Women's DMR Wins Big 12 Title

LINCOLN, Neb. -- The University of Oklahoma women's distance medley took top honors Friday night during the first day of the Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Championships at the Devaney Sports Center.

Oklahoma's team of Catherine Odell, Tijhanni Newton, Kristi Cook and Jessica Eldridge ended Missouri's two-year event title reign, running the combined 4,000-meter distance in 11:18.97. Baylor finished second in 11:23.75.

It was OU's first title in event in the conference's 10-year history.

Results | Big 12 Championships Central

Portia Nash placed third in the women's long jump with a leap of 20 feet, one inch (6.21 meters). The mark is the second best all-time by a Sooner and made Nash the 12th OU individual or relay to earn a provisional qualifying spot for the NCAA Championships in two weeks.

The OU women were sixth after six events in the team scoring with 16 points. Nebraska holds a firm lead with 55.50.

Frankie Wright scored for the Sooner men with an eighth-place result in the men's long jump. Wright jumped 23-11.00 (7.29).

Kansas holds the lead in the men's team scoring after four events with 29 points. Texas and Colorado are tied for second with 21 apiece. OU is 11th.

Several Sooners qualified for the finals of their respective events and positioned themselves to take home more hardware Saturday.

Odell will be a favorite to win the women's 1,000-meter run after running the fastest time (2:51.13) during the preliminaries.

Eldridge is also seeking the Big 12 title in the women's mile. She enters the event as the number one-ranked athlete in the conference.

Yolanda Goff qualified for the finals of the women's 60-meter dash, winning her heat in 7.41 seconds. Goff returned to the track and qualified for the finals of the 200-meter dash, running a personal best 23.91.

Jason Coleman qualified for the finals of the men's mile run. The Watonga, Okla., native ran fourth fastest time overall of 4:10.83, exactly .70 seconds behind the leader.

Marcus Pugh will have an opportunity to win the men's 200-meter dash after running the second best time in the prelims. Pugh's 21.22 lap was just .03 seconds off the best time of the day.

Ronnie Pines qualified for the finals of the men's 60-meter dash with a run of 6.75.

Tijahnni Newton qualified for the finals of the women's 400-meter dash with a season best run of 55.08.

Brayon Brown qualified for the finals of the men's 800-meter dash after running the second fastest time overall of 1:51.66.

Saturday's events begin at 1:30 p.m. with the women's long jump. OU junior Toni Smith will be a favorite to win the event as she enters the competition second on the Big 12 performance list.

OU's pole vaulting duo of Chip Heuser and Scott Martin will also fight it out for an event title at 3 p.m. Heuser and Martin are ranked No. 1 and No. 3, respectively, on the conference's performance list.

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