier was freshman Thomas Murdaugh in the 400-meter dash.

"The goal is to get top five in regionals," Murdaugh said. "I like to go in with positive attitude, that's not any different today."

His positive attitude was rewarded with a first-place time of 46.58, as well as a fast leg of the 4x400-meter relay, which also came in first.

ZACH TUGGLE/THE LANTERN Ohio State junior Brandon Woodards, right, hands off the baton to junior Stephen Robinson, left, during the 4x400 relay during the Jesse Owens Track Classic on Saturday.

"We expected to run fast … we wanted to go out and be good," said 4x400 teammate junior Brandon Woodard. "We just ran with heart today, ran to be competitive."

Even with senior Matt Comer injured, the men ran a regional qualifying time of 3:08.92, third best in the Big Ten.

"I think we probably could've run faster," Gary said. "We hope matt can come back. We still have a pretty good team."

Another solid performance came from freshman Cory Leslie, who ran both the 3,000-meter steeplechase and the 800-meter run.

Leslie ran a regional qualifying time of 8:55.58 for a sixth-place finish.

"The goal was to hang on and run and see what happens. I'm excited," he said. "Tune up to get ready for Big Tens. It's the opportunity to get a good race in before Big Tens."

Leslie also had a nail-biter of an 800-meter race. He was tripped in first 400 meters, and was second to last in his heat after 500. A strong kick put him in second in his heat and seventh overall, with a personal record of 1:51.22.

"You never know how things go," he said. "I had to go sooner than I wanted to."