Completed Event: Track and Field at Battle on the Bayou on April 3, 2026 ,
Final
Track and Field
at Battle on the Bayou
University of Oklahoma Athletics
Sooners Take Last Shot at NCAAs
March 03, 2006 | Track and Field
NORMAN, Okla. -- The University of Oklahoma travels junior pole vaulter Scott Martin to the Alex Wilson Invitational for Friday night's last chance qualifier meet.
Hosted by the University of Notre Dame, the Alex Wilson Invitational will be one of the hot spots around the country for collegiate track and field as the nation's athletes make their final efforts to qualify for the NCAA National Indoor Championships.
Live results from the meet will be available at www.deltatiming.com.
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Getting to Know the Sooner Coaching Staff
Martin Smith was announced as Oklahoma sixth head track & field coach on June 30, 2005, and quickly assembled impressive staff of assistants to usher in the new era of Sooner track & field.
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Next on the Calendar
Eligible Sooners will compete at the 2006 NCAA National Indoor Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., March 10-11.
In the Polls
Three Sooner individuals or relays are listed in this week's Dandy Dozen, a ranking created by Trackwire.com that lists the top 12 in each NCAA event.
The OU women's DMR, fresh off a victory at the Big 12 Championships, is ranked No. 8.
Jessica Eldridge, the anchor leg of the DMR, is also ranked No. 12 in the women's mile run.
Sophomore Chip Heuser is No. 9 in the men's pole vault.
Big 12 Leftovers
The OU women's track and field team recorded its best ever score, 61 points, and finish, tied for fourth, at the Big 12 Indoor Championships. The OU women placed 11th in 2005 with 21.5 points.
The OU women won two events at the Big 12 Indoor for the first time in history with the help of Jessica Eldridge, who won the mile run on Saturday after anchoring the distance medley relay win on Friday. The Sooner women had previously won only three event titles total at the meet (Staneisha Bell, 60-meter dash, 2000; Janel Hayes, long jump, 2001; and Leslie Dunlap, pole vault, 2002).
The women's DMR win was OU's first conference relay title since the DMR won the Big Eight Indoor Championship in 1994. The OU DMR had also won indoor conference titles in 1981, 1991 and 1992.
Eldridge's 12.5 points was the third best effort by a Sooner woman in the 10-year history of the Big 12 Indoor. Laverne Jones scored 16 from runner-up finishes in the 60- and 200-meter dashes in 2004 and 14 from a runner-up in the 60 and third in the 200 in 2003.
In 2006, seven men's and seven women's entries have surpassed the provisional qualifying standard. Only five Sooners were eligible to compete for the 2005 NCAA Indoor Championships.
The OU men, who returned only 21 points from the 2005 Big 12 Indoor team, scored 40 en route to a 10th-place overall finish.
The 2005 men scored 67.33 points from 35 entries, including two relays (1.92 points per entry). The 2006 men scored its 40 points from just 14 entries (2.86 per entry).
Nine of OU's 10 men who participated scored points in 2006. Last year, 12 of 25 Sooner men scored points.
The 2005 women scored 21.5 points from 32 entries (0.67 per entry). The 2006 women scored 61 from 17 entries (3.59 per entry).
Eight of OU's 12 women scored points in 2006. Three of the four who did not were true freshmen. In 2005, 10 of 20 athletes, including two relays, scored points. Without the relays, only four OU women would have scored points.
Four women who did not score in an individual event in 2005 Odell, Rimmer, Newton and Goff combined for 21 points in individual events in 2006. Odell and Newton also ran legs on the winning DMR.
Tijahnni Newton improved the most individually between 2005 and 2006. Last year, Newton was 18th overall in the women's 400-meter dash after running a 1:01.47 in her preliminary heat. This year, she finished second in her heat with a personal best 55.08 run and placed sixth overall.
By event, the women's horizontal jumps improved the most over last year's group. In 2005, zero points were scored from a combined six athletes in the women's long and triple jumps. In 2006, OU's three athletes in the horizontal jumps combined for 21 points, including Toni Smith's second-place leap in the triple and Portia Nash's third in the long jump.
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Jessica Eldridge had one of the most outstanding performances in OU women's track and field history at the Big 12 Indoor Championships.
The junior from Broken Arrow, Okla., anchored the women's distance medley relay on Friday to a five-second victory over Baylor, which entered the meet ranked No. 1 in the conference.
Saturday, Eldridge ran smart and strong in her victory in the women's mile run.
“I wanted to be smart and have confidence in myself in the race,” Eldridge said. “The conference championship was a goal I set and accomplished. I never underestimate my competition, and I think it was a good field.”
The Sooner scored 12.5 points -- 10 for the mile win and a 2.5 share for the DMR victory. She tied for sixth among individual scorers at the meet.
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Toni Toni Toni
Toni Smith couldn't rest on laurels, not even for one week.
After breaking the school record in the triple jump with a 41-9.25 (12.73 meters) leap at the Tyson Invitational on Feb. 11, Smith took it even further by jumping 42-8.00 (13.00) at home at the Sooner Indoor on Feb. 18.
Though it was the best by a Sooner, Smith set a personal best of over 43 feet while a student-athlete at Cal State Northridge.
At Arkansas, Smith was unaware she had set a new school record until the next day when she read about it on the Internet. At the Sooner Indoor, her accomplishment was announced only minutes after her jump.
Smith finished an OU all-time best second place in the triple jump at the Big 12 Indoor.
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Run Ronnie Run
Ronnie Pines is making a quick impact among the Sooners' sprint corps.
The junior college transfer owned the fastest collegiate time in the nation for 20 days after he ran 6.60 the 60-meter dash on Feb. 4 at the J.D. Martin Invitational in Norman.
His mark has only been beaten by Baylor's Jacob Norman, who ran 6.58 during the preliminary rounds of the Big 12 Indoor.
Pines' run broke his own meet record and two-time national champion DaBryan Blanton's facility record.
Pines, who placed sixth at the Big 12 meet, holds the No. 2 seed entering the final weekend of the season. With a guaranteed spot in the field, rest will be awaiting him this week -- which is bad news for his competitiors at the NCAA Championships.
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18 and Life
Junior pole vaulter Scott Martin turned heads in 2005 when he cleared 18-0.50 (5.50 meters) at the NCAA National Indoor Championships.
The performance earned him fourth place, second all-time in the OU records books, as he became just the sixth OU pole vaulter to earn All-America status.
After failing to post a height at the season-opening Arkansas Invitational, Martin wasn't disappointed as much as relieved at his performance. According to Martin, he usually has one “no height” each season and was “happy to get it out of the way early.”
Martin posted his season best at home during the J.D. Martin Invitational. The Tulsa native jumped 17-4.50 (5.30 meters), besting the NCAA provisional qualifying standard.
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Chip on his Shoulder
After breaking his wrist and missing the entire 2005 season, sophomore pole vaulter Chip Heuser is ready to deliver on what is expecting to be a promising collegiate career.
Heuser, the 2004 USA Junior National champion, won the season-opening Arkansas Invitational after clearing 17-6.50 (5.35 meters), an NCAA provisional qualifying mark.
While attempting to clear a height of over 17 feet at the National Pole Vault Summit (Jan. 18), Heuser was so high he actually kicked the bar off its supports with his foot.
He jumped a season best 17-8.50 (5.40 meters) en route to winning the event at the J.D. Martin Invitational and placed second at the Big 12 Indoor Championships with a jump of 17-7.00 (5.36).
The Louisville, Ky., native holds the Kentucky state high school and national Catholic high school indoor and outdoor records. The 2003 Kentucky High School Athlete of the Year also led his high school, St. Xavier, to three straight state track & field titles.
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Odell Coming of Age
If you need one sure thing, count of Catherine Odell. Last season, the Enid, Okla., native had no signs of a sophomore slump as she became the Sooners' most improved distance runner and qualified for the national outdoor championships in the 1500-meter run.
After redshirting during the cross country season while getting used to new head coach Martin Smith's training program, Odell was on fire to begin 2006, putting the pressure on six-time national qualifier Jessica Eldridge during the first two meets of the season.
She surprised the field when she ran the fastest time during the prelims of the 1,000-meter run, just a short time before running the opening leg of the conference championship-winning distance medley relay.
Odell placed third in the finals of the 1,000 which was quite an improvement after finishing 12th in 2005.
Oklahoma's NCAA Qualifiers
Oklahoma has established 14 provisional or automatic entries for the 2006 NCAA National Indoor Track and Field Championships. Only five Sooners competed in the championships last year. The following is a list of those qualified in 2006 with their national rank in parenthesis:
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Saturday, June 13
Friday, June 12
Thursday, June 11
Wednesday, June 10
