Sooner T&F Travels to UTA Open

The Sooner track and field teams are headed to Arlington, Texas, for their final regular season meet of the ,2005 outdoor season.

Competition for the OU student-athletes begins Saturday morning in the UTA Open. First up are the women pole vaulters. Field events run throughout the day at Maverick Stadium. The pole vault begins at 9 a.m. and field events end with the men's triple jump, women's javelin and men's high jump, scheduled for 5 p.m. The first running event on Saturday is the women's 400-meter relay and it is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. The final event on the track is the men's 1600-meter relay, set for 6:55 p.m.

Who's Going
A total of 33 Sooner student-athletes are traveling to Arlington for the meet. With final exams scheduled to start on the OU campus on Monday, the number of competitors was cut back. Also, to accommodate final exam preparation, the Sooners are traveling in three different groups, allowing groups to return as events are completed on Saturday. As an open event, entries will not be finalized until the day of competition.

The meet will serve as a final tune-up before the Big 12 Championships which are scheduled to start Friday, May 13, on the campus of Kansas State University.

National Rankings
The OU men's track and field team is tied for 22nd in the fifth week of the Trackwire Top 25 list. 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 this week.

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 fifth week. On the women's side, Texas remained in the top spot for a fourth 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.

The Sooners are one of five Big 12 men's teams ranked in the top 25. Other ranked teams include Texas (12th); Nebraska (tied for 15th), Texas Tech (tied for 20th) and Baylor (tied for 22nd).

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 second 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 fourth in the pole vault in the Dandy Dozen list after ranking third for three consecutive 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 after ranking eighth the first two weeks and ninth in the third 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 seventh weekend of action in the outdoor season, the Sooners have 19 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, 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” and “B” 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.

The final date to post a mark for the NCAA Regional meet is May 16.

The Last Time Out -- Mean Green Twilight
Kevin Bookout (shot put), Cale Drumright (javelin) and Jennifer Plank (pole vault) won their events at the Mean Green Twilight, hosted by the University of North Texas at Fouts Field. Bookout and Plank won with NCAA Regional qualifying marks but neither improved their regional qualifying mark. For Bookout, it was the 12th consecutive meet for him to record an NCAA Regional mark.

Drumright won the javelin with a 181-0 and Chase Bridgforth finished third in the event with a 177-05.

Kris Glenn tied his career best in the high jump, clearing 6-8.75 to finish third behind OU teammate Jon McMillian on number of misses. Shea Selby finished sixth in the event,

Austin Landreth and the men's 400-meter relay also recorded NCAA Regional marks but neither improved already recorded NCAA marks. Landreth finished fourth in the pole vault with a 16-6.75 and the relay, composed of Daniel Bridges, Marcus Pugh, Chason Lane and Josh Scott, finished third with a 40.60. That time is a season best for those four runners and will count as a “B” team qualifying mark, making any of those four eligible to run at regionals.

The Last Time Out -- Drake Relays
Led by a strong 1200-meter opening leg by sophomore Catherine Odell and a solid split in the 400-meter leg by Terrika Warren, the OU women's distance medley relay cut nearly nine seconds off the school record during competition at the 96th annual Drake Relays. The Sooners finished third with an 11:22.47.

Odell opened the relay with her season best split, then handed to Warren, who ran the 400 in just under 56 seconds. Nicola Maye ran the 800 leg before handing the baton to anchor leg Jessica Eldridge with OU in sixth place. Within the first 400 meters, Eldridge had the Sooners up to fourth, then she took over third place over the next 400.

The time broke the season record set last year and was an improvement of more than 10 seconds over the previous season best, recorded at the Texas Relays the first weekend of April. Odell and Eldridge also ran on the 2004 record-setting relay, with Odell taking the opening leg and Eldridge running the anchor.

Odell continued her solid performances at Drake on the final day, finishing second in the 1500 with her season best time in the event. Odell recorded a 4:29.78 in the university division of the 1500, a mark that lowered her season best by nearly six seconds and was just two seconds off the NCAA Regional qualifying mark.

The men's shuttle hurdle relay, made up of David Wright, Tony Francis, Kennan Johnson and Jason Stanley, had the second best qualifying time in the prelims with a 60.19 but did not finish the race in the final. The prelim time is the third best time in school history.

Redshirt freshman Tyler Schmiedeberg made the University of Oklahoma's first day at the Drake Relays a successful one, finishing 11th in the 5000 with a 14:22.70. His time cut nearly 45 seconds off his previous best in the event. It ranks as the best time recorded by a Sooner runner in the 5000 this season and ranks as the seventh best time in school history.

Next Up
The Sooners will turn their attention to final exams that begin Monday on the OU campus before traveling to Manhattan, Kan., for the ninth annual Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championship May 13-15. Kansas State is serving as the host site for the 2005 conference meet.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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