Clement, Cooper Hit NCAA Marks

March 7, 2009

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — One day after the Oklahoma distance medley relay shattered the program record at the event, members of the OU men's distance core recorded two NCAA provisional marks Saturday at the Alex Wilson Invitational in South Bend. Tony Clement and Scott Cooper, who ran a leg on the DMR Friday night, accomplished the feat in the mile and 800-meter run, respectively.

Clement ran a personal best and the second-fastest mile in Oklahoma history with a provisional qualifying time of 4:03.43. With Clement's performance on Saturday, the top three mile times in Oklahoma history have all now come under OU head coach Martin Smith. Jacob Boone ran the first sub-four-minute mile in program history last month at the site of Saturday's activities while Rob Sorrell clocked a time of 4:03.66 in 2008.

While Cooper ran an NCAA provisional qualifying time in the 800, the sophomore did not improve on his season-best time of 1:49.66 set on Feb. 13 at the Tyson Invitational. Cooper ranks No. 3 on the OU performance list with his performance earlier this season.

Just missing the NCAA provisional qualifying cutoff of 1:50.50 was Chris Sweeney who clocked a time of 1:50.78. The personal best time for the sophomore ranks No. 7 on the OU performance list. Sweeney ran the 800-meter leg of the record breaking DMR Friday night.

Sorrell was just off his personal best of 8:06.22 in the 3,000-meter run with an 8:06.54 performance in the event.