Record Day in Norman; NCAAs Next

May 30, 2009

NORMAN, Okla. — Six Oklahoma athletes qualified for the NCAA Championships as competition at the NCAA Midwest Regional at the John Jacobs Track and Field Complex wrapped up Saturday evening. Freshman Will Claye led the way with a Midwest Regional and facility record in the triple jump en route to winning the event before a boisterous crowd.

Claye wasn't the only Sooner breaking records Saturday, as the women's 4x100-meter relay set a new school record as well. The two were part of the group of six OU entries to punch their tickets to NCAAs on Saturday, joining Mikaela Johansson and Ti'Anca Mock who qualified Friday night. Luke Bryant (discus), Leslie Cole (400-meter dash), Scottesha Miller (200-meter dash) and Mookie Salaam (200-meter dash) also earned the right to compete for a national championship. The top five competitors in each event along with the top three relays advance to the NCAA Track and Field Championships, June 10-13, in Fayetteville, Ark.

Both the Oklahoma men and women finished fifth in the team competition as Texas A&M swept both the men's and women's team titles.

In dramatic fashion, Claye broke the Midwest Regional record on the final attempt of the competition and reclaimed the stadium record on the same jump, a distance of 55-2.00 (16.81). Claye took the lead in the event on his second jump, reeling off a distance of 54-8.75 (16.68). The freshman did not improve on his third jump and passed on his first jump of the finals.

After failing to improve on his fourth jump, the Big 12 champion and U.S. Junior National record holder watched as Texas A&M's Julian Reid took over the lead and the stadium record with a jump of 55-0.00 (16.76) on the next-to-last attempt of the competition. With rhythmic clapping provided by the crowd and a slight wind into his face, Claye sprinted down the runway and landed in the sand with the Midwest Regional title along with the meet record and facility record reclaimed from Reid.

A day after running the third fastest time in OU history, Sherine Wells, Miller, Cole and Ti'Anca Mock returned for the finals of the event and stepped it up for an even more impressive effort on Saturday as they broke a two-year school record in the event with a time of 43.68, finishing second in the process. The quartet finished second behind the No. 1 relay in the nation, Texas A&M, broke a three-year old meet record with a time of 42.80.

In a rematch of the Big 12 Championships, Cole faced Texas A&M's Jessica Beard in the 400-meter dash finals one hour after running in the 4x100 relay, an event that Beard did not compete in. Both runners eclipsed the previous facility record of 51.71 in the event. While not as close as the Big 12 meet that saw Beard win by three-thousandths of a second, the A&M runner still managed to hold off Cole by three-tenths of a second, winning by a margin of 51.24 to 51.55.

The men's discus saw Bryant add his name to the travel itinerary for NCAAs with a second-place finish in the event. Bryant's top throw of 186-1 (56.71) came on his second attempt as Sam Houston State's Jon Tipton won the event with a toss of 192-3 (58.60). Bryant's teammate, Colin Quirke, narrowly missed advancing to the NCAAs with a sixth-place finish, with a top throw of 179-3 (54.64).

A freshman, Salaam was the third OU athlete of the day to miss the automatic cutline by one spot as the Edmond native finished sixth in the 100 with a time of 10.40. Salaam ran a season-best 10.30 in the event in Friday's prelims. Texas A&M's Gerald Phiri won the event with a time of 10.13.

Salaam was back less than an hour later for the 200-meter dash and in just 20.74 seconds, the first-year Sooner quickly forgot what had happened in the 100 by finishing fourth in the event and qualifying for the NCAA Championships. In a race that saw the top four spots go to Big 12 competitors, Texas A&M's Gerald Phiri pulled off the sweep of the 100 and 200 winning with a time of 20.53.

Also returning to the track after running on the 4x100-meter relay, Miller ran a season best time in the 100-meter dash for the second straight day, finishing seventh in the event with a time of 11.39. Texas' Alexandria Anderson won the event with a facility record of 11.05.

Just as Salaam did on the men's side, Miller erased any bad vibes from the 100 by qualifying for the NCAA Championships in the 200 with a fifth-place finish. With a lean at the end, Miller was able to hold off Texas A&M's Dominique Duncan by less than a second, crossing the line in a time of 23.38. A&M's Porscha Lucas won the event with a time of 22.77.

Amy Backel narrowly missed an automatic qualification to the NCAA Championships in the shot put as she finished sixth in the event with a throw of 51-6.25 (15.70). Backel was in fifth and set to qualify for NCAAs until Texas Tech's Patience Knight, who entered the meet ranked first in the region, recorded a throw of 51-11.75 (15.84) on her fifth attempt to overtake Backel and move into the cut line for the national championships. Texas' Jordyn Brown won the event with a throw of 54-4.75 (16.58).

Another just miss for the Sooners came in the men's 1,500-meter run where Rob Sorrell finished sixth in the event with a time of 3:47.66, less than a half second behind the fifth place finisher, Air Force's Dan Castle with a time of 3:47.26.

Freshman Katelyn Penner threw a season-best distance in the women's javelin to pick up a team point for OU as she finished eighth. Penner's throw of 153-11 (46.91) topped her previous top season throw by two inches. The throw is the third longest in program history. New Mexico's Katie Coronado won the event with a throw of 179-9 (54.78).

One day after qualifying for the NCAA Championships in the long jump, Ti'Anca Mock returned to the track for the triple jump, leaping a PR in the process. Mock's top jump of 42-8.25 (13.01) was the 11th best in the competition and would have been the second best jump in Oklahoma program history had it not been aided by a tailwind of 2.5 meters-per-second, thus making it ineligible for record keeping purposes. Texas A&M's Yasmine Regis won the event with a jump of 45-1.50 (13.75), breaking a facility record in the process.

Next Event

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics