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

BAY VILLAGE — For the last two seasons, Bay’s Michael Brajdic won the Division II cross country state title in the shadow of The Ohio State University.

Last fall he broke the course record at Scioto Downs with a time of 15:01.09, a record that had been held since 1987 by Olympian Bob Kennedy.

That performance plus twice finishing below 15 minutes caught the interest of most of the top running programs in the country.

But Brajdic like all great runners trusted his gut and his heart and both told him where he really belonged.

"My gut throughout the process was I am an Ohio guy," Brajdic said. "I would really love to stay in Ohio."

Brajdic made the decision in late November but officially signed his Letter of Intent to attend Ohio State on Friday in the Bay High School Library.

"I am relieved," Brajdic said. "In 7th and 8th grade I looked up to people who made big college decisions like this. I have always waited for this day and it is amazing that it is here already. It is a new chapter in life."

Brajdic began the process by e-mailing schools himself but like most of his races, by the end of the process everyone was chasing him.

"I started over a year ago e-mailing and getting my name out there. I got some interest and as I did better I got more and more interest," he said. "Eventually I was lucky enough to narrow it down to a few schools I really loved."

Brajdic visited Georgetown, Notre Dame, Ohio State and North Carolina State. Likely a Finance major, Brajdic was impressed with the Business programs at all four schools.

After his performance at the state meet, some big fish joined the race late.

"I was set on those four schools but after I won state I heard from a ton of schools like Oregon, Oklahoma State, Duke and bigger schools like that," Brajdic said. "I thought about looking into those schools but I really loved the schools I had."

The difference maker turned out to be Ohio State Cross Country and Track head coach Robert Gary.

"I really liked what Coach Gary was doing and to run with all the guys I looked up to in high school would be huge for me," Brajdic said. "I love how organized he was. He is involved heavily in USA Track and Field. He plans out your college career and prepares you to run nationally. He already has big goals for me. He also has post-collgiate connections. If the will is there for me to keep running after college, he will find a way for me to take stabs at Olympic Trials."

Gary is happy Brajdic is becoming a Buckeye.

"I am very excited about Michael becoming a Buckeye," Gary said. "I became increasingly impressed with him and his family as the recruiting process continued. He clicked very well with our current team and I am excited to watch him develop with the rest of a great recruiting class of Ohio cross country runners."

Brajdic’s scholarship is actually a track scholarship. He will participate in Cross Country, Indoor Track and Track at Ohio State.

"Technically there are no cross country scholarships there is just track," Brajdic said. "So technically I am a track athlete who also competes in cross country."

courtesy of Zachary Dzurick

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