Sooner T&F Travels to Abilene Christian Meet

May 7, 2003

NORMAN, Okla. - In a final tune-up prior to the Big 12 Championships, several Sooner track and field athletes are traveling to Abilene, Texas, for the Abilene Christian Open. While this is finals week on the Sooner campus, these student-athletes have taken all their tests.

Scheduled To Compete
Pole vaulters Lindsey Bourne, Leslie Dunlap, Robin Hanna, Austin Landreth, Jennifer Plank and Michael Westlund, high jumper Kris Glenn, triple jumper Lucretia Rimmer and throwers Kevin and Kyle Bookout left Wednesday with assistant coaches Ed Wade and Tom Williams. Kevin Bookout will be entered in the shot put and discus while Kyle Bookout will compete in the discus.

The Schedule
Action begins at 10 a.m. Thursday and continues throughout the day. The women's pole vault is set for noon Thursday with the men's pole vault set for 2 p.m. The discus throw also is scheduled for 2 p.m. followed by the shot put at 4:30 p.m. The women's triple jump is set for 4:30 p.m. followed by the men's high jump at 6 p.m.

The Last Time Out -- Texas Invitational
The University of Oklahoma track and field teams found Mike Myers Stadium a great place last Saturday as the Sooner women posted a season best time to win the 400-meter relay and sophomore Kelsey Moore met the NCAA regional qualifying standard in the high jump for the first time this season.
The women's relay, Natasha Franklin, Ashley Freeman, LaVerne Jones and Jimyria Hicks, ran a 45.98, dropping the previous season best by almost one tenth of a second. Today marked the first time for Hicks to compete since the quartet ran its previous best, also an NCAA regional qualifying mark, on March 29. The Arlington, Texas, senior has been out with an injury since the UTA Invitational on March 29.
For Moore, her performance in the high jump continues to improve. She finished seventh with a 5-7, a new career best.
Other Sooners who improved previous season bests with NCAA regional qualifying marks today included Tiffany Davis, seventh in the hurdles with a 13.67; Michael Westlund, third in the pole vault with a 17-4.75; Robin Hanna, fourth in the pole vault with a 17-4.75; and Kevin Bookout, who was second in the shot put with a 59-1.50.
Bookout's mark moves him to third all-time on the OU career list while Hanna's mark is a outdoor career best and moves him into a tie for eighth on the all-time OU list.
Other Sooners who posted NCAA regional qualifying marks today (but who have better season bests) included Leslie Dunlap and Lindsey Bourne in the women's pole vault; Austin Landreth in the men's pole vault and Kyle Bookout in the discus.
Two other Sooners, Joe McNair in the 1500 and Nicola Maye in the 800, barely missed the qualifying mark. McNair missed by just over a second while Maye missed it by .01 seconds.

Academic Recognition
Eight Sooner student-athletes were nominated this week for the Verizon Cross Country/Track and Field Academic All-America team. A district ballot will be sent to all members of the College Sports Information Directors of America and those who are named to the first team district list will advance to a national ballot.
Nominees had to be at least a sophomore in academic standing and have a 3.20 cumulative grade point average.
Sooner nominees included Austin Landreth, Jimmy Buchanan, Darren Hutchins, Aldwyn Sappleton, Taylor Cates, Alaina Dearman, Amanda Luksetich and Kelsey Moore.
Hutchins earned first team district and third team national honors in 2002 while Sappleton was a second team district honoree.

Big 12 Honorees
OU freshman DaBryan Blanton became the first two-time Big 12 Track and Field Athlete of the Week award winner for the Sooners this spring. Blanton was honored on April 28 for his performance at the Penn Relays. In addition to finishing second in the 100, Blanton ran on the 400-meter relay.
Kevin Bookout won the award on April 21 for his performance in the shot put at the Michael Johnson Classic, his third win in three meets. His older brother, Kyle Bookout, was the first honoree of the season, winning the award on March 24. Blanton also was honored March 31.

Up Next
The Sooners will head back to Austin, Texas, for the Big 12 Championships May 17-19. It will be OU's third trip to Austin this spring.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooner T&F Travels to Abilene Christian Meet

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