Sooners Add Nine All-Americans at NCAA Outdoor Track

June 3, 2000

Durham, N.C. - Senior Michael Blackwood didn't get a good start and had to battle throughout the race before finishing fifth in the 400-meter final at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship Saturday night at Wallace Wade Stadium on the campus of Duke University.

Blackwood then anchored the Sooner 1600-meter relay team, bringing the Sooners back to a fifth-place finish, .01 seconds out of third. The Sooner women, battling from the start of the race, finished eighth to earn All-America honors in the 1600-meter relay. Junior Avard Moncur of Auburn won the 400 with a career-best time of 44.72 while Blackwood finished with a 45.11, .03 behind third and.02 behind fourth.

"Michael just didn't' get a good start and he lost the race in the first 200 meters," Sooner co-head coach Rodney Price said. "He ran hard to make up some ground but there wasn't enough left in the race. And you can't take away the Auburn runner having a career best time. It was a very competitive race and on any night, any of the eight finalists could have won the race."

The Sooners, along with the other relay teams and the men's 5,000-meter runners, had to wait out a nearly two hour weather delay before completing the meet. The men's 5,000 was just ready to start and the women's triple jump and men's high jump were in process when NCAA officials cleared the stadium because of threatening severe storms in the area.

After the delay and with a light rain falling, the meet was completed. The Sooner men took to the track first, finishing fifth with a 3:04.23. Baylor posted a 3:01.45 to win, the fastest collegiate time in the country this season. In a disputed finish, South Carolina won the women's 1600-meter relay with a 3:28.64 and the Sooners were eighth with a 3:37.04. The South Carolina relay was disqualified initially, then a protest overturned the disqualification.

According to Price, while the Sooners did not equal Thursday's performance on Saturday, it wasn't from a lack of effort or energy. "Our kids competed well, ran hard and we just didn't have as good a performance as we did two days ago. I'm proud of what we accomplished and we proved a lot of things tonight. "Last year, the men went home empty handed and the women didn't qualify for the meet. Our men scored points this year and produced six All-Americans. Our women qualified for the meet in two relays and one open race, got to the final in one relay by beating a lot of teams ranked ahead of them and produced four All-Americans. It was a very successful meet for our team."

OU finished with 10 All-Americans in the NCAA Outdoor, nine coming today. That marks the best performance by a Sooner track and field team since 1997, and the best for co-head coaches Price and Jill Lancaster at OU. All-Americans produced by the Sooners during the meet included sophomore Michael Westlund in the pole vault, senior Blackwood in the 400, sophomore Raoul Harvey, senior Michael Jackson, junior LaBoris Bean and Blackwood in the men's 1600-meter relay, and junior Staneshia Bell, freshman LaKisha Robinson, sophomore Alicia Emanuel and senior Jennifer Fontenot in the women's 1600-meter relay.

The Sooners lose only Blackwood, Jackson and Fontenot from the All-Americans crowned at this meet and that leaves Price optimistic.

"It will be tough to replace those three but we return a lot of athletes and we are going to keep getting better. It's an indication of how our expectations have changed that we are disappointed with the finish. Still, these kids are among the top eight in the country in the pole vault, the 400-meter dash, and the 1600-meter relays. We met our goals for the season.

"We still have people who will be competing over the summer - in the U.S. Junior Nationals, in the U.S. Olympic Trials and in the Jamaican Olympic Trials. There's still more competition ahead for several of our athletes."

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners Add Nine All-Americans at NCAA Outdoor Track

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