Ohio State’s track and field team will compete this weekend in the Big Ten Conference Championships in Bloomington, Ind. Events begin today and continue through Saturday and Sunday.
The men’s track and field team is coming off of an impressive performance in the Billy Hayes Invitational, which was also held at Indiana University.
Senior Elon Simms won the 400-meter hurdles event with the seventh-best time in the Big Ten season, 52.13 seconds. OSU had seven additional top-four placements in various events.
Senior Jeff See, OSU’s top distance runner, said the team has a good shot at winning and he is looking forward to his races.
See will be running the 1500-meter, which he has placed second and third in before, and the 5K, which he has not yet placed in.
“I’m much fitter heading into championship season than I’ve been in the past, so hopefully that will be the difference maker,” he said. “I’m going into both races with the expectation of winning them. Top three is fine, but I don’t see any reason to count myself out of winning.”
The women’s track and field team is also returning on a good note after 10 top-four placements in the 25th Jesse Owens Track Classic.
Among these placements are two first-place finishes. Sophomore All-American Christina Manning clenched the 100-meter hurdles title, and Shaniqua McGinnis and Latoya Sanderson had a season-best performance in the 4×100-meter relay, also the third-best performance this season in the Big Ten.
Junior sprinter and hurdler Letecia Wright said her team is prepared.
“Everyone’s been keeping their focus on championships throughout the season,” Wright said. “Every week, people strive to improve their marks because they know championships are a battle and everyone is bringing their A-game.”
While optimistic, Wright knows the competition will be no a walk in the park for herself and her teammates.
“I think the biggest challenge we face is not getting lazy or too comfortable after doing so well in indoor season,” she said. “As a team, we have to keep the intensity in training and I think we’ve done a good job with that.”
Wright will compete in the 100-meter hurdles, 100-meter dash, and 4×100-meter relay in Bloomington. Though she said she has done “alright” so far in her events, she hopes to push herself harder than ever.
“I want to run fast and give 100 percent in all the events so I can get set up for regionals and nationals,” she said. “As a team, I think we can get in the top five if everyone competes the way we know they can compete.”
With high hopes from all parts of the team, OSU will stay focused this week on its weekend championship goals.
“We’ve really done all we can to make sure we’re ready and a lot of our guys are running great,” See said. “We need to use each other’s performances as momentum in our own events. If we can build off of each other, it’ll be hard to stop us.”
