Four Selected At-Large for NCAAs

June 3, 2008

NORMAN, Okla. -- Three additional University of Oklahoma track and field athletes, along with one relay, have been selected as at-large competitors for the 2008 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships to be held June 11-14 in Des Moines, Iowa.

Amy Backel, Paul Gill and Toni Smith join the women's 4x100-meter relay as the OU at-large selections. The group will join the 11 Sooners and women's 4x400-meter relay who automatically qualified with their peformances at last weekend's NCAA Midwest Regional in Lincoln, Neb. The top five finishers in each individual event and top three teams in each relay automatically qualified for the national meet.

The women's 4x100 relay entered the Midwest Regional ranked seventh nationally but lost anchor Scottesha Miller with a pulled hamstring as it advanced to the meet's finals during qualifying. Ti'Anca Mock filled in for Miller on Saturday and along with Leslie Cole, Jalesa Walker and Missy Barnes, narrowly missed an automatic berth with a fourth-place finish, running a time of 44.84.

Smith, qualifying in the long jump, enters the NCAA Championships having already automatically qualified in the triple jump. The OU record holder in the triple jump, Smith enters the meet ranked 13th nationally in the event.

Also an Oklahoma program record holder, Backel will take to the air in the javelin. Backel's school-record toss of 167 feet and 7.5 inches (51.09 meters) came in Norman on April 26 during the 2008 Sooner Invitational. The throw marked the second longest of the year in the Big 12 Conference.

Gill is in his first year of competition on the Division I level and was selected to his first NCAA Championships in the high jump after posting a top height of 7-0.50 (2.15) at the 2008 Sooner Invitational. The Arizona native has earned four National Junior College Athletic Association All-America honors in his career.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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