Thirteen Sooners Advance to Finals

Feb. 29, 2008

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Thirteen Sooners advanced to Saturday individual event finals and OU student-athletes recorded five NCAA provisional qualifying marks in the first day of action at the 2008 Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Championships in Lincoln, Neb. OU also claimed two third-place finishes in the women's long jump and men's distance medley relay.

Scottesha Miller medaled in the women's long jump, finishing third. Miller recorded a top jump of 19 feet and six inches (5.94 meters) to capture the bronze behind Nebraska's Chantae McMillan (19-2.00/5.84) and Missouri's Kaela Rorvig (19-0.00/5.79).

Tony Clement, Zach Dawson, Brayon Brown and Rob Sorrell claimed the other Oklahoma bronze, finishing third in the men's distance medley relay with a time of 9:59.70. The women's DMR composed of Kristi Cook, Jalesa Walker, Amanda Mayfield and Kelly Waters finished fifth with a time of 11:38.16.

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Both men's and women's 60-meter hurdles finals will feature Sooners as Sheldon Leith and Latoya Greaves advanced to the second day of competition. Leith posted a time of 7.82 to lead the prelims while Greaves enters Saturday ranked third after running an 8.34. Both times were NCAA provisional qualifying marks.

The same story exists in the 60-meter dash as both Marcus Pugh and Miller advanced in their respective divisions with NCAA provisonal times. Pugh's 6.73 gave the senior the No. 3 seed in the finals while Miller's personal-best 7.40 ranked sixth. Pugh also advanced to the 200-meter finals as the No. 6 seed with a time of 21.33.

Miller's time marked her second provisional mark on the season after recording a qualifying distance in the long jump earlier this season. Pugh had previously added provisional times in the 60 and the 200-meter dash.

Leslie Cole advanced to the finals of the women's 400-meter dash with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 53.53. Cole's time is the second-fastest indoor 400 at OU, just behind school record holder Wendy Watson's 53.42 set in 1990.

Two Sooner women advanced to the finals in the 600-yard run. Tijahnni Newton (1:23.10) and Amanda Mayfield (1:24.10) finished third and sixth, respectively, in Friday's prelims.

The 800-meter run will also feature OU runners in both the men's and women's finals. Brayon Brown (1:52.85) and Kristi Cook (2:12.68) advanced as the seventh and third seeds, respectively.

In the men's heptathlon, Mitch Henry currently sits in fourth place with 3,052 points heading into Saturday's final three events. Jamie Alexander is 11th with 2,878 points. Nebraska Skyler Reising leads with 3,294 points.

Saturday's action at the Bob DeVaney Center begins at 9:30 a.m. with the 60-meter hurdles portion of the men's heptathlon. Field events begin with the men's triple jump at 1:30 p.m. while running events take off at 3 p.m. with the women's 60-meter hurdles.

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