Eldridge, Blanton Win Big 12 Outdoor Titles

NORMAN, Okla. -- OU sophomore DaBryan Blanton successfully defended his 100-meter title in the Big 12 Outdoor Championships Saturday and Sooner freshman Jessica Eldridge served notice that she is a runner to watch in the years ahead by winning the 800-meter title.

A crowd of 1,541 watched the Texas women win their fifth Big 12 title, holding off Nebraska 151-139.5. The Nebraska men won their fourth league title, scoring 172 points. Texas Tech was third with 106.5 and Texas A&M was third with 104.5. The Sooner men finished seventh with 58 points and the OU women were eighth with 49.5 points.

Blanton won the 100 in a time of 10.60 to defend the title he won as a true freshman last May. Blanton later withdrew from the 200. His events coach, Shanon Atkinson, indicated that the Forney, Texas, sophomore had been experiencing tightness in his hamstring and that “we decided to hold him out of the 200 and get him ready for regionals.” Blanton already has a regional qualifying time in the 100 and the 200.

Blanton's repeat in the 100-meter dash marks the second time in school history for a Sooner to win back-to-back Big 12 titles. Bambi Carson won the discus in 2000 and 2001.

Blanton won the 100 in 2003 as a true freshman with a time of 10.25, then repeated today with a 10.60. With his win in the 2004 indoor 60, Blanton has won three consecutive short sprint conference titles.

In the 800, Eldridge trailed throughout the race and was in fourth place heading into the final straightaway. She kicked to the finish line to move from fourth to first. She finished the race in 2:07.62, edging Katie Scarlett of Texas by .03.

With the win, she became the first Sooner woman to win a Big 12 Outdoor title in a running event. All of OU's previous outdoor Big 12 titles came in field events. Her victory today also was the first in the 800 meter by an OU woman in the conference outdoor meet since 1984. Former Sooner All-American Annette Campbell was the last Sooner woman to win an 800 title in the conference outdoor meet.

On Friday, Eldridge posted the fastest qualifying time in the prelims with a 2:06.86. Her time in the prelim is the fourth best in school history. It also marks the fastest time in the outdoor 800 in school history by a true freshman.

The Sooner freshman came back with another ranked time when she finished fifth in the 5000 meter run 45 minutes after her win in the 800. Her time in the 5000, 16:46.08, ranks as the fifth best in school history. The time also beats the NCAA Regional qualifying mark in the 5000 by 10 seconds. That gives Eldridge regional qualifying times in the 800, 1500 and 5000. The true freshman from Broken Arrow, Okla., has already run in the NCAA Cross Country Championship and participated in the 800 meter in the NCAA Indoor. She became the first true freshman at OU since 1994 to qualify for the NCAA Cross Country meet.

Senior Laverne Jones finished second in the 100 with an 11.45 and second in the 200 with a 22.81. Her time in the 200 is the fifth fastest in the world to date. To say the 200 was a fast race is an understatement as the top four times in the today's race rank among the top 15 in the world.

Jones' times in the 200 marks a career best. It also breaks the school record she set earlier this season at 23.16 and broke Friday in the prelims with a 22.95.

Other Sooners who scored on the final day included Catherine Odell, who finished seventh in the 1500; the women's 400 meter relay which finished third; Leslie Dunlap and Jennifer Plank, who were sixth and eighth respectively in the pole vault; Lucretia Rimmer, who was fourth in the triple jump; Josh Scott, who finished sixth in the 200; Dwayne Duhaney, who was seventh in the 400; Salah Hussein, who finished sixth in the 1500; David Wright, who finished seventh in the 110-meter high hurdles; Blake Culp, who finished fourth in the 3000-meter steeplechase; the men's 400-meter relay that finished fifth; the men's 1600-meter relay that finished eighth; Jon McMillian, who was third in the high jump; and Robert Smith, who finished seventh in triple jump.

A total of 10 season bests were recorded by Sooners today on the final day of the league meet. Season bests were posted by Jones in the 200; Eldridge in the 5000, her first race this season at that distance; the women's 400-meter relay with a 45.03; the women's 1600-meter relay with a 3:50.26; Rimmer in the triple jump with a 41-10.50; David Wright with a 14.48 in the 110-meter high hurdles; Blake Culp, who had a 9:11.15 in the steeplechase; the men's 400-meter relay with a 40.78; the men's 1600-meter relay with a 3:13.78 and Smith, who recorded a 49-5.5 in the triple jump.

The Sooners also added three regional qualifiers in this meet. First time qualifiers include Scott in the 200; Odell in the 1500; and Eldridge in the 5000. Sooners who improved previous regional marks included Jones in the 200; Blanton in the 200 (from the Friday prelims); Eldridge in the 800; Rimmer in the triple jump; and the women's 400-meter relay.

Fox Sports Net will do a delayed broadcast of the meet on its national network beginning Thursday and continuing for the next three weeks. Check local listings for the broadcast times.

The Sooners will take next week off from competition to take final exams on the Norman campus. OU returns to competition on May 13, sending athletes to the Texas A&M Invitational, the site of the NCAA Midwest Regionals May 28-29, and the ACU Invitational in Abilene, Texas.

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