Completed Event: Track and Field at Battle on the Bayou on April 3, 2026 ,
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Track and Field
at Battle on the Bayou
University of Oklahoma Athletics
OU Faces Tough Field at Tyson
February 14, 2008 | Track and Field
Feb. 14, 2008
The Oklahoma indoor track team heads to Fayetteville, Ark., for the third time this season for the biggest regular-season test of the indoor season, the 2008 Tyson Invitational.
The meet features some of the nation's top collegiate athletes along with a selection of the world's top professional athletes, as the third event of the Visa Championship Series, at the site of the NCAA Indoor National Championships.
Twenty-two teams ranked in the nation's top-25 will be competing, including both the men's and women's top-ranked teams in Tennessee and LSU, respectively. OU will also face five Big 12 foes.
Action kicks off Friday at 9 a.m. with the men's collegiate pole vault and the women's collegiate 5,000-meter run. Saturday's first events are the women's collegiate high jump and 3,000-meter run at 10 a.m.
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RESULTS
Live results for the 2008 Tyson Invitational will be available at www.hogwired.com. A complete recap of Oklahoma action will be available on SoonerSports.com shortly after the conclusion of action each day.
RANKED TEAMS
#16 Arizona (W), #2/#6 Arizona State (M/W), #11/#7 Arkansas (M/W), #20 Auburn (M), #21/#12 Baylor (M/W), #14 Clemson (M), #18/#15 Florida State (M/W), #22 Georgia Tech (W), #10/#21 Kentucky (M/W), #8/#1 LSU (M/W), #17 Miami (W), #25/#3 Michigan (M/W), #17/#23 Nebraska (M/W), #12/#11 Oregon (M/W), #10 Penn State (W), #20 South Carolina (W), #5 Stanford (W), #1/#2 Tennessee (M/W), #13 Texas (M), #16 Texas Tech (M), #15 UCLA (M), #9 Virgina Tech (W).
COMING UP NEXT WEEK
Next week the Sooners return to Norman as they host the Sooner Indoor Open, Saturday, at the Mosier Indoor Facility.
The event is slated to kick off Saturday morning at 11 a.m. with the women's weight throw, long jump and high jump.
Running events will begin at 12:30 p.m. with women's the mile run.
Check with SoonerSports.com for updated information and any schedule changes.
RECORDS FALLING
The 2008 indoor season has been a successful one so far for the University of Oklahoma track and field team. One look at the OU record books proves the point.
Four new records have been posted in the 2008 indoor season, three on the men's side and one on the women's.
The men's distance medley relay team started the trend at the Razorback Invitational when it finished second to host Arkansas, but posted a time of 9:42.35. The quartet of Tony Clement, Zach Dawson, Brayon Brown and Rob Sorrell bested the previous mark of 9:42.88 set in 2007 by Brown, Sorrell, Logan Jones and Frankie Wright.
One week later at the J.D. Martin Invitational, one of the most recent additions to the Sooner family, mid-year transfer Mikaela Johansson finished third in the weight throw with a top mark of 54-9.25 (16.69). Johansson's throw bested Katie Webster's previous record of 52-8.00 (16.05), set in 2000.
New York City was the site of the most impressive weekend as far as Oklahoma record books are concerned. Sheldon Leith and Rob Sorrell both placed their names atop the list in their respective events.
Leith kick-started the weekend on the first day of competition in the 60-meter hurdles. After finishing third in the prelims, Leith claimed the title with a blazing finish of 7.73 in the finals, setting a school record, a mark he had previously held at 7.79 with former Sooner Jason Stanley (2000).
Sorrell made the next claim to fame in the Sooner record book in the mile run at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational. Sorrell's run of 4:03.66 topped Salah Hussein's previous mark of 4:04.64 in 2004.
BOUTTE PILING UP WINS
After last week's competition at the Adidas Classic, in which he only saw action in the long jump, senior horizontal jumper Shardae Boutte has come away with a title in every meet he has entered but one.
The 2007 Big 12 outdoor champion in the triple jump, Boutte opened the year with a strong start in the long jump at the Arkansas Invitational, besting his previous personal record by more than eight inches, jumping 24 feet and 11.75 inches (7.61 meters).
The Razorback Invitational was the site of Boutte's next win as he claimed the triple jump title with an NCAA automatic qualifying jump of 52-11.50 (16.14), a mark more than 10 inches longer than teammate Tydree Lewis' second-place finish.
In front of a home crowd as the Mosier Indoor Facility, Boutte took it one step farther, sweeping the triple and long jumps at the J.D. Martin Invitational. It marked the second consecutive year that Boutte won the triple jump in the J.D. Martin Invitational.
Boutte's jump of 24 feet and 2.25 inches (7.37 meters) was good for first in the long jump while his top triple jump of 51-10.50 (15.81) bested OU's Tydree Lewis, who finished second with a jump of 51-1.00 (15.57), by more than nine inches. It was the second straight meet for Boutte and Lewis to finish 1-2 to in the event after doing so at last week's Razorback Invitational.
CLEMENT CATCHES ON
For someone who didn't begin running distance until the spring of his senior year of high school, Tony Clement is certainly catching on to the sport on the Division I level.
The former high school football player and junior college transfer from Hagerstown (Md.) Community College, Clement has quickly ascended to the top of the Big 12 rankings in the middle distances.
Currently ranked No. 1 in the conference in the 1,000-meter run and No. 3 in the 800-meter run, Clement's times rank No. 2 and No. 4 in the Oklahoma all-time record books. Clement was also a part of the distance medley relay team that broke the OU school record and is currently ranked No. 2 in the Big 12.
The season looks to be extended for the promising junior as Clement has NCAA provisional qualifying marks in both the 800 and the distance medley relay.
OU REGAINS TOP-FIVE RANKING
The University of Oklahoma men's indoor track and field team has resurfaced in the top five, at No. 4, in the latest national rankings released Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
Oklahoma began the year at No. 17 in the polls, which are compiled strictly from the NCAA descending order lists and are released each Wednesday, and climbed to No. 3 on Jan. 30th. The Sooners briefly dropped to No. 7 before climbing three spots to their latest ranking after a strong weekend at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational.
Tennessee is currently the nation's top-ranked team followed by Arizona State and Texas A&M at No. 3.
OU is led by senior triple jumper Shardae Boutte who is ranked third nationally in the triple jump with a mark of 52 feet and 11.5 inches (16.14 meters). Sheldon Leith and Marcus Pugh have both ascended in the rankings to No. 5 after their performances in last weekend's events.
Leith's time of 7.73 in the 60-meter hurdles, a school record, and Pugh's 6.64 in the 60-meter dash both vaulted the student-athletes in their respective rankings. The men's distance medley relay team (9:42.35) and triple jumper Tydree Lewis (52-1.00/15.88) both rank seventh nationally while heptathlete Mitch Henry ranks 11th with 5,329 points.
Tony Clement is a new addition to the national rankings, coming in 12th in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:50.10. Shardae Boutte, who is 20th in the long jump (24-11.50/7.61), and Rob Sorrell, 29th in the mile (4:03.66), round out Oklahoma's men's national rankings.
Latoya Greaves is ranked 10th nationally in the women's 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.28.
LEITH ENJOYING BREAKOUT SEASON
With his 60-meter hurdles win at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational, senior hurdler Sheldon Leith recorded his fourth win of the season in the event.
Leith's only meet that did not include a short-sprint hurdles title came at the Texas Tech Invitational in the 55-meter hurdles, an event he finished third in.
Currently ranked fifth in the nation, Leith is the top hurdler in the Big 12 Conference, with an NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 7.73, an Oklahoma school record.
This weekend Leith will face two competitors ranked ahead of him in the national rankings in No. 3 Ty Akins of Auburn and No. 4 Jason Richardson of South Carolina.
FORTY-SIX TOP-THREE MARKS
Through the 2008 indoor track & field season, 23 University of Oklahoma individual athletes and two relays have accounted for 46 top-three finishes including 15 first-place finishes.
Sheldon Leith leads all Sooners with five top-three finishes, including four first-place finishes. On the women's side, Latoya Greaves is tops with four top-three finishes, coming in first once.
Leith ties for tops with four first-place finishes as horizontal jumper Shardae Boutte also claims four individual titles. Marcus Pugh is second with two. Tony Clement, Mitch Henry and Kevin Snyder all have one first-place finish apiece. After Greaves, Scottesha Miller is the only female with a title win on the year.
FAYETTEVILLE IS FAMILIAR
The Randal Tyson Track Center is becoming an awfully familiar location for the Oklahoma indoor track & field team. OU opened 2008 on Jan. 11 with the Arkansas Invitational and returned two weeks later for the Razorback Invitational.
This weekend's trip marks the third of the year and Oklahoma will return in three weeks for the NCAA Last Chance Qualifier on March 7.
Fayetteville is the host of the NCAA Indoor National Championships one week later, March 14-15.
On top of the indoor season, OU will travel to Fayetteville twice during the outdoor season for the John McDonnell Invitational (April 18-19) and the Arkansas Twilight (May 2).
Saturday, June 13
Friday, June 12
Thursday, June 11
Wednesday, June 10
