Sooners Head to Manhattan for Big 12 Outdoor

NORMAN -- The Sooner track and field teams will be heading north to Manhattan, Kan., for the ninth annual Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

A small first group will head north on Wednesday. They will by the most of the rest of the team on Thursday.

The last group of student-athletes will head north on Friday after attending OU's annual Student-Athlete Graduate Reception to be held Friday afternoon before commencement ceremonies scheduled for Friday evening on the Norman campus. A total of 54 men and women will represent OU this weekend.

All action will be held at the R.V. Christian Outdoor Track Facility in Manhattan. The meet is hosted by Kansas State University.

The meet begins Friday at noon with the start of the decathlon and heptathlon competitions. The final eventof the meet is scheduled for Sunday evening at 6:30 p.m. with the women's and men's 1600-meter relay events.

On Friday, the schedule is dominated by the first five events of the decathlon and the first four events of the heptathlon. The only other events scheduled for Friday are the finals of the men's and women's hammer, the men's and women's javelin and the men's and women's 10,000-meter run. The field events start at noon as well while the 10,000 finals are set for 6:30 and 7:15 p.m.

Second day events of the heptathlon and decathlon start the action on Saturday at 10 a.m. The final event of the heptathlon, the 800 meters, is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. with the final event of the decathlon set for 4:25 p.m.

Field event finals begin at 2 p.m. with the women's long jump and shot put. Six field event finals are set for Saturday.

Preliminary heats in the track events start at 3 p.m. with the men's and women's 1500-meter run. The rest of the action on the track on Saturday is preliminaries.

On Sunday, there are six field event finals scheduled, beginning with the women's triple jump, women's discus and women's pole vault at 1 p.m. Final events on the track start with the 400-meter relay at 3 p.m.

Defending Sooner Champions
OU junior DaBryan Blanton will be attempting to win his third consecutive 100-meter dash title this weekend. Blanton begins defense of his title in the prelim round which is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. Saturday. The final in the 100 is set for 4:45 p.m. Sunday.

Sophomore Jessica Eldridge won the 800-meter run in 2004 as a true freshman. Preliminary action in the 800 is scheduled for 5:40 p.m. Saturday with the final set for 5 p.m. Sunday.

OU's Meet History
The Sooner men were seventh in 2004 at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships which OU hosted at John Jacobs Complex. The women finished eighth in 2004.

In the eight years of the meet, the Sooner men have finished fourth (once in 1998) and 11th (once in 2002). In between, OU recorded fifth (1997), ninth (1999), seventh (2000) and sixth-place (2001, 2003) finishes. The Sooners have produced seven conference individual champions and one relay champion since the first Big 12 meet in 1997.

The Sooner women have finished sixth twice (2000, 2001) and 10th twice (1997, 2002). OU also has finishes of seventh (1999), eighth (1998) and ninth (2003). The women have produced four individual champions since the first meet in 1997, the first coming in 2000. Bambi Carson, who won the discus title in 2000, became the first repeat champion for the Sooners when she added the 2001 discus title.

The OU men have won six track individual titles and one field event individual title. The OU women have won three individual field event titles and one running title.

Oklahoma at the 2004 Meet
The Sooner men finished seventh in the meet while the OU women were eighth as DaBryan Blanton became only the second OU student-athlete to win back-to-back Big 12 outdoor titles. Blanton repeated in the 100 but was held out of the 200 final after suffering an injury.

Freshman Jessica Eldridge continued her amazing first year as a Sooner, winning the 800. Eldridge's win was the first by a Sooner woman in a running event in the eight-year history of the outdoor Big 12. Her victory in the 800 also was OU's first in that event in conference competition since former Sooner All-American Annette Campbell won the 800 in 1984. Eldridge's prelim time of 2:06.86 ranked as the fourth fastest in school history and the fastest all-time by a Sooner true freshman. Eldridge would later prove her versatility and strength as a runner, coming back 45 minutes after the 800 final to finish fifth in the 5000 with a regional qualifying time.

Other top performances were posted by Laverne Jones, who finished second in the 100 and 200 and ran the second leg of OU's third-place 400-meter relay. Her 200 time was a career best for the Sooner senior and broke her own school record. Scott Martin finished second in the pole vault in his first Big 12 Outdoor meet, clearing a career best of 17-5.

The Sooners also got points from Dan Strong, who finished seventh in the decathlon; Chaundra Allard, who tied for seventh in the heptathlon; Catherine Odell, seventh in the 1500; the women's 400-meter relay which finished third; Leslie Dunlap and Jennifer Plank, who finished sixth and eighth in the pole vault respectively; Lucretia Rimmer, fourth in the triple jump; Josh Scott, sixth in the 200; Dwayne Duhaney, seventh in the 400; Salah Hussein, sixth in the 1500; David Wright, seventh in the 110-meter hurdles; Blake Culp, fourth in the steeplechase; the men's 1600-meter relay which finished eighth; Cory Crosby, fifth in the long jump; Robert Smith, seventh in the long and triple jump; Austin Landreth, seventh in the pole vault; Renea' Burns, eighth in the javelin; and Jon McMillian, who was third in the high jump.

A total of 10 season best marks were recorded by OU athletes in the meet, the first to be held on the redone John Jacobs Field. OU also added three regional qualifiers including Scott in the 200, Odell in the 1500 and Eldridge in the 5000. Sooners who improved previous qualifying marks included Jones in the 200, Blanton in the 200, Eldridge in the 800, Rimmer in the triple jump, and the women's 400-meter relay.

Eldridge became the second Sooner track and field athlete in as many years to be named the Big 12's outstanding freshman outdoor track and field performer of the year three days after the meet. Eldridge became the first Sooner woman to earn the award. She follows Blanton, who earned the award in 2003.

While the award is for the entire outdoor season, Eldridge's performance at the Big 12 Championship helped earn her the votes by conference coaches. The Broken Arrow freshman won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:07.62, then came back 45 minutes later to finish fifth in the 5000-meter run with a 16:46.08. It marked her first collegiate race at that distance and she broke the NCAA Regional qualifying standard by 10 seconds.

Eldridge had the fastest qualifying time in the 800 in the prelims with a 2:06.86 and that time ranked second in the Big 12 in the 800 and second in the Midwest Region. It also ranked 16th nationally in the 800.

Blanton became the first male to receive the Freshman of the Year award for the Sooners when he picked up the award in May 2003.

All-Time Big 12 History
Texas is the defending women's team champion and the Longhorns have won two consecutive titles. Kansas State won the team title in 2001 and 2002 and Nebraska won the 2000. The UT women won the first three Big 12 titles, giving Texas the overall lead in team titles with five.

Nebraska is the defending men's champion and the top spot for the men has featured Nebraska or Texas every year but 2001 when Texas A&M won the crown, competing on its home facility. Texas won the team title in 1997, 1999 and 2003 (while competing in Austin) and Nebraska won the meet in 1998, 1999 and 2000.

Nebraska has never hosted the outdoor meet but its first three men's titles were won at the University of Missouri, another Big 12 North team. In fact, the title won by Nebraska last year in Norman marked the first time in men's outdoor track history that a school from one division (North or South) won the team title at the home site of a team in the other division (North or South).

The same pattern doesn't hold for the women's team title as Texas has won five titles -- four at a host site in the Big 12 South and one at a host site in the Big 12 North. Nebraska's lone title came at Missouri while K-State's titles came on facilities at College Station and Columbia.

Sooners in the Big 12's Top 10
Nine men in 10 events and six women in eight events as well as three relays (two men's and one women's) are ranked among the Big 12's top 10 in events heading into the conference championship.

Individual rankings include: DaBryan Blanton, first in the 100 and fourth in the 200; Josh Scott, eighth in the 100; Aldwyn Sappleton, eighth in the 800; Jason Stanley, 10th in the 110 high hurdles; Jon McMillian, tied for fifth in the high jump; Scott Martin, third in the pole vault; Kevin Bookout, seventh in the shot put; Cale Drumright, 10th in the javelin; Dan Strong, ninth in the decathlon; Kerri-Ann Mitchell, fifth in the 100 and ninth in the 200; Yolanda Goff, tied for sixth in the 100; Jessica Eldridge, seventh in the 1500 and seventh in the 5000; Tiffani Johnson, 10th in the 400 intermediate hurdles; Kelsey Moore, second in the high jump; and Jennifer Plank, tied for ninth in the pole vault.

The women's 400-meter relay is ranked third heading into the meet. Other relay rankings include the men's 400-meter, which is fifth, and the men's 1600-meter relay, which is ranked sixth.

Academic Honors
A total of 22 Sooner student-athletes were named to the Big 12 All-Academic team for track and field this week. Those named included Aldwyn Sappleton, who became a four-time honoree, and Jackie Dubois, Kris Glenn, Emily Leonard, Kelsey Moore, and Dan Strong, who were three-time selections in track and field.

Sophomore Cale Drumright received special recognition for earning a 4.00 grade point average over the last two semesters.

Nominated by each institution's director of student-athlete support services and the media relations offices, first team members consist of those who have maintained a 3.20 or better GPA, and the second team are those who have a 3.00 to 3.19 GPA.

To qualify student-athletes must maintain a 3.00 GPA or higher either cumulative or the two previous semesters and must have participated in 60 percent of his/her team's scheduled contests. Freshmen and transfers are not eligible in their first year of academic residence. Senior student-athletes who have participated for a minimum of two years and meet all the criteria except percent of participation also are eligible.

Named to the men's first team from OU were Kevin Bookout, RS-So., University College, Stroud, Oklahoma; Jason Coleman, So., Architecture, Watonga, Okla.; Andrew Crabbe, Sr., Zoology-Biomedical Sciences, Grand Prairie, Texas; Blake Culp, Jr., Management, Bartlesville, Okla.; Cale Drumright, So., Sociology-Criminology, Ottawa, Kan.; Kris Glenn, Sr., Journalism, Healdton, Okla.; Aldwyn Sappleton, Graduate Student, Business Administration, Clarendon, Jamaica; Tyler Schmiedeberg, RS-Fr., Health and Exercise Science, Edmond, Okla.; Dan Strong, Sr., English, Enid, Okla.; and Stephen Taylor, RS-Fr., Chemistry, Edmond, Okla.

Named to the women's first team were Katie Blue, Jr., Business, Midwest City, Okla.; Andrea Bonner, So., Health and Exercise Science, Tulsa, Okla. ; Kristi Cook, So., Business, Flower Mound, Texas; Jackie Dubois, Sr., Meteorology, Lawrence, Kan.; Myria Houlihan, Jr., Journalism, Dallas, Texas; Tiffani Johnson, So., University College, Tulsa, Okla.; Emily Leonard, Sr., Finance, Plano, Texas; Kelsey Moore, Sr., Health and Exercise Science, Yukon, Okla.; and Catherine Odell, So., Language Arts, Enid, Okla.

Sooners who earned a place on the second team included Dax Thomas, Jr., Sociology, Enid, Okla.; Natasha Franklin, Jr., Communication, Austin, Texas; and Terrika Warren, Jr., Psychology, Dallas, Texas.

The Last Time Out -- UTA Open
It would be hard to blame sophomore Yolanda Goff if she complained about the weather as the above the allowable wind reading once again wiped out an incredible time for the sophomore at the 25th annual UTA Open on May 7.

Still, Goff helped OU's 400-meter relay win its race with an NCAA Regional qualifying time, before finishing second in the 100-meter dash with an 11.33 The wind reading in her heat was 4.8, 0.8 over the allowable.

The women's relay was one of four winners for OU at the meet. Jon McMillian won the high jump with a 7-0.50, tying his season best with a regional qualifying mark. Jennifer Plank won the women's pole vault, tying her season best with a 12-5.50, also a regional qualifying mark. Freshman Tiffany Toney won the javelin with a 124-4.

Junior Dax Thomas cut just over .30 seconds off his career best in the 400. Several other Sooners saw season and career best times wiped out by the gusty winds in Arlington.

National Ranking
s After ranking in the top 25 for the first five weeks of the outdoor season, the OU men's track and field team dropped out of the Trackwire Top 25 list in the sixth week. The Sooners opened the season tied for 22nd with two other teams, were tied for 22nd with one team in the second week of the poll, then dropped to 23rd in the third week of the poll. OU jumped into a tie for 19th in the fourth poll before falling into a tie for 22nd with UCLA, Mississippi and Baylor in the fifth week of the poll.

Arkansas, after winning the 2005 NCAA Indoor title and opening the outdoor season as the top ranked men's team, remained as the top ranked team for the sixth week. On the women's side, Texas remained in the top spot for a fifth consecutive week.

The poll 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 finished the 2005 indoor season ranked 12th in the poll 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.

OU junior DaBryan Blanton, who repeated as NCAA Indoor champion at 60 meters on March 12, remained in second place on the Dandy Dozen list in the 100 for the third week after ranking third for three consecutive weeks. Blanton won the 100-meter dash at the TCU Invitational April 23. His winning time, 10.12, ranks as the best time in the Big 12 and Midwest Regional and is the third best time in the country, heading into this weekend's action. He also has qualified for the NCAA Regional in the 200 and as a member of OU's 400-meter relay.

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 sixth in the pole vault in the Dandy Dozen list after ranking fourth last week and third for the three previous weeks. He opened 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 April 16. Both marks beat the NCAA Regional standard and his mark at Texas ranks as the sixth best in school history. He added a third regional effort at Baylor on April 23 but did not improve his season best with the mark. He competed at the Mean Green Twilight on April 28, passing until the bar reached 17-0.75 before missing on three attempts at the height.

Senior Aldwyn Sappleton is ranked 11th in the 800 for the second week after ranking eighth the first two weeks of the poll, ninth in the third poll and 10th in the fourth poll. Sappleton qualified for the NCAA Regional meet in the 800 with his time of 1:49.63 at the John Jacobs Invitational on April 16. He finished ninth in the special 800 at the Drake Relays on April 30. 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 eighth weekend of action in the outdoor season, the Sooners have NCAA Regional qualifiers in 18 events. Some are multiple qualifiers and one relay, the men's 400-meter relay, has three different groups that have meet the qualifying standard. Qualifiers include Kerri-Ann Mitchell in the 100, Yolanda Goff in the 100, Jessica Eldridge in the 1500 and 5000, Nicole Moore in the triple jump, Catherine Odell in the 800, the women's 400-meter relay, Jennifer Plank in the pole vault, Kelsey Moore in the high jump, DaBryan Blanton in the 100 and 200, Aldwyn Sappleton in the 800, the men's 400-meter relay “A”, “B” teams and “C:” teams, 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.

This weekend marks the final opportunity to record an NCAA qualifying mark. Only decathlon, heptathlon and the men's and women's 10,000-meter run athletes can qualify directly for the NCAA Championship as either automatic or provisional qualifiers. All others must go through the regional qualifying process.

Next Up
The Sooners who have qualified will compete in the NCAA Midwest Regional Track and Field Championship for the opportunity to advance to the NCAA Championship. The regional meet is being hosted by OU at John Jacobs Complex May 27-28. The NCAA Championships are scheduled June 8-11 in Sacramento, Calif. The top five finishers in each individual event at the regional meet and the top three relays automatically advance to the NCAA Championship. Athletes who finish in the top eight are eligible to be considered for at-large invitations to the NCAA field if spots remain after all automatic qualifiers are added. The field must include 544 men and 544 women, per NCAA rules.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners Head to Manhattan for Big 12 Outdoor

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