Ryan Robertson earns All-America honors with school record effort in long jump

Two-time defending national champion Jimmy O'Brien wins heat, advances to Saturday's finals in 800

Ryan Robertson	Jimmy O'Brien

March 14, 2008

By Zach Stipe

ADA — Senior Ryan Robertson used an ONU-record-breaking leap on his first attempt of the finals to place third in the long jump at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championsips on Friday at the ONU Sports Center.

Junior two-time defending NCAA Champion Jimmy O'Brien advanced to the finals in the 800-meter dash, winning his heat in 1:56.06.

He advances to the finals on Saturday at 3:55 pm.

Robertson jumped 23-4.5 to better the old ONU record of 23-4.25 set in 1988 by Dave Grantier and earn his fourth All-American honor.

“I’ve dedicated a lot of time to the long jump,” Robertson said. “My goal was to make it to Nationals. It feels good to earn All-American. To be at home makes it even sweeter.”

Robertson placed sixth in the long jump at the 2007 Indoor Championships and also earned All-American honors during outdoor track & field as a member of the 4x100 relay in 2005 and in the long jump in 2006.

Morvian senior Beresford Brown won the long jump with a season-best leap of 23-11.75 to edge two-time defending champion Greg Tyson Jr. of Heidelberg. Tyson, a senior, jumped 23-10.

Robertson qualifed for the National Championships by jumping 23-4 on his final attempt of the long jump af the Ohio Athletic Conference Championships on March 7. Robertson was third in the long jump, and won the 55-meter dash at the OAC Championships.

He also provisionally qualified for the National Championships in the 55, with his season-best time of 6.44.

O'Brien won the 2007 Indoor and Outdoor Championship titles and will be in Lane 5 in the finals.

On Friday, he rallied from third place on the front stretch to win his heat by .05 second.

"It was a slow heat, but I advanced to the finals and that's the only thing that matters," O'Brien said. "I got boxed in a little bit at the beginning of the last lap, but I got out of it. I wanted to be in the top two in the heat and we got that done. I need to come back tomorrow and get after it."