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 Indoor Championships
March 08, 2005 | Track and Field
NORMAN, Okla. Automatic qualifiers DaBryan Blanton, the defending champion in the 60 meters, and Aldwyn Sappleton were joined by three other Sooners when the final NCAA qualifiers' list was announced late Monday.
Joining the duo are Scott Martin in the pole vault, Jon McMillian in the high jump and Jessica Eldridge in the mile. All had recorded provisional qualifying marks and had to wait for final declarations to learn their status in the meet. The meet opens at 9 a.m. Friday, March 11, with the first four events of the men's heptathlon.
The meet will be hosted by the University of Arkansas and will be held at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayettevile on the Arkansas campus.
Sappleton, currently ranked fourth on the qualifiers' list in the 800 with a 1:47.43, will be the first Sooner to open competition. He is scheduled to run in the preliminary round beginning at 4:45 p.m. The final for the 800 is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. Saturday. Sappleton, a senior, won the 800-meter title at the Big 12 Indoor two weeks ago.
Martin, currently tied for fifth on the list in the pole vault with a 17-9.25, will begin competition at 5:35 p.m. Friday. The pole vault competition will conclude on Friday. Martin, a sophomore, finished second in the pole vault at the Big 12 Indoor two weeks ago.
Blanton begins defense of his national championship at 6:30 p.m. Friday. The junior is currently ranked third on the qualifiers' list with a 6.61. The final for the 60 is set for 7:25 p.m. Saturday. Blanton was second in the 60 at the 2005 Big 12 Indoor.
Eldridge, who is ranked 12th on the list in the mile with a 4:42.73, will run the preliminary at 6:45 p.m. Friday. The final in the mile is set for 6:15 p.m. Saturday. Eldridge, a sophomore, finished fourth in the mile at the 2005 conference meet.
McMillian will be the final Sooner to compete. Tied for 10th on the list with a 7-2.25, McMillian will begin competition in the high jump at 4:45 p.m. Saturday. Like the pole vault, the high jump competition is a final only. McMillian was fourth in the high at the 2005 conference meet.
This marks the third trip to the NCAA Indoor for Blanton. He was an All-American in 2003 as a freshman and won the 60 title as a sophomore. This also marks the third trip to the NCAA Indoor for Sappleton who earned All-American honors as a member of the 1600-meter relay as a redshirt freshman in 2002.
This will be Eldridge's second trip to the NCAA Indoor but it is her fifth time in five events to qualify for NCAA competition. She has run in two NCAA Cross Country Championships, one NCAA Indoor and one NCAA Outdoor meet.
This will mark the first time to compete in the NCAA Indoor for McMillian and Martin but both competed in the NCAA Outdoor last June as freshmen.
Several other Sooners with provisional marks were not included in the field. Freshman Marcus Pugh came the closest. His best time of the season in the 60 was 6.70 and the qualifiers' list was cut at 6.69. Other Sooners with provisional marks who did not advance included junior Jason Stanley, who was ranked 21st in the 60-meter hurdles; junior Tony Francis, who was tied for 30th in the 60-meter hurdles; senior Austin Landreth, who was tied for 32nd in the pole vault; senior Kelsey Moore, who was tied for 26th in the high jump; and junior Lucretia Rimmer, who was 31st in the triple jump.
While five of their teammates are in Fayetteville for the NCAA Indoor, the focus for the rest of the Sooners has shifted to the 2005 outdoor season. OU announced a schedule change, dropping a trip to the Miami Invitational for the combined event athletes. That will push the season opener back to March 25 when some OU athletes will travel to Waco, Texas, for the Dr Pepper Invitational and others will go to Arlington, Texas, for the UTA Invitational.
The Sooners will host the John Jacobs Invitational on April 16 and will serve as the host school for the NCAA Midwest Regional on May 27-28.
Saturday, June 13
Friday, June 12
Thursday, June 11
Wednesday, June 10
