Ohio State Women's Track and Field Wins Second Consecutive Outdoor Big Ten Championship

By Dan Hope on May 16, 2021 at 5:19 pm
Adelaide Aquilla
Ohio State Dept. of Athletics
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The Ohio State women's track and field team won its second consecutive outdoor Big Ten track and field championships this weekend.

With a team total of 117 points, the Buckeyes defeated second-place Indiana by eight points to defend its title from 2019 (there was no 2020 Big Ten outdoor track and field championships due to COVID-19) and win the team trophy at this weekend's conference championship meet at the University of Illinois.

The weekend got off to a strong start for Ohio State in the throwing events, where Sade Olatoye and Adelaide Aquilla both broke Big Ten championship meet records on the way to winning gold. Olatoye won the hammer throw on Friday with a winning mark of 226 feet, while Aquilla won the shot put on Saturday with a nation-best throw of 62 feet, 8 3/4 inches.

Anavia Battle was the star of the show for the Buckeyes on Sunday, as she took gold in both the 100 (11.35 seconds) and 200-meter dash (22.54 seconds) and as a member of the 4x100-meter relay team, which won in a time of 44.36 seconds.

Other top performers for the Buckeyes included Emma Nwofor, who finished second in the heptathlon (5,685 points) and third in the 100-meter hurdles (13.24 seconds) and Yanique Dayle, who was also on the 4x100 team and finished second in the 100 (11.47) and third in the 200 (23.18 seconds). Cierra Pyles finished second in the triple jump (41 feet, 8 1/2 inches) to clinch the team title for Ohio State.

Ohio State has now won the Big Ten women's outdoor track and field title four times, all since 2011. The Buckeyes have also won the women's indoor track and field title four times since 2011, most recently in 2020, to accumulate eight conference championships in the last 11 years.

On the men's side, Ohio State finished fifth in the team standings with 71 points behind Iowa, who outpaced the field with 127.5 team points, as well as Michigan, Minnesota and Nebraska.

The Buckeyes have three individual winners on the men's side. Eric Harrison won the 200-meter dash in a time of 20.30 seconds, Tyler Johnson won the 400-meter dash in 45.37 second and Nick Miller won the 800-meter in 1:48.62.

Johnson also finished second in the 200 (20.57) while Harrison finished third in the 100 (10.33). The Buckeyes finished second in the 4x400-meter relay with a time of 3:06.60, while Robert Oswald finished second in the pole vault with a top clearance of 17 feet, 9 1/4 inches. 

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