Perkins graduate Cory Leslie, along with Adam Green and Antonio Blanks, all of Ohio State, advanced to the NCAA championships with impressive performances Friday evening at the NCAA East Regional Preliminaries in Jacksonville, Fla., highlighting day two at Hodges Stadium for the Ohio State men’s track and field team.

Leslie ran the fifth-fastest times of the 3000m steeplechase preliminary to move on to next month’s national championships in Des Moines. Leslie placed second in his heat in a time of 8:41.95. Eastern Kentucky’s Ben Torotich posted the top time of the 12 championship qualifiers, crossing the finish line in 8:37.03.

Perkins graduate Cory Leslie ran a personal-best time of 3:39.00 to win Section II of the 1500m Sunday evening at the Payton Jordan Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif.

In posting the second-fastest time in Ohio State history and the third-best mark in Division I this season, Leslie placed 12th overall among 73 of the top distance runners in the United States, winning his 12-person race in the process. Teammate Chris Fallon ran a personal-best time of his own (3:45.51), finishing third in the Section IV run.

Perkins graduate Cory Leslie — an All-American — advanced to the NCAA outdoor championships with an impressive performances in the 3000m steeplechase at the 2011 NCAA East Regional Preliminaries at Indiana University’s Billy Hayes Track.

Leslie posted the top finish for the Buckeye track and field team, finishing seventh overall in the steeplechase in a personal-best time of 8:40.49. Leslie will be appearing in the steeple at the outdoor finals for the second year in a row, having finished 19th overall as a sophomore in 2010.

swalker@MorningJournal.com

Perkins graduate Cory Leslie broke the Ohio State school record in the mile with his first-place time of 3:57.97 on Saturday at the PSU National, an NCAA automatic qualifier and the second-best mile performance in the nation so far this season.

Leslie ran a blistering time of 3:57.97 in the mile at the Penn State National Invitational, shattering the Ohio State school record on his way to a first-place finish for the 23rd-ranked Ohio State men’s track and field team.

In addition to breaking his own personal record and the OSU school record, Leslie also bettered the National Invitational meet record and Horace Ashenfelter III Indoor Track record time (previously 3:59.15).

"Performance of the day undoubtedly goes to Cory Leslie," Ohio State head coach Robert Gary said after the meet. "He was outstanding today in running an auto qualifier and breaking the Buckeye record. I am very proud of Cory — I have been disappointed in my coaching (of him), but it seems we are now on to the right recipe."
Leslie’s sub-four minute performance earned the Buckeye junior the mile title ahead of former Ohio State All-American Jeff See (second, 3:58.15), Penn State All-American Ryan Foster (third, 3:58.15), and teammate Chris Fallon, who set a PR with his fourth-place time of 4:05.71.

swalker@MorningJournal.com

Perkins’ Cory Leslie is running well at Ohio State.

Leslie won the 3000m in a time of 8:23.08 for the Buckeyes in the Buckeye Classic last Friday.

Leslie, a redshirt sophomore, is Ohio State’s 1000m school record holder with a time of 2:22.48, done last year in indoors at the Notre Dame Meyo Invitational. The two-time Ohio State Scholar Athlete was also an Academic All-Big Ten selection.

Earlier in the season, Leslie placed 10th at the 6.4k Mountaineer Open (20:11.96), 57th at the 8k Big Ten championships (25:09) and 75th at the 10k Great Lakes championships (32:07).

In outdoor as a freshman, he finished 19th in the 3000m steeplechase at the NCAA championships in a time of 8:54.38, took 11th-place in the steeple at the Big Ten championships and was a member of the Ohio State 4x800m relay team that posted a then 2010 world-best time of 7:17.68 at the Drake Relays.

swalker@MorningJournal.com

Perkins’ Cory Leslie helped lead Ohio State men’s track and field team to a record-breaking final day of competition on Saturday at the NCAA East Regional Preliminaries.

Jeff See, Leslie and OSU’s four-time defending Big Ten champion 4x400m relay team will represent the Buckeyes June 9-12 at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon joining Matt DeChant and Thomas Murdaugh, who secured invitations Friday night.

Leslie will compete in the first national championship of his career after a 14th-place and personal record time of 8:49.06 in the 3000m steeplechase. Although, he wasn’t among the Top 12 finishers, he advanced to Eugene thanks to a third-place finish in his heat.

Back in February, Leslie etched his name in the Ohio State record books.
One week removed from running the fourth-best indoor mile in school history, Leslie re-wrote the Ohio State records with his second-place run of 2:22.48 in the 1000m at the Meyo Invitational, the top time in OSU history.

"Cory’s performance was definitely the highlight of day one," Ohio State head coach Robert Gary said of Leslie’s effort through a press release. "He has put himself into great shape. With the way he is running now, he could very easily run under four minutes in the mile, something only the best of athletes are able to accomplish."

swalker@MorningJournal.com