Sappleton Wins Big 12 800-Meter Title

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Senior Aldwyn Sappleton established himself as one of the frontrunners for the upcoming NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships by winning the 2005 Big 12 800-meter title with an impressive come-from-behind victory Saturday. Sappleton, who has the best time in the country in the 800 already in the book, set a Big 12 meet record with a 1:48.25 in the win.

Sappleton, who was fourth when the final lap of the race started, worked his way around a pack of runners on the next to last curve by moving to the outside. He improved to second by the final curve, then sprinted down the home stretch to win the race by more than a second.

His win helped the OU men finish an all-time school best of fifth with 67.33 points, also an all-time school best in Big 12 competition. It also was the first time in Big 12 history for the Sooner men to produce a conference champion in the 800 and was Sappleton's second conference title in his career. He won the indoor 600-yard run in 2002.

Junior DaBryan Blanton finished second in the 60-meter dash, just getting edged at the line in a photo finish that was decided by .004 seconds. He then came back two hours later to finish second in the 200, lowering his NCAA provisional qualifying time in that event to 21.06. That time is an indoor career best for Blanton and ranks as the fourth best time in school history. Marcus Pugh finished seventh in the 60 and came in third in the 200 to help the Sooners.

Jon McMillian recorded an NCAA provisional mark in the high jump, clearing 7-2.25 to finish fourth. McMillian's mark at the Big 12 meet is a career best for the Choctaw sophomore and ranks as the second best jump in school history, just .50 of an inch from tying a school record. Jason Stanley closed the most successful Big 12 meet of his Sooner career, finishing third in the 60-meter hurdles with an NCAA provisional time of 7.89. Tony Francis was fifth in the hurdles.

Senior Dan Strong overcame a slip at the start of the 60-meter hurdles, the first of the final three events in the heptathlon, to finish eighth. Strong, who had a 10-point edge over the ninth place competitor heading into the the final event, ran a career best in the 1000 of 2:46.54 to finish fourth overall in that event and put nearly 200 points between himself and the ninth place finisher. Tydree Lewis was eighth in the triple jump.

Kelsey Moore tied for second in the women's high jump to lead the OU women Saturday. It marked the first time in her career for the Yukon senior to score in Big 12 competition. Sophomore Jessica Eldridge finished fourth in the mile and junior Jennifer Plank tied for sixth in the pole vault, also a career best finish in conference competition.

Kerri Ann Mitchell was seventh in the 200 and the women's 1600-meter relay, on the strength of a sprint to the finish by anchor leg Ashley Johnson, finished eighth. Overall, the OU women were 11th in the team standings.

Several Sooners will participate in NCAA Qualifier Meets next weekend. The final day to record an NCAA qualifying mark is March 5. Those who will travel and the sites they will travel to will be decided later next week.

Day 2 -- Big 12 Championships
OU only results

Men
Team Standings -- 1) Nebraska, 132; 2) Texas, 87.33; 3) Kansas State, 80.50; 4) Texas Tech, 76; 5) Oklahoma, 67.33; 6) Missouri, 66.50; 7) Colorado, 62; 8) Kansas, 57; 9) Baylor, 46; 10) Texas A&M, 35.33; 11) Iowa State, 28; 12) Oklahoma State, 2
Heptathlon -- 8 -- Strong, Dan, OU, 5021
60 Meter Hurdles -- 11 Strong, Dan, OU, 9.15 (713); Pole Vault -- T-8 Strong, Dan, OU, 14-01.25 (702); 1000 Meter Run -- 4 Strong, Dan, OU, 2:46.54 (802)
Shot Put -- 18 Winters, Evan, OU, 44-4
Triple Jump -- 8 Lewis, Tydree, OU, 47-5.75; 9 Baird, Jason, OU, 46-10
High Jump -- 4 McMillian, Jon, OU, 7-2.25 [NCAA provisional qualifying mark]; 13 Glenn, Kris, OU, 6-6.75; 14 Shelby, Shea, OU, 6-6.75
60 Meter Hurdles -- 3 Stanley, Jason, OU, 7.89 [NCAA provisional qualifying mark]; 5 Francis, Tony, OU, 7.94
60 Meter Dash -- 2 Blanton, DaBryan, OU, 6.68 [NCAA provisional qualifying mark; actual time was 6.679 -- went to thousandths of a second on the photo finish to establish placing]; 7 Pugh, Marcus, OU, 6.84
800 Meter Run -- 1 Sappleton, Aldwyn, OU, 1:48.25 [Meet record, old record 1:48.29, Dmitrijs Milkevics, Nebraska, 2-25-05; NCAA provisional qualifying mark]
200 Meter Dash -- 2 Blanton, DaBryan, OU, 21.06 [NCAA provisional qualifying mark]; 3 Pugh, Marcus, OU, 21.27
3000 Meter Run -- 25 Schmiedeberg, Tyler, OU, 8:30.88; 36 Coleman, Jason, OU, 8:37.60; 38 Culp, Blake, OU, 8:39.53
4x400 Meter Relay -- 9 Oklahoma (Crabbe, Andrew, Sappleton, Aldwyn, Scott, Josh, Brown, Brayon), 3:14.45

Women
Team Standings -- 1) Nebraska, 138.40; 2) Texas, 97; 3) Baylor, 74; 4) Texas Tech, 72; 5) Kansas State, 66.50; 6) Missouri 64; 7) Kansas, 60; 8) Colorado, 55.20; 9) Oklahoma State, 49; 10) Texas A&M, 27; 11) Oklahoma, 21.50; 12) Iowa State, 11.40
Triple Jump -- 14 Moore, Nicole, OU, 38-6; 15 Graves, Stephanie, OU 35-5; Rimmer, Lucretia, OU, Foul
High Jump -- T2 Moore, Kelsey, OU, 5-08; Houlihan, Myria, OU, NH; Spellmon, SaVita, OU NH
Pole Vault -- T6 Plank, Jennifer, OU, 12-1.50; T-12 Bourne, Lindsey, OU, 11-7.75
Shot Put -- 15 Blue, Katie, OU 40-5
60 Meter Dash -- Mitchell, Kerri Ann, OU, FS
Mile Run -- 4 Eldridge, Jessica, OU, 4:50.34
200 Meter Dash -- 7 Mitchell, Kerri Ann, OU, 24.42
3000 Meter Run -- 11 Odell, Catherine, OU, 9:47.91; 14 Eldridge, Jessica, OU, 9:58.33
4x400 Meter Relay -- 8 Oklahoma (Warren, Terrika, Newton, T.J., Goff, Yolanda, Johnson, Ashley), OU, 3:47.16

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