Men's Track: Men take second place overall, produce three Big Ten Champs

This weekend, the track at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium hosted photo finishes, dives across the finish line, collapsed athletes and taunting battle cries across the stadium.

The Big Ten Championships gave the Ohio State men's track team the home advantage they needed to sweep the relays and stimulate the crowd into a frenzy. After three days of competition, beginning Friday, the OSU men's track team finished second with 103 points, the highest team finish since 2001.

The points began piling on when senior Patrick Woods won in the decathlon Saturday. He set a personal record with 7,405 points.

"Woods [beat his personal record] by 500 points, he did a super job, great commitment," said coach Robert Gary. "He really set the tone for the team."

CHRISTIAN LAUTENSCHLEGER/THE LANTERN Members of the men's track team celebrate a close win in the 4 x 400 relay.

"It's amazing," Woods said. "It's been my dream for so long. Crossing the finish line I ran as hard as I could. Glory to God."

After five events Friday evening, the decathlon finished Saturday with the 1,500-meter dash, which Woods said "wasn't [his] strong point."

Woods said he came out strong in order to gain a lead on Big Ten favorite R.J. Mcginnis of Minnesota.

"First day I knew I had to come out strong and stay close to Mcginnis," Woods said. "I tried to put as many points as I could. The pole vault opened up opportunity."

He said he had the 1,500 sitting in the back of his mind, and then gave his all during the race.

"I knew I couldn't lose to McGinnis by more than 14 seconds," he said. "I gave everything. I saw him finish so I dove to gain inches."

Another surprise was sophomore Adam Green's fourth-place and regional qualifying time of 9:06.71.

"Our goal is always to score, coach does a really good job," he said. The other three steeplechasers, including freshman Cory Leslie, who had the second-best time in the Big Ten, did not fare as well.

"That is definitely not how you run wanna run," Leslie said. "When you come up short it's really disappointing. I'll try to regroup and run a [personal record] at regionals."

Three of the four OSU steeplechasers are going to the regional competition.

OSU got another boost Saturday when the men kicked off the day with a first-place finish in the 4x100-meter relay, despite a troublesome first hand off. Anchor and football player Chimdi Chekwa edged out Illinois, crossing the line with a time of 40.63.

"We came out expecting to win," Chekwa said.

Junior football player Lamaar Thomas also had complete confidence.

"I just felt like if I can give it to Chimdi and make a move … I just had a feeling [he'd win]," he said.

The win inspired the rest of the team, which followed with a third-place time of 3:58.17 in the 1,500 by Jeff See, and a sixth-place, 14.61-second finish from junior Jonathan Francois in the 110-meter hurdles.

"I'm really happy," Francois said. "I couldn't have run cleaner, possibly could run faster, [but] I got to score, it's good to contribute."

OSU briefly slumped in the competition as freshman Thomas Murdaugh came up second in the 400-meter dash, and Chekwa pulled up short with a strain in the 100-meter dash.

"I was expecting to be real close. I knew they'd push me to the limit," Murdaugh said. "I got passed by [Illinois runner Gakolohelwang Masheto], he did a better job of keeping loose."

In the final competition of the 100-meter, Chekwa stopped running midway with a strained quad. His hip flexor "popped twice," he said. Chekwa said the strain would not interfere with his football season, though.

Thomas, however, came in fourth with a time of 10.65, scoring in his first Big Ten meet.

The meet picked up again with senior Curtis Leuenberger's 21.17 second, second-place finish in the 200-meter dash, and senior Bryan Bunnell's third place and senior Patrick Filipi's sixth place in the javelin. They threw 61.60 and 57.97 meters, respectively.

The meet ended with Murdaugh's redemption when he ran past Illinois' Masheto in the 4x400, finishing with a time of 3:09.61. Murdaugh received the baton at fourth place and managed to hunt the competition down.

The men wont the relay despite injuries. Junior Brandon Woodard suffered a hamstring pull during the 400 preliminary competition, causing him to be replaced by Leuenberger. Junior Stephen Robinson was also injured and ran with a visible limp.

"This is our home track, we weren't going to lose," Robinson said. "It feels great winning."

This was after the women's awe-inspiring 4x400 relay win, which Robinson said gave him goosebumps.

"I wanted to show them honor by doing the same thing," said senior Matt Comer. "Everyone did their job, we executed it, we won."

The finish marked an emotional won for Comer, who, after an injury, came back to score in the 400- and 200-meter.

"I made the finals, I made regionals. I'm a senior, I did everything I could, so I'm still proud of myself," he said.

The coaches are proud too.

"That's a great way to end the meet. To be second [in the Big Ten] is tremendous]," assistant coach Ed Beathea said. "They worked really hard, … they are great representatives of the university and our department. It was a great day overall."