Jones Finishes Third in 100-Meter Final in Provo

NORMAN, Okla. -- Laverne Jones ran an 11.27 in the final of the 100 at the USA Track and Field Pre-Trials Sprint and Power Meet in Provo, Utah, Saturday, to finish third behind two of the best in U.S. track and field. And it took a former Olympian and a former NCAA national champion to beat Jones in the race.

Former Olympian Chryste Gaines won the title with an 11.10 and former NCAA champion Angela Williams finished second with an 11.23. Gaines and Williams both compete for Nike. Gaines is a two-time Olympic medalist on the 400-meter relay and a member of three gold-medal winning 400-meter relays teams at the World Championships.

A former U.S. national outdoor champion in the 100, she was ranked second in the world in the 100 in 2003. She was third in the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2000 and advanced to the semifinals of the 100 at the Olympics in Sydney. Williams won four NCAA 100-meter titles while competing for Southern Cal and is a two-time silver medalist in the 100 in the Pan American Games. She was ranked sixth in the U.S. in the 100 in 2003.

Jones' mark is just .02 off her personal best of 11.25, also an OU school record.

The top four times in the final beat the Olympic “A” standard of 11.30.

Jones, who will compete in the 100 and 200 at the Olympic Games for the U.S. Virgin Islands' team, is just one of several current and former Sooners who are competing in elite track and field championships this weekend.

Former Sooner Michael Blackwood won the 400-meter title at the Jamaican National Senior Championship, finishing with a 45.60. Blackwood, a former Big 12 champion and the top-ranked 400-meter runner in the world in 2002, won the title with a 45.60. Blackwood was a five-time All-American for the Sooners and ended his two-year OU career in 2000.

Another former Sooner, Danny McFarlane, won the 400-meter intermediate hurdles with a 48.95. McFarlane was a member of the Jamaican Olympic team in 2000. McFarlane was an eight-time All-American while competing for the Sooners. He finished his OU career in 1997.

OU sophomore-to-be Nicola Maye, scheduled to compete in the 1500-meter run during the meet in Kingston, did not start the race. Maye missed the 2004 outdoor season with an injury.

Also on Saturday another Sooner sophomore-to-be, Yolanda Goff, did not finish her preliminary heat in the 100-meter dash at the USA Track and Field Junior National Championships in College Station, Texas. Jessica Eldridge, who has the fastest qualifying time in the 1500, will run in the final of that event on Sunday.

The top two finishers in each event will qualify for the 2004 IAAF World Junior Championships in Grosetto, Italy, July 13-18.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Jones Finishes Third in 100-Meter Final in Provo

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