B1G Championships Up Next for the Buckeyes
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State cross country teams are in University Park, Pa., for the 2021 Big Ten Championships. The men's 5.2 mile race will be at 10:45 a.m. Friday, with the women's 6K at 11:45 a.m. Both will be run on Penn State's Blue/White Golf Course. Live results will be available HERE and there will be a B1G+ live stream HERE.
B1G Championships Central
Buckeye This and That
With the schedule adjusted because of the pandemic, the 2020 Big Ten Championships were run Jan. 30 in Shelbyville, Ind.
The Buckeye women finished fifth at the last championships, led by Allie Guagenti who placed fifth. Other current Buckeyes who raced in last year's championships include Andrea Kuhn, Addie Engel, Hannah Moulton, Daniella Santos, Erica Francesconi, Ellie Weber, Suzanne Stein, Akemi Von Scherr and Annie Allen.
The Ohio State men were ninth in last year's B1G meet, with Zubin Jha the top Buckeye finisher. Current Buckeyes who raced last year include Ivan Slyepkan, John Cuozzo, Zach Shultz, Alex Dediu, Nick Regas, Jake Wickert and Mikey Zedan.
Ohio State's men's team has one Big Ten championship, in 1923, and finished runner-up eight times, most recently in 2009. The women have finished fourth twice, most recently in 2014, and the team has a total of six Top 5 finishes.
The Buckeye women's squad is ranked seventh in the Great Lakes Region in the most recent USTFCCCA poll. Other ranked Big Ten teams in the Great Lakes Region include No. 1 Michigan, No. 2 Michigan State, No. 3 Wisconsin, No. 8 Indiana and No. 9 Purdue. In the Mid-Atlantic Region Penn State is No. 5, with Rutgers No. 9. Minnesota is the top-ranked team in the Midwest, followed by No. 4 Illinois, No. 5 Northwestern, No. 8 Nebraska and No. 9 Iowa. In the national rankings, the Gophers are sixth and Wolverines ninth, with the Spartans No. 20, Badgers No. 22 and Illini No. 25.
The Ohio State men are 13th in the Great Lakes Region. No. 2 Wisconsin, No. 3 Michigan, No. 4 Indiana, No. 6 Michigan State and No. 7 Purdue are also ranked in the Great Lakes. Penn State is No. 7 and Rutgers is 15th in the Mid-Atlantic Region, with Minnesota No. 4, Iowa No. 8, Illinois No. 12 and Nebraska No. 13 in the Midwest Region. Nationally, Wisconsin is ranked 10th, with Michigan 15th and Minnesota No. 29.
The Buckeye men and women have run on the Penn State course already this season, as they competed at the Spiked Shoe Invitational in September. Engel was the top finisher for the women that day, placing fourth, with Kuhn, Moulton, Santos and Von Scherr all notching Top 30 finishes. Kevin Agnew paced the men, finishing 33rd, with Jha, Slyepkan, Gavin Copploe and Schultz rounding out the Buckeyes' Top 5.
Engel was the top finisher for the Buckeye women in the four races she has run this year, with Top 16 finishes in each. She won the season-opening Evansville Opener (to earn Big Ten Athlete of the Week honors), placed fourth in the Penn State Spiked Shoe Invitational, was 16th at the Bill Dellinger Invite at Oregon and finished 11th at the FSU Invite/Pre-Nationals.
For the men, freshman Kevin Agnew finished first for Ohio State the first two races, including winning the Evansville Opener in his first collegiate race. Zubin Jha has been the top finisher for the Buckeyes the last two races – at Notre Dame and at Florida State.
The Top 5 finishers were the same for the Buckeye women in four races, with Santos, Moulton, Kuhn and Von Scherr joining Engel.
Agnew and Jha have finished among the Buckeyes' Top 5 each of the first four races for the men, with Zedan in the Top 5 three times.
Postseason action continues with NCAA Regionals Nov. 12 in Evansville, Ind.
Florida State will serve as host of the NCAA Championships Nov. 20 in Tallahassee, Fla.
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