Sooners Aim for Big 12 Track Title

AMES, Iowa. -- The University of Oklahoma men hope to post their best finish since the formation of the Big 12 Conference this weekend at the Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Championships at Iowa State University. Oklahoma's best finish was fourth in 1998 and indoor marks thus far have the team encouraged that a better finish is possible.

Notes | Live Results | Schedule of Events

Oklahoma has emerged in Big 12 track and field since Martin Smith took over in the summer of 2005. In his first season at the helm last year, the OU women tied for fourth at the Big 12 Indoor meet, their best ever finish, while the men finished fifth at the outdoor meet.

The Sooner men are favored to win four individual titles -- 60-meter dash (Ronnie Pines), 60-meter hurdles (Sheldon Leith), pole vault (Chip Heuser) and shot put (Kevin Bookout) -- and have the ability to score points in 16 of the 19 events.

OU's women will likely be in the cluster of teams fighting a close battle for second through eighth place in the standings behind overwhelming favorite Texas A&M.

Jessica Eldridge and the distance medley relay are defending champions. However, OU will be seeking maximum points in several other areas with top-ranked sprinter Yolanda Goff and peaking triple jumper Toni Smith.

The Big 12 Championships begin Friday, Feb. 23, with the first event of the women's pentathlon at 9 a.m. inside the Lied Recreation Center on the Iowa State University campus.

The weight throw, long jump, 5,000-meter run, distance medley relay, women's pole vault and women's pentathlon complete their final rounds Friday while the remainder of the competiton concludes Saturday, Feb. 24.

2007 INDOOR SEASON IN REVIEW

Razorback Invitational | Fayetteville, Ark. | Jan. 19-20
Kevin Bookout opened his final season as a Sooner in grand style with a dominant win in the shot put at the Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., Friday night.

Bookout put a distance of 61 feet, 5.00 inches (18.72 meters), an NCAA provisional qualifying mark, on his final attempt to claim a decisive victory over Louisiana Tech's Jason Morgan (56-3.75). The senior's dominance was such that he could have passed on the remainder of his attempts and still won. Bookout's first attempt traveled 59-10.00 (18.24).

Toni Smith won the women's triple jump to highlight the University of Oklahoma track and field team's action on Saturday.

Smith, the school record holder in the event, recorded a best jump of 41 feet, 5.00 inches (12.62 meters) to earn the event title by six inches over TCU's Neidra Covington.

adidas Classic | Lincoln, Neb. | Jan. 27
All-Americans Chip Heuser and Scott Martin finished 1-2 in the men's pole vault Saturday night at the adidas Classic hosted by the University of Nebraska.

Heuser upped his NCAA provisional qualifying mark after clearing 17 feet, 2.75 inches (5.25 meters) to win the event. Martin took runner-up honors with a best vault of 16-10.75 (5.15).

Leslie Cole and Yolanda Goff dominated the short sprints, sweeping the top two positions in both the 60-meter dash and 200-meter dash. Cole (7.50) clipped Goff (7.52) at the finish line in the 60 meters finals before convincingly winning the 200 with an indoor personal best run of 24.18. Goff took second in the 200 at 24.51.

J.D. Martin Invitational | Norman, Okla. | Feb. 2-3
Shardae Boutte won the men's triple jump with the second best distance ever recorded by a Sooner at the J.D. Martin Invitational Saturday, Feb. 3.

Boutte's bound of 52 feet, 4.75 inches (15.97 meters) was also a personal best and surpassed the NCAA Championships provisional qualifying standard. Entering the weekend, only one other collegiate athlete in the nation had posted a better result. Tydree Lewis took runner-up honors with a personal best of 51-2.75 (15.61), also a provisional qualifying mark and the fourth best on OU's all-time performance list.

Tyson Invitational | Fayetteville, Ark. | Feb. 9-10
All-American pole vaulter Chip Heuser became just the fifth Sooner all-time to cross the 18-foot benchmark indoors with his win in the event at the Tyson Invitational Saturday night.

Heuser posted a personal best en route to victory at 18 feet, 0.50 inches (5.50 meters). With the result, Heuser automatically qualifies for the NCAA National Championships.

Oklahoma's men's distance medley relay broke the school record with its second-place finish. The DMR posted a combined time of 9 minutes, 44.59 seconds, besting the indoor record of 9:48.38 set in 1990. The mark was also provisionally qualified the OU quartet of Logan Jones, Frankie Wright, Brayon Brown and Rob Sorrell for the NCAA Championships. Texas won the relay race in 9:38.86.

Freshman Jacob Boone placed second in the college mile run Friday afternoon at the Tyson Invitational. Boone completed the distance in 4 minutes, 12.12 seconds, in his first race at the distance this year. T. Jay Sanderson, a senior at Southwest Baptist and NCAA Division II All-American, claimed the event title in 4:10.11.

Sooner Open | Norman, Okla. | Feb. 17
Toni Smith broke her own school record in the women's indoor triple jump en route to victory at the Sooner Open. Smith jumped 43-1.00 (13.13) to break the record she set last year at 42-8.00 (13.00).

Ronnie Pines repeated his personal best in the 60-meter dash with a 6.60 run, equaling his own facility record and setting a meet record, en route to first place in the finals. OU's Marcus Pugh was second at 6.73 and Baylor's Jacob Norman, the defending NCAA Champion in the event, finished third at 6.75 in his first competition of the season.

Texas Tech's Marlon Odom and OU's Sheldon Leith previewed what will likely be the battle for a Big 12 title one week from Saturday in the men's 60-meter hurdles.

Odom and Leith entered the meet ranked No. 1 and 2, respectively, in the conference.

Leith ran 7.79, matching the school record and running the fastest time by a Big 12 hurdler this season, to lead after the preliminary rounds. However, Odom got the better result in the finals, taking the event victory in 7.81 to Leith's 7.83.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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