Zips at OSU?s Jesse Owens Classic

May 02 | Track & Field

AKRON – The University of Akron men's and women's track and field teams will head south down Interstate 71 to Ohio State University for the 23rd Annual Jesse Owens Classic May 2-3. Athletes from more than 35 colleges are scheduled to compete in the two-day event.

Competition will begin Friday night and last from 7-10 pm with the discus, the steeplechase, the 5,000 meters and the 1,500 meters. The collegiate schedule will resume Saturday at 3 pm and is set to conclude at 7:45 pm. For complete meet information, please visit:

JESSE OWENS CLASSIC OFFICIAL WEBSITE (Schedule and Live Scoring)

The Zips will only have this weekend and the following weekend, hosting the annual Campbell/Wright Open May 9-10, before heading to Bowling Green for the 2008 Mid-American Conference Championships (May 15-17).

Currently, Akron has four men qualified for the 2008 NCAA Mideast Regional, including Cadeau Kelley (long and triple jumps), Ryan Jones (high jump), Mike McCall (high jump) and Auston Papay (discus and shot put). On the women's side, regional qualifiers include Stevi Large (hammer, discus and shot put), Jessica Miller Hafner (pole vault), Crystal Goldsmith Dunn (pole vault), Carrie Kayes (pole vault), Valerie Wert (discus) and Allison Lawyer (shot put).

Among MAC athletes, Akron has the top performances of the year in the men's 4x100 relay; the men's 200 (Anthony Thomas); men's high jump (Jones); men's long and triple jumps (Kelley); three of the top four men's javelin (Tyler Sweet 1st, Daniel Kinsey 2nd and Nick Erdesky 4th); men's shot put (Papay); women's 200 (Brittany Hocker); women's 1,500 (Larisa Arcip); women's discus and hammer (Large); three of the top four women's in the pole vault (Kayes, Hafner and Dunn) and heptathlon (Jen Osborn).