05-15-2009, 07:40 AM
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Football players get up to speed
Chekwa, Thomas help 4x100 relay improve its times
Friday, May 15, 2009
By Tim May
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Jonathan Quilter | Dispatch
Ohio State football players Lamaar Thomas, left, and Chimdi Chekwa helped the 4x100 relay set an NCAA regional qualifying time of 40.51 seconds two weeks ago.
Ohio State assistant track coach Ed Bethea could claim to be a genius for the way the 4x100 relay team suddenly picked up steam. But he said it's really because of the addition of football players Chimdi Chekwa and Lamaar Thomas.
With the Buckeyes playing host to the Big Ten championships this weekend in Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium, Chekwa and Thomas have made OSU a strong contender in the relay. If it meant replacing two other runners, Bethea said blame the stopwatch -- an NCAA regional qualifying time of 40.51 seconds two weeks ago with Chekwa and Thomas in the mix -- not the coach.
"You want your best guys, you want your fastest guys out there," Bethea said. "At this level, that's what you have to do.
"There are going to be guys who have been out here since September that are going to be, 'Hey, what about me?' But speed is the name of the game and everyone understands what our goal is: We want our fastest relay on the track. And if that's going to include football guys, so be it."
Relay teams are often in flux, but there was a click a couple of weeks ago for the Buckeyes in the 4x100 when James Manley handed off to Stephen Robinson, who handed off to Thomas, who handed off to Chekwa, the anchor.
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But Thomas had an itch to scratch. He set the Maryland 3A high school indoor record in the 55-meter dash at 6.41 seconds as a junior in 2007, and also won a state title in the outdoor 100.
"It was track season and I just felt like I should be out here," Thomas said. "In track, you are always trying to get points for your team, but once you're out there running a race, it's just you, and you're focusing down the track."
In other words, if you lose, you can't turn and say the right guard missed his block.
Except on a relay team -- a dropped baton can ruin a race for four men. Which is where Bethea's coaching comes in. His primary demand is flawlessness on the baton exchanges and for aggression, which is where the football mentality pays off.
"You want those first three guys to really attack the exchanging zone so the baton doesn't slow down within the zone," Bethea said. "And you want those four guys to have some type of expectation for that relay. You want four guys who want to do well and are willing to work hard to accomplish the goal. That's when you have a chance to be really competitive."
It's the main reason Chekwa and Thomas showed up, and Chekwa thinks the performance two weeks ago was just the beginning.
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BuckeyeXtra - The Columbus Dispatch : Football players get up to speed
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