Cole Breaks OU Record in 400

Feb. 6, 2009

NEW YORK CITY — Leslie Cole became the fourth Sooner this indoor season to break a program record as four OU student-athletes recorded NCAA provisional qualifying marks Friday at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational in New York City. Cole's NCAA provisional qualifying time of 53.10 eclipsed the previous mark of 53.42 set by Wendy Watson in 1990 and sent the senior into Saturday afternoon's 400 final.

Cole enters the finals as the event's No. 2 seed behind Texas A&M's Jessica Beard who finished first with a time of 52.44. Cole crossed the line in her heat a full three seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, Abigail Johnson of Georgetown with a time of 56.17.

While Latoya Heath may have finished 10th in the preliminaries of the women's 60-meter hurdles, the Jamaican native improved on her personal best and more importantly secured an NCAA provisional qualifying mark with a time of 8.43. Heath's performance in the event marked just the third time this season that a Big 12 competitor has reached the provisional qualifying time in the event.

The personal best did not stand long for Heath, however, as the junior reeled off a time of 8.36 to finish fourth in the 60-meter hurdles consolation finals to move up to No. 2 in the Big 12 Conference. The time also marked the third-fastest time in OU history.

Scottesha Miller narrowly missed qualifying for the finals of the women's 60-meter dash, finishing out of the cut line to advance by one-hundreth of a second. The sophomore did, however, record an NCAA provisional qualifying time for the second consecutive week with a time of 7.40 in the event. Sophomore Missy Barnes and freshman Sherine Well each missed advancing by two-tenths of a second with identical times of 7.58.

Just like Heath in the 60-meter hurdles, Miller improved on the time in the consolation finals of her event. Miller blazed off a time of 7.37 to take first in the 60-meter dash consolation finals.

The 60-meter dash mark was one of two NCAA provisional marks for Miller on the night. The sophomore followed the performance up with an indoor personal best in the long jump, an NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 20 feet and 4.50 inches (6.21 meters). Miller moved up to No. 3 on the OU performance list with the distance behind sophomore Ti'Anca Mock. Mock's recorded a top jump Friday night of 19-1.50 (5.83).

Saturday's action for OU at the New Balance Collegiate begins at 9:10 a.m. EST with the women's triple jump.