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
OU Advances Five to NCAA T&F Championships
June 01, 2004 | Track and Field
NORMAN, Okla. When the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships ended Saturday, the Sooner track and field teams knew they had four qualifiers for the upcoming NCAA Championships.
|
That number jumped to five with the announcement of the field on Tuesday. The top five individuals from each of last weekend's four regionals plus the top three relays were automatic qualifiers. After the automatic qualifiers from the 10,000-meter run (men and women), the decathlon and the heptathlon were added to the field, at-large entries were invited to get the field up to 544 men and 544 women.
|
That number jumped to five with the announcement of the field on Tuesday. The top five individuals from each of last weekend's four regionals plus the top three relays were automatic qualifiers. After the automatic qualifiers from the 10,000-meter run (men and women), the decathlon and the heptathlon were added to the field, at-large entries were invited to get the field up to 544 men and 544 women.
The NCAA Championships are scheduled for June 9-12 at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas.
Laverne Jones leads OU's list of qualifiers. Jones finished second in the regional in the 100 and 200. She set regional records in the prelims of those events as well. The St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, senior will take the fifth best time in the country into the 100-meter dash prelims. She will run her first race in the 100 on Wednesday, June 9, with the prelims set for 6:40 p.m. and the semifinals set for 8:15 p.m. The final in the 100 is set for 9:10 p.m. Friday, June 11.
Jones will not run the 200 at the NCAA, concentrating her efforts on the possible three races in the 100. She was ranked fifth on the final qualifying list for the 200 as well.
Jessica Eldridge, the NCAA Midwest Regional champion in the 1500, has the 18th best time in that event on the final entry list. She will run the prelims of the 1500 at 7:55 p.m. Thursday, June 10, with the final set for Saturday at 7:20 p.m. This makes the third NCAA competition in her true freshman season for the Broken Arrow runner.
Renea' Burns, who finished third in the javelin at the regional with a 153-1, a personal best by more than 10 feet, is ranked 22nd in the event. Her qualifying round in the javelin is set for 1 p.m. Wednesday, June 9, with the final set for Friday, June 11, at 8:15 p.m. Burns is a senior from Ardmore.
Freshman Scott Martin of Tulsa finished fourth in the pole vault at the regional meet and will take the 17th-best mark into the meet. The qualifying round of the pole vault is set for 2 p.m. Thursday, June 10, with the final set for Saturday, June 12, at 6:45 p.m.
Freshman Jon McMillian was added to the field as an at-large qualifier on Tuesday. The Choctaw freshman tied for fifth at the NCAA Regional but was not involved in the jump-off to determine the final automatic qualifier from the regional meet because of the number of misses in the competition. He is ranked ninth in the field heading into the NCAA meet. The qualifying round of the high jump is set for Thursday, June 10, at 7 p.m. The final is set for 7 p.m. Saturday, June 12.
Several other Sooners had marks that made the final performance list for the NCAA Championships but they were not added to the field. Those athletes and their final ranking included Austin Landreth, pole vault, 21st; the women's 400-meter relay (Jones, Kelsey Strecker, Ashley Freeman, Yolanda Goff), 23rd; Cory Crosby, long jump, 24th; Salah Hussein, 1500 meter, 31st; Robert Smith, long jump, 35th, and triple jump, 65th; Leslie Dunlap, pole vault, t-38th; Lucretia Rimmer, triple jump, 42nd; Josh Scott, 200 meter, 47th; Blake Culp, 3000 steeplechase, 81st; Jennifer Plank, pole vault, t-92nd; Lindsey Bourne, pole vault, t-92nd; and Catherine Odell, 3000 steeplechase, 101st.
Sophomore DaBryan Blanton had the third-best time in the region heading into the meet last weekend but was unable to run in the prelims because of an injury he suffered while winning the 100 at the Big 12 Championships on May 1. By NCAA rules, athletes who qualify for the regional but do not compete are not eligible to compete at the national meet.
Saturday, June 13
Friday, June 12
Thursday, June 11
Wednesday, June 10
