Smith OU's First All-American

June 12, 2008

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Amy Backel and Toni Smith highlighted Oklahoma competition at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Des Moines. Smith picked up OU's first All-America honor with an 11th-place finish in the women's long jump while Backel extended her own program record in the women's javelin in advancing to the event's Saturday final.

The Sooners also placed a hurdler in both the men's and women's semifinals on Friday as Sheldon Leith and Latoya Greaves advanced in their respective divisions.

Competing in the first flight of the event, Backel recorded the program-best throw of 167 feet and 10 inches (51.17 meters) with her third and final throw of the event's prelims. Backel's distance is currently the sixth best among competitors. SMU's Andrea Kvetova leads the field with a toss of 179-11 (54.85).

Backel's previous high and program record entering the competition was 167-7.5 (51.09). This season marks the first for the sophomore as a full-time thrower after beginning her collegiate career as a multi-event athlete. Under first-year throws coach Brian Blutreich, Backel has improved her personal best thsi season by more than 18 feet.

Smith finished 11th in the women's long jump with a top final's jump of 20-1.00 (6.12) and was named an All-American by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). The organization awards the honor to the top-eight finishers and extends the honor to the top-eight American born student-athletes.

Smith will also begin competition Friday in the stronger of her two events, the triple jump. Thursday's honor marked Smith's third All-America honor, the first two coming in the triple jump. Smith is OU's third All-American in the women's outdoor long jump and first since Janel Hayes in 2001.

Another program-record holder, Greaves, won the fourth heat in the women's 100-meter hurdles prelims to advance to Friday's semifinals in the event. The Big 12 champion in the event, Greaves reeled off a time of 13.22, the fifth fastest of the day. The sophomore from Jamaica entered the national meet ranked 10th nationally. Tiffany Ofili of Michigan is the top seed entering the semis with a time of 12.73.

Greaves' classmate, Latoya Heath, finished 25th with a time of 14.25.

Leith advanced out of the day's fastest heat in the men's 110-meter hurdles. The senior's season-best time of 13.74 was the fifth-fastest time of the heat as all six competitors in the heat advanced to Friday's semis. Turning it on at the end of the season, the Jamaican missed a personal best by just one-hundreth of a second. Leith's top career time of 13.73 ranks third in Oklahoma program history. South Carolina's Jason Richardson posted the prelims' fastest time of 13.26.

Marcus Pugh closed out a decorated sprints career under the OU banner Thursday in the 200-meter dash. The two-time Big 12 champion narrowly missed advancing to the event's semifinals, finishing 17th in the prelims with the top-16 athletes advancing. Pugh's time of 21.11 was just behind 16th-place Rubin Williams of Tennessee's 21.07.

While it looked like another decorated Oklahoma athlete closed out her career in Des Moines as Jessica Eldridge finished 19th in the women's 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:22.78., the senior was awarded a spot in the event's finals after a referee's decision following the race due to an incident which resulted in Eldridge being pushed into infield by a competitor during the race.

The women's 4x400-meter relay of Tijahnni Newton, Jalesa Walker, Greaves and Leslie Cole recorded a time of 3:37.00 to finish 16th. The relay returns 75 percent of the quartet in 2009 as Newton is the team's only senior.

Friday's action begins at 1 p.m. with the women's heptathlon and men's javelin. Oklahoma's first competitors, Shardae Boutte and Tydree Lewis, will compete in the men's triple jump at 4:15 p.m. CST.

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