Completed Event: Track and Field at Battle on the Bayou on April 3, 2026 ,
Final
Track and Field
at Battle on the Bayou
University of Oklahoma Athletics
CC/T&F Awards Announced at Annual Banquet
October 27, 2003 | Track and Field
NORMAN, Okla. With seasons that end more than a month after the close of the spring semester, the Sooner track and field teams recognized their annual award winners at a recent banquet.
A trio of All-Americans, LaVerne Jones, Aldwyn Sappleton and Michael Westlund, were named most valuable performers for the 2003 Sooner track and field teams. Joe McNair and Aisha Stringer were named MVPs for the 2002 Sooner cross country season.
Jones became the first Sooner woman since 1982 (and first in NCAA competition) to earn All-America honors in two individual events when she doubled in the 60 and 200 during the 2003 NCAA Indoor meet. She added a third honor in the 200 during the 2003 NCAA Outdoor meet. Sappleton qualified for the NCAA Indoor in the 800 and earned All-America honors in the 800 during the 2003 NCAA Outdoor meet. Westlund qualified for the 2003 NCAA Outdoor meet, his seventh trip to an NCAA championship in his Sooner career. He ended his career as a five-time All-American, the most decorated pole vaulter in school history. NcNair finished an all-time best 26th in the 2002 Big 12 cross country meet and set a career best in the 8k in that event. Stringer was OU's top finisher in several races last fall and set a career best in the 6k at the NCAA Regional meet.
Darren Hutchins and Mary Waytula were named outstanding walk-ons for the 2003 season while DaBryan Blanton, Kevin Bookout, Nicola Maye and Terrika Warren were named outstanding newcomers for the 2003 season. Kyle Bookout and Jimyria Hicks received the inaugural Most Inspirational Award.
The program recognized its 2003 All-Americans -- Jones (60 and 200) and Blanton (60), indoor; and Jones (200), Blanton (100), Kevin Bookout (shot put), Westlund (pole vault) and Sappleton (800) from the outdoor meet. The addition of eight All-Americans in 2003 takes the track and field program to 286 All-Americans, more than any sport at OU.
Other honors handed out included the 2003 Big 12 Freshman Male Track and Field Athlete of the Year to Blanton, a first for the Sooner track and field program; and the four athletes who earned Big 12 Athlete of the Week honors five times (Jason Stanley, Kevin Bookout, Kyle Bookout and Blanton, a two-time honoree).
Sappleton and Hicks were named the 2003 Owen Hewitt Award winners. The highest honor a member of the Sooner track and field program can receive, the award was started in 1990 and recognizes a male and female student-athlete who demonstrates excellence in the classroom with at least a 3.0 cumulative grade point average and who has had success in competition as well.
A total of 10 Sooner cross country runners were honored for making the 2002 Big 12 All-Academic first team and another 26 Sooners were recognized for making the 2003 Big 12 All-Academic first or second team for track and field.
The Sooners also saluted the 2002 cross country and 2003 track and field team captains, including McNair and Stringer in cross country; and Kyle Bookout, Joe Butler, Megan Crystal, L'eron George, Hicks, McNair, LaKisha Robinson, and Stringer in track and field. Additionally, 16 Sooner seniors were recognized for their contributions to the program.
Three Sooner seniors, Tiffany Davis (shuttle hurdle relay) and Dearman and Stringer (distance medley relay) were recognized for ending their career as school record holders.
Other award winners announced included:
The E.H. Miles Scholarship -- Jimmy Buchanan
The Henry and Ida Mosier Scholarship -- Taylor Cates and Joe Butler
Verizon Academic Honors -- Darren Hutchins, third team Academic All-American; Hutchins, first team all-district; Sappleton, Austin Landreth and Dearman, second team all-district
2002 Men's Cross Country team -- Academic All-America team as selected by the United States Cross Country Coaches Association
2002 Women's Cross Country team -- Academic All-America team with distinction as selected by the Women's Intercollegiate Cross Country Coaches Association
2003 Men's Track and Field team -- Academic All-America team as selected by the National Collegiate Division I Track Coaches Association
National Collegiate Division I Track Coaches Association Academic All-Americans -- Renea' Burns, Landreth, Sappleton, Moore and Warren
Athletics Council Service Awards -- Hicks, Moore, Kris Glenn
Jay Myers Award -- Kevin Bookout
Athletics Council Achievement Award -- Kyle Bookout and Hicks
Athletic Director's Leadership Award -- Hicks
Prentice Gautt Award for Outstanding Student-Athlete Leadership on Campus -- Hicks
African and African-American Studies Student of the Year -- Stringer
James L. Nicholson Alumni Scholarship -- Emily Leonard
John Owensby Scholarship, Jimmy Harp Scholarship and the James M. Robertson Scholarship, all from the College of Engineering -- Amanda Luksetich
C.V. Wood Jr., Scholarship from the Michael Price College of Business -- Sappleton
Joe Sydney Nicholson Memorial Scholarship, Dept. of English -- Dan Strong
Saturday, June 13
Friday, June 12
Thursday, June 11
Wednesday, June 10
