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
Sooner Outdoor Opens in Top 25
March 26, 2008 | Track and Field
March 26, 2008
NORMAN, Okla. -- The Oklahoma men's and women's track and field teams opened the 2008 outdoor season in the top 25 of the initial national rankings released Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). The Sooner men lead the way as the Big 12 Conference's highest-ranked team in 11th while the OU women come in at 22nd.
The defending Big 12 Champion Oklahoma men represent one of eight conference teams in the nation's top 25 and are led by Shardae Boutte (triple jump) and Chip Heuser (pole vault), who both enter the season ranked third nationally in their respective events. The 4x100-relay is ranked fifth nationally while triple jumper Tydree Lewis and decathlete Mitch Henry both rank ninth. In all, the OU men's team has 11 athletes and relays in the top-20 rankings of their respective events.
Texas is Oklahoma's closest conference competitor at No. 12 while defending national champion Florida State tops the rankings on the men's side.
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The Oklahoma women, coming off a seventh-place finish in the Big 12 Indoor Championships, are bolstered by the return of seniors Jessica Eldridge and Toni Smith, both of whom had exhausted their indoor eligibility prior to the 2008 season. Smith enters her final outdoor season ranked fifth in the triple jump while Eldridge comes in sixth in the 1,500-meter run. The women's 4x100-relay rounds OU's top-10 athletes in eighth.
Smith is one spot behind teammate Scottesha Miller in the long jump rankings coming in 12th to Miller's 11th. The women's 4x400-relay, ranked 16th, rounds out the Sooner women in the top-20 of their respective rankings.
LSU sits atop the women's rankings with Big 12 institution Texas A&M at No. 4. Five Big 12 teams, including OU, dot the nation's top-25 rankings.
The USTFCCCA Division I indoor track and field rankings are compiled solely from NCAA descending order lists. The preseason rankings are based on the final descending order list of the previous outdoor season.
The Sooners next action comes this Saturday, March 29, at the Arlington Invitational in Arlington, Texas.
Saturday, June 13
Friday, June 12
Thursday, June 11
Wednesday, June 10
