Sooner T&F Teams Head North and East

NORMAN -- The Sooner track and field teams are heading in different directions this weekend. A total of 34 student-athletes are competing in the 14th annual Cyclone Classic in Ames, Iowa, Friday and Saturday. Another 16 Sooners are in Fayetteville, Ark., for the Powered by Tyson Invitational which is hosted by the University of Arkansas.

Splitting the Squads
The group heading to Ames includes OU's distance runners, hurdlers, some of the sprinters and the long and triple jumpers. Competing in Arkansas will be the short sprinters (60 and 200), the high jumpers and the pole vaulters. Action in Ames begins at 3:30 p.m. The Friday schedule features five field event finals and eight running finals. Action resumes at 10:15 Saturday morning and concludes with the men's 1600-meter relay at 6:20 p.m. In Fayetteville, the Friday portion of the meet begins at 7 p.m. and features invitational events all evening. The collegiate portion of the meet begins at 10 a.m. Saturday and runs through the men's 1600-meter relay at 10 p.m. Saturday.

More than 60 teams and 1,000 athletes will be competing in Ames at the Lied Recreation Center while the Tyson meet will feature more than 30 collegiate teams in Saturday's competition and many of the top professional track and field athletes in the world in Friday night's events. The site of the 2005 NCAA Indor Track and Field Championship, the Randal Tyson Track Center and the Powered by Tyson Invitational has become an NCAA preview in its sixth year.

Nationally Ranked
The OU men's track and field team moved up one spot in the fifth week of the Trackwire Top 25 poll. The Sooners are tied with UCLA and Mississippi for 18th in the poll.

Arkansas continues to hold the top spot in the poll which projects a hypothetical score for the NCAA meet, factoring in injury reports and NCAA qualifying competitions from across the country. The projection is generated by the Dandy Dozen, a power ranking of the top 12 athletes and relay squads in each NCAA event.

OU was unranked the first two weeks of the indoor season and was ranked 17th in the third poll. The Sooners dropped to 19th in the fourth poll after not competing the weekend of Jan. 29-30

The Sooners are one of seven Big 12 men's teams ranked in the top 25. Other ranked teams include Texas (fourth), Texas Tech (11th), Baylor (21st), Kansas State and Nebraska (tied for 22nd) and Texas A&M (tied for 25th).

The factors used to build the Dandy Dozen include quantitative values that measure performances in past major competitions (such as conference championships, national championships and Olympic competition), durability and freedom from injuries, demonstrated ability to compete well in multiple rounds of competition, ability in other events, head-to-head competition with other top athletes, and personal or seasonal bests.

Junior DaBryan Blanton, the defending NCAA champion in the 60 meters, continues to be ranked second in the Dandy Dozen. Blanton is currently ranked fourth on the NCAA qualifying list with the 6.66 he posted at the Oklahoma Classic on Jan. 22. Blanton has been ranked second in each of the five Dandy Dozen lists to be released this season.

Sophomore Scott Martin is ranked third in the pole vault in the Dandy Dozen list for the second week in a row. He was ranked fourth in the third poll and was 12th the first two weeks of the season. Martin cleared 17-6.5 to win his division at the USATF Pole Vault Summit on Jan. 22. He cleared 17-6.5 Saturday at the J.D. Martin Invitational to win the event, his third victory in three competitions this season. He is currently seventh on the NCAA qualifying list.

Last Year at the Tyson
While the Sooners skipped the Cyclone Classic in 2004, the Tyson meet has always been one that produces solid results for the Sooners. The 2004 meet was no different.

Then Sooner senior Laverne Jones finished fourth in the featured race of the day, the women's 200, and posted an NCAA automatic qualifying time. She also added a second place finish in the women's 60. The men's distance medley relay finished fifth in the invitational DMR posted a then-season best for the Sooners, a time that ranked fourth in school history.

OU freshman Jessica Eldridge finished fourth in the seeded mile with a 4:45.10. The time is an NCAA provisional mark and cut two seconds off her previous season best. OU sophomore DaBryan Blanton, the top-ranked 60-meter sprinter in the country, kept his unbeaten streak alive through the prelims, winning his heat. He then finished third in the final with a 6.66. Both times were NCAA provisional marks.

Cyclone Track a Sooner Favorite
While the Sooners skipped the Cyclone Classic in 2004, OU did send student-athletes to Ames for an NCAA Qualifier's Meet in early March. The track in Ames has always been a good one for the Sooners as more than one OU student-athlete has earned a spot in the NCAA Championships using a result earned in Ames.

The Last Time Out
In a meet named for one of the best pole vaulters in OU school history, Scott Martin led the way for the OU track and fi eld teams, posting an NCAA provisional qualifying mark with a 17-6.5 in the pole vault. The mark is the fourth best in the country to date. Martin had cleared 17-6.5 at the USATF Pole Vault Summit in mid January but the mark was not accepted for NCAA qualifying.

Barton County finished fi rst in the men's and women's team standings in the meet. Barton used a second place fi nish in the mile relay to slip past the Sooners, 130-127, while the Barton women used one-two fi nishes in the 60 and the 200 to beat OU 129-107.

This marks the fifth year for the Sooners to host the J.D. Martin Invitational, named after the longtime Sooner head coach who also competed for OU as a pole vaulter.

Sooner senior Kelsey Moore set a career best and won the women's high jump with a 5-10. The mark also tied a meet record. The mark also ties for the sixth best mark in school history.

Another Sooner senior, Dan Strong, continued his record-setting performance in the heptathlon, winning the event with 5,050 points. That mark is a career best for Strong and ranks as the second best mark in school history.

A record-setting meet for a number of competitors, a total of five meet records were broken or tied and one facility record was set. In addition to the provisional marks recorded by Martin and Moore, Oklahoma State's Deliss McClain recorded a provisional in the weight throw with her winning effort of 66-3.75.

Other Sooner winners included Tony Francis in the 60 meter hurdles; Terrika Warren in the 400; Jessica Eldridge in the 800; Blake Culp in the 3000; Jon McMillian in the high jump; Tydree Lewis in the triple jump; Lucretia Rimmer in the women's triple jump and Lindsey Bourne in the women's pole vault. The winning marks for Bourne (12-6.25) and Rimmer (40-9.50) were both career best marks. For Rimmer, her winning jump was a career best by more than a foot and it ranks as the second best in school history.

While the majority of the team competed in Norman last weekend, six Sooners competed in the Meyo Invtitational on Feb. 3. The men's distance medley relay finished fourth and a pair of Sooner individuals, Aja Clark and Jackie Dubois, finished in the top 20 of the women's 5000-meter run.

Next Up
OU will host the Sooner Indoor on Saturday, Feb. 19. That will be the final home indoor meet of the season and the final competition before the Big 12 Championships Feb. 25-26 in Lincoln, Neb.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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