Day One Complete at Tyson Meet

Feb. 13, 2009

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Oklahoma athletes continued their quests for inclusion in the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships by grabbing four NCAA provisional qualifying marks Friday in the first day of competition at the Tyson Invitational in the Randal J. Tyson Track Center. Will Claye (long jump), Scott Cooper (800-meter run), Ti'Anca Mock (long jump) and Latoya Heath (60-meter hurdles) all accomplished the feat required to attend the NCAA Championships as an at-large athlete without an NCAA automatic qualifying mark.

After running through his first jump and taking a foul, Claye recorded an NCAA provisional mark on his second jump with a distance of 24 feet and 7.25 inches (7.50 meters). Claye then alternated two fouls and two legal jumps ending with his winning jump of 24-9.25 (7.55), his second NCAA provisional qualifying mark of the competition. Claye's winning jump is the sixth longest in Oklahoma history and was just the fourth provisional qualifying mark in the Big 12 Conference, just ahead of teammate Neelon Greenwood's performance on Jan. 23 in the same building.

In his first season competing at OU after transferring from DePaul and redshirting in 2008, Cooper continued to lower his time in the 800-meter run. Cooper's NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:49.66 on Saturday was another personal best and the third-fastest time in Oklahoma history. Cooper finished fifth, the third-fastest collegiate competitor, in the men's Olympic Development 800-meter run. Junior Jacob Boone finished ninth in the event with a personal-best 1:52.26.

Mock entered the weekend having already covered the NCAA automatic qualifying mark in the same building on Jan. 23 with the nation's seventh-longest distance of 20-11.75 (6.39). The sophomore eclipsed 20 feet with all three of her prelimiary jumps finishing with a top jump of 20-7.00 (6.27). Mock passed on all three of her final jumps and finished third with the mark.

Heath will enter Saturday's 60-meter hurdles championship final as the eighth seed after finishing the event's prelims with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 8.43. The Jamaican recorded a personal best and the third fastest time in Oklahoma history last weekend with a time of 8.36 at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational in New York City.

Jarell Warren finished ninth overall and sixth collegiately in the men's 400-meter dash in what turned out to be a very fast race in Fayetteville. Georgia's Torrin Lawrence reeled off the world's fastest 400 of the year as the top seven finishers recorded NCAA provisional qualifying marks. In all, four times from the event ranked in the top-10 American times for 2009. OU alum Frankie Wright took seventh in the event with a time of 46.98.

Mikaela Johansson continued her recent streak of extending the Oklahoma program record in the weight throw as she inched closer to the NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the event with a third-place finish Friday. The Swedish native tossed the implement a distance of 58-10.25 (17.94) as she broke her own program record for the fourth straight week.

Sherine Wells became the fourth OU women's sprinter to add her name to the OU top-10 performance list in the 60-meter dash under Associate Head Coach Dana Boone as the freshman from Canada finished fourth in the event's consolation finals with a time of 7.48. The time ranks eighth all-time at OU.

On the men's side of the 60-meter dash, freshman Mookie Salaam finished sixth in the championship finals with a time of 6.81. Salaam, who owns a season-best time of 6.76, improved on his time of 6.82 run in the event's prelims.

Saturday's action kicks off at 10 a.m. with the women's collegiate high jump.