OAC Outdoor Conference...predicttions?

Speaking of national caliber athletes, will any of the 3 former All-Americans/3rd place national DMR team make it Outdoor nationals? They have hit provo times, but need to go fster to get into the meet. Will they be going for it at Conference or waiting until last chance?

Heat Sheets are up..

Bump

dump...that's right, i said "dump"

I predic that one of the schools in the conference shall have a track, and upon that track shall be held a meet. All the other schools in the conference shall attend this meet, and races will be run. (Ok ,some jumps and throwing events as well ,but they don't count in this prediction.) Student athletes shall participate in these races. Some will run fast; others... not so well. Individual and team champions shall be crowned from among those who run fastest. (Ok, and from amongst those who throw, jump, blah blah blah.)

Whaddah ya think...pretty accurate?

unfortunately the throwing events will significantly affect the team champions.

Throwing this out there...

800-O'Brien

Steeple-Thatcher

1500-O'Brien

5000-Kempf

10000-Heckman

800-Yonker

1500-Scullion

5000-Keesee

Steeple-Keesee

10000-DiNino won't let Keesee sweep all 3 but she'll be all-OAC

10k = race of attrition. it was grim to watch some of those guys fall off the track in the heat. and has anyone ever seen water being given out in a track race before? that was a smart decision on the part of the bw training staff.

Here are some thoughts from the OAC Meet:

-Clearly the hardest race to compete in race wise was the 10k. It was mid 70's with a very high humidty. People were dropping like flies and time's were slow more than likely due to the heat.

-Jimmy O'Brien clearly showed why he is heads and shoulders about the rest of the OAC in the mid-distance department. Winning a very competitive 1500, winning the 800, helping win the 4x800 and bringing a buried 4x4 team from fifth in their heat to fourth overall shows he is clearly the best in the OAC.

-Heidelberg had a very disappointing meet distance wise. Simpson performed respectably in the 5k but his 10k was bad to say the least. Butcher appeared to be off too in both the 10k and the 5k. Wysocki had an aweful race in the steeple. Lasch, while performing admirable in the 4x8 and 1500, had a poor showing in the 800 and 5k. Maybe they peeked early?

-Northern had a terrific showing from their distance crews. Thomas Adam showed he is turning into one of the best distance runners in the conference. Paul Lewis has improved drastically on the track. O'Brien has already been mentioned. Heckman did well. It could be scary how well they do in cross and track next season.

-Mount had an OK meet. Kyle Basista, while not running his best in the 1500, ran a terrific 5k. Garro did well in both the 1500 and 800. Velliquette, who ran the 5k instead of the 800 for some reason, lost the 1500 for the first time in a while and had an ok 5k. Ford didnt finish the 10k. Meeson ran very well in the 10k and they had a steeple guy almost score.

I think this leads into a speculation of who will come out on top for cross. Right now, i would say 1. Northern 2. Mount 3. Berg

Any Thoughts?

Well I agree with almost everything that you said but I want to add that Otterbein's distance guys finally ran like they belonged in the OAC. Right now they're not at the level of ONU or Berg (and I don't say Mount bc they graduate so much), but they return everyone except Walters.

I guess here's my next question: What happens to Mount now that their senior guys move on? Do they have a couple of down years or can they just reload? It will be mighty hard to replace Garro, Velliquette, Basista, Salupo, Rodhe, Garcon, Belancic, Lockhart, Dawson, Espanola etc.

Lastly, who's overall program is better right now? Ohio Northern (men 2nd/women 3rd) or Otterbein (women 1st/men 4th)?

In atttendance wrote:

Lastly, who's overall program is better right now? Ohio Northern (men 2nd/women 3rd) or Otterbein (women 1st/men 4th)?

That's a really good question, I am going to have to think about it for awhile. I almost want to say Northern by default because they have so many bodies in there, but Otterbein had a hell of meet yesterday and that was without the help of all-american justin rush who is hurt. And yes, all though they were a distant 4th they were still 4th.

other comments, congrats to those who were able to straight up finish the men's 10k friday.

and

congrats to jimmy o on his performance although almost expected as talented as he was.

Mount will be graduation 94.5 points from yesterday but I am sure they will rebuild quickly.

Looking at the results: Otterbein will be losing Beeley(100), Ross(400), Burch(Javelin, Long Jump), Walters(Steeple, 4x800), Zvansky(Javelin) and Lehman(4x800,4x400).

Looking at the results further: Whitmer can replace Beeley but they need someone else for the 4x100. Schneider and Simko were right on Walter heels, and Simko should contribute to the 4x800 and the 4x400 next year as he did run 1:57 indoor.

To answer the overall.. there is no truly accurate way to know but i did it by points from this years meet

ONU Women: 96

ONU Men: 150

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ONU Total: 246

Otterbein Women: 177

Otterbein Men: 62

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Otterbein Total: 239

ONU by 7 points

another observation on the womens side: Melinda Keesee, wow. To win the distance trifecta is impressive. But to win the 10k by 2 minutes -lapping 2nd!- knowing you have two races to win the next day, that is amazing. She looked just as strong winning the 5k (after also winning the steeple) as she did cruising to a 38-something 10k. What a classy athlete overall.

runnur wrote:

and has anyone ever seen water being given out in a track race before? that was a smart decision on the part of the bw training staff.

It was smart, but it's been done many times including at US Nationals and the Olympic Trials..

Garro, Velliquette, Basista, Salupo, Rodhe, Garcon, Belancic, Lockhart, Dawson, Espanola etc.

Just for clarification Basista, Dawson, and Archer who threw indoor but was hurt for indoor will be back next season. But there is no doubt they lost some very key senior athletes.

Cross country prediction: First off all three teams will make it to nationals again this year, but I expect all of them to perform a lot better.

1. Mount- I put them here because they have won the past two years, and although they did lose Veliquette, they replace Basista who is expected to finally run cross.

2. ONU- They return everyone and program has been on the rise. Plus they always bring in large recruiting classes.

3. Berg- Technically I believe they are the only team out of the top three that loses a top 7 runner with Wysocki.

But it is really tough to say now what will happen, especially since anything can happen on any given day in cross country. Regardless should be a great conference meet.

ONU doesn't return Heckman or Bierkan because they were seniors??

As far as the top programs in the conference right now?

If you are combining programs....

1.) Ohio Northern (men 2/women 3) - have to give the staff credit complete teams on both sides. Cole, Maus, and their new guy (throws I believe) have things going. Maus's distance crew were very tough, and Cole produces top sprinters year in year out. Downfall -Throws

2.) Mount Union (men 1/Women 5) - Homan keeps things rolling on the men's side. Throwers were damn impressive. Women much better this year. Will be interesting how much they lose next year, and how they respond. All around both teams very solid top to bottom in my opionion.

3.) Otterbein (men 4/ women 1) - women by far very strong performances. Especially their women's distance runner. Had very solid sprint group as well. Men little iffy in places.

4.) Heidelberg (men 3rd/ women6) - Coaches seem to be doing a very good job. Thought they might have been the biggest surprise of the meet. Women need more depth. Seem to be the same 5 scoring in everything.

Observations from meet and where are they? What was up with the top two men's vaulters (Eagy and Gibbons). Neither one of them clearing a height. Fugate where was she?

What was up with the high jumps. Not very good competition on either side.

Just my opionion from the side lines.

Otterbein

Fugate hurt her hamstring a couple weeks ago jumping at the Sparky Adams BW meet and then hurt it again pretty bad at practice last week and couldnt jump.

Rush pulled his hamstring at the All-Ohio meet and took a couple weeks taking it pretty easy and attempted a small workout sometime last week and just couldnt do it. But He will be back next again year.

Also Otterbein Men did a lot better than anticipate. With all the injuries/sicknesses and according to the news letter the coach were only expecting about 40 points. They are a small and young team but they really came together as a team and we're pretty excited with a fourth place finish behind some pretty big teams. They arent graduating a lot of people and in most spots they have people to fill the shoes so they seem to be back on the right Track (and Field).