The Ohio State women’s track and field team had two of its young hurdlers on display this weekend at the USA Junior Outdoor track and field championships at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium in Columbus.

Letecia Wright continued her excellent first season with the Buckeyes with a third-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 13.70 — a World Junior Championships qualifying time. Wright earns a provisional spot on the U.S. team that will compete at the 2008 IAAF World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland in July. Wright was the only hurdler to qualify for the Big Ten and Mideast Regional final in the 100-meter hurdles. Wright was second among freshman at the NCAA Championships in the 100-meter hurdles and 18th overall. She was the top qualifier in this weekend’s event with a time of 13.67.

Christina Manning took 18th in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 14.72. Manning is the Maryland state champion in the indoor 55-meter hurdles and will attend Ohio State starting this fall.

The Ohio State men’s track and field team had their young stars on display this weekend at the USA Junior Outdoor track and field championships at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.

The event allowed many of the Ohio State track and field athletes redshirting this season to be a part of a meet in 2008 with out losing eligibility by competing unattached. Five Buckeyes that redshirted the 2008 season for Ohio State competed over the course of the weekend.

A trio of redshirt throwers made their Jesse Owens Stadium debut on the second day of the meet in the shot put. Matt DeChant, who was one the top high school throwers in 2007, finished sixth in the shot put a toss of 61 feet, 1 1/4 inches. The toss was a World Junior Championships qualifying distance and the best shot toss by a Buckeye this season. The toss is also the fifth-best toss in Ohio State history and the best by a first-year thrower in Buckeye history, topping the old freshman mark of former Buckeye and national champion Dan Taylor. Tyler Branch, the 2007 Division III Ohio High School state champion in the shot put, finished 10th with a toss of 57 feet, 3 3/4 inches. Aaron Crabtree, who was second-team all-state in football in Ohio in 2007, took 13th with a toss of 56 feet, 3 1/4 inches.

Daniel White, who finished fifth at the Big Ten Championships during the outdoor season in the 800-meter run and was a NCAA Mideast Regional qualifier, took 11th in the 800m with a time of 1:52.82. White was the only Buckeye freshman who competed for Ohio State during the 2008 season.

Brian Gallagher, who redshirted this season for the Buckeyes, took 13th in the 5,000-meter run with at time of 15:28.75. Taylor Williams posted a Top 5 finish in the 10,000-meter run with a time of 31:40.24.

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