Sooners Compete in Waco and Fort Worth

NORMAN, Okla.The Sooner track and field teams are headed to a pair of meets this weekend, the fifth week of the 2005 outdoor season. OU will send competitors to the sixth annual TCU Invitational in Fort Worth and the Michael Johnson Classic in Waco.

Both meets are scheduled for Saturday. Action in Fort Worth begins at noon at the Lowdon Track and Field Complex on the TCU campus. In Waco, field events begin at 9 a.m. Saturday with running prelims scheduled for noon and running finals set to begin at 6 p.m. at Hart/Patterson Track and Field Complex on the campus of Baylor University.

Who's Going Where
OU's short sprinters and the men's and women's 400-meter relays will compete at TCU. Joining the Sooners in that field are TCU, Texas Tech, Texas-Arlington, North Texas, Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston State, South Plains, Garden City CC and SMU (women only). A total of 10 student-athletes are scheduled to compete for the Sooners at TCU.

The remainder of the team will compete in Waco. Scheduled to compete in that meet are Baylor, Colorado, Iowa State, Lamar, New Mexico State (women only), Northwood, North Texas, Seton Hall, Texas, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas-San Antonio (women only), Texas State and Tulsa. A total of 45 student-athletes are scheduled to compete for OU in Waco.

National Rankings
The OU men's track and field team are tied for 23rd in the third week of the Trackwire Top 25 list. The Sooners opened the season tied for 22nd with two other teams and were tied for 22nd with one team in the second week of the poll.

OU finished the 2005 indoor season ranked 12th after opening the season unranked. The poll proved to be an accurate prediction of NCAA finish as the Sooner men finished 12th in the 2005 NCAA Indoor, OU's best team finish since 1997.

The Sooners are one of four Big 12 men's teams ranked in the top 25. Other ranked teams include Texas (12th); Baylor (tied for 23rd) and Texas Tech (25th).

OU junior DaBryan Blanton, who repeated as NCAA Indoor champion at 60 meters on March 12, is ranked third on the Dandy Dozen list in the 100 for the third consecutive week. Blanton, who won the 200-meter dash at the John Jacobs Invitational last Saturday, opened the season ranked third in the 100. His time in the 200 at the John Jacobs met the NCAA Regional qualifying standard. On April 9, he finished second in the invitational 100 at the Texas Relays in a time that beat the regional standard but the wind was higher than allowable.

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.

Sophomore Scott Martin is ranked third in the pole vault in the third Dandy Dozen list after opening the season in fourth place. Martin, who finished second at the Big 12 Championships and was fourth at the NCAA Indoor with a career best 18-0.5, finished second at the Texas Relays in section A of the men's pole vault with a 17-8.50, then finished second in the pole vault at the John Jacobs Invitational last Saturday. Both marks beat the NCAA Regional standard and his mark at Texas ranks as the sixth best in school history.

Senior Aldwyn Sappleton is ranked ninth in the 800 after ranking eighth the first two weeks. Last Saturday, Sappleton qualified for the NCAA Regional meet in the 800 with his time of 1:49.63 at the John Jacobs Invitational. Sappleton finished eighth in the indoor 800 at the 2005 NCAA Championships, earning All-America honors in an indoor individual event for the first time in his Sooner career. He also won the 2005 Big 12 Indoor title in the 800 in a meet record time.

NCAA Midwest Regional Qualifiers
Heading into the fifth weekend of action in the outdoor season, the Sooners have 16 NCAA Regional qualifiers -- Kerri-Ann Mitchell in the 100, Yolanda Goff in the 100, Jessica Eldridge in the 1500 and 5000, Nicole Moore in the triple jump, the women's 400-meter relay, Jennifer Plank in the pole vault, Kelsey Moore in the high jump, DaBryan Blanton in the 200, Aldwyn Sappleton in the 800, the men's 400-meter relay, Scott Martin in the pole vault, Austin Landreth in the pole vault, Jon McMillian in the high jump, Kevin Bookout in the shot put and Tydree Lewis in the triple jump. OU athletes will have the opportunity to compete at home in the 2005 NCAA Midwest Regional meet, to be hosted by the Sooners May 27-28 at the John Jacobs Complex.

The Last Time Out -- John Jacobs Invitational
Take a quality field, add in great temperatures and wind that didn't gust over the allowable and you have the ingredients for a record-setting track and field meet. And that's exactly what happened last Saturday at the 36th annual John Jacobs Invitational hosted by the University of Oklahoma at the John Jacobs Track Complex.

A total of 70 NCAA Regional qualifying marks were posted, seven meet records were broken and one facility record was improved. And the Sooners were involved in their fair share of the regional qualifying performances.

A total of 13 Sooner individuals or relays met the NCAA qualifying mark for the Midwest Regional which OU will host May 27-28. Both the men's and women's 400-meter relays met the standard and individual runners on those relays also met the mark in other events. The women's 400-meter relay included Ashley Harris, Kerri-Ann Mitchell, Larica Urbina and Yolanda Goff. Goff finally got the weather to cooperate during her heat of the 100-meter dash and recorded a qualifying time in that event after losing marks the last two meets to excessive wind. Goff finished sixth in the 100 with an 11.72.

The men's 400-meter relay featured Daniel Bridges, DaBryan Blanton, Chason Lane and Josh Scott. Blanton also met the mark in the 200-meter dash after seeing a great time in the 100 wiped out April 9 by excessive wind. Blanton won the 200 with a 20.88.

Kevin Bookout was a double winner for the Sooners, winning the shot put with an NCAA Regional mark and winning the discus in his first meet of the season in that event with a 156-3. His shot put mark of 58-2.5 was his 10th consecutive regional qualifying mark in that event. That string includes three from the 2005 season and seven from the 2003 season. He missed all of 2004 after shoulder surgery.

Jessica Eldridge, already qualified in the 5000, won the 1500 with a regional qualifying time of 4:25.73. In only her second collegiate meet in the outdoor triple jump, freshman Nicole Moore finished second with a regional qualifying jump of 40-2.75. Kelsey Moore won the high jump with a 5-8.75, also a regional qualifying mark, but she has a better mark already on the books for the season.

Sooner freshman Tydree Lewis, who got his first NCAA Regional mark April 9, improved that mark to 50-4.50 to win the triple jump. Sooner All-American Aldwyn Sappleton finished sixth in the 800-meter run with a 1:49.63 to join the regional qualifying list. Jon McMillian finished second in the high jump and improved his regional qualifying mark to 7-0.5. Scott Martin finished second in the pole vault with a 17-6.5 but has a better mark to his credit and senior Austin Landreth, the 2003 NCAA Regional champion in the pole vault, finished fifth with an regional qualifying mark of 16-6.75.

The Sooners also made a dent in the outdoor career honor roll. Lewis' mark of 50-4.5 in the triple jump ranks as the second best mark in school history. Nicole Moore's mark in the long jump of 19-0 ranks 10th on the all-time list and her triple jump ranks third. The women's 400-meter relay time of 45.15 ranks as the ninth best time in school history. Katie Blue's mark of 141-11 in the discus was a personal best and ranks ninth on the all-time list.

Next Up
It will be another weekend of split squads. Those athletes who qualify will be competing in the annual Drake Relays in Des Moines, beginning Thursday. Those who do not go to Drake will compete in the Mean Green Twilight meet on Thursday in Denton, Texas.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners Compete in Waco and Fort Worth

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