Drumright Earns All-Big 12 Honors

MANHATTAN, Kan. -- OU sophomore Cale Drumright posted a pair of career bests, first on his final throw in the preliminary round, then on the final throw of the competition, to finish seventh in the javelin on the first day of the ninth annual Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Hosted by Kansas State University, the meet is being held at the R.V. Christian Outdoor Track Complex.

The first day competitors battled rain, cool temperatures and a gusty northerly wind that came up late in the day as finals were held in three events for the men and three for the women. The first five events of the decathlon and the first four events of the heptathlon also highlighted the first day schedule.

Drumright threw a 193-4 on the final throw in the preliminaries to earn a spot in the final eight. That beat his previous career best by nearly four feet. Entering the final round, the Ottawa, Kan., sophomore was in seventh place and he finished seventh despite a final throw in the competition of 193-10, extending his career best another six inches.

“I'm thrilled for Cale ... we knew he had the ability to put up some throws like this,” said Ed Wade, the Sooners' throws coach. “He had two other efforts that he just missed on technically that could have gone over 200 feet. Cale has really worked hard to improve, adding more than 12 feet to his career best this year. We also had a solid effort from Chase (Bridgforth), who just missed advancing to the final eight as a true freshman. It was a good day for us today.”

Senior LaDonna Moore is in fifth place after the first day of the women's heptathlon. She posted a career best first day score of 3,069 after recording career best heptathlon marks in the high jump (5-4.25), shot put (37-2.25) and 200 (26.14). She just missed another career best heptathlon mark in the first event of the day, recording a 14.53 in the 100-meter dash, good for 905 points. She will finish the competition Saturday with the long jump, javelin and 800-meter run. The heptathlon competition is tight with just 18 points separating fourth through seventh.

Senior Dan Strong opened the decathlon with a career best in the 100 with an 11.63, then struggled in the long jump, finishing with a 20-3.75. Strong seemed the shrug off that performance and set a career best decathlon mark in the shot put (41-8.5) and tied a best in the high jump (6-3.5) before finishing with a strong 400 (51.99) to end the day in ninth place. His first day total today was just 16 points off the career best first-day total he had at the Texas Relays earlier this season. Strong traditionally scores well in the first two events of the second day, the 110-meter high hurdles and the pole vault, and he has shown marked improvement in the three other second-day events, the discus, the javelin and the 1500. It was a career best in the 1000 at the Big 12 Indoor, the final event of the two days of competition, that helped Strong finish eighth in the heptathlon.

Strong is just 18 points out of eighth place in the decathlon, heading into the final day.

“Today was a solid day for Dan and LaDonna,” said co-head coach/events coach Jill Lancaster. “Both of them overcame challenges and responded with strong, solid marks. Our goal Saturday is to keep that momentum going and earn spots on the award stand. It's clearly within reach for each of them if they perform like we know they can.”

Other Sooners who competed on the first day included Tyler Schmiedeberg, who finished ninth in the men's 10,000 with a 30:54.14; Tiffany Toney, who was 14th in the women's javelin with a 110-2; Jackie Dubois, who finished 15th in the women's 10,000 with a 29:16.38; and Chase Bridgforth, who was 11th in the men's javelin with a 175-4.

Through three events, Texas A&M leads the women's race with 18 points and host Kansas State leads the men's standings with 28 points. The OU men are in ninth place while the Sooner women are one of three teams that did not score a point in limited first day action.

Action resumes at 10 a.m. Saturday with the women's long jump in the heptathlon and the men's 110-meter high hurdles in the decathlon. Field event finals begin at 2 p.m. and running preliminaries begin at 2 p.m.

Ninth Annual Big 12 Championships
OU Results Only
Men
10,000 Meter Run --9, Tyler Schmiedeberg, Oklahoma, 30:54.14
Javelin Throw -- 7, Cale Drumright, Oklahoma, 59.09m, (193-10). 11, Chase Bridgforth, Oklahoma, 53.45m, (175-04)
Decathlon -- 9, Dan Strong, Oklahoma, 3459
Decathlon 100-Meter Dash -- Strong, 11.63 (725)
Decathlon Long Jump -- Strong, 20-3.75 (628)
Decathlon Shot Put -- Strong, 41-8.5 (650)
Decathlon High Jump -- Strong, 6-3.5 (731)
Decathlon 400-Meter Dash -- Strong, 51.99 (725)
Women
10,000-Meter Run -- 15, Jackie Dubois, Oklahoma, 39:16.38
Javelin Throw -- 14, Tiffany Toney, Oklahoma, 33.58m, (110-02)
Heptathlon -- 5, LaDonna Moore, Oklahoma, 3069
Heptathlon 100 -- Moore, 14.53 (905)
Heptathlon High Jump -- Moore, 5-4.25 (771)
Heptathlon Shot Put -- Moore, 37-2.25 (617)
Heptathlon 200 -- Moore, 26.24 (776)

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