Five Sooners Qualify for NCAA Track & Field Championships

May 26, 2011

EUGENE, Ore. — Five Oklahoma Track and Field athletes punched their tickets to the NCAA Championships while six others kept their NCAA hopes alive for another round Thursday at the NCAA West Preliminary in Eugene, Ore. Athletes finishing in the top 12 of each event at the meet qualify for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, June 8-11, in Des Moines, Iowa, and Brittany Borman, Tia Brooks, Karen Shump, Ti'Anca Mock and Jessica Engel did just that in finals action Thursday.

Borman was the first Sooner to compete Thursday and punched her ticket to the NCAA Championships for the second consecutive year as she finished second overall with a season-best throw of 173-4 (52.85). Borman, who will also attempt to qualify in the discus on Saturday, took just two throws to advance to Des Moines. The junior was fifth overall after the first round with a throw of 162-3 (49.45) before improving to second with her season-best throw.

Borman entered the meet ranked No. 6 nationally and defeated four of the five athletes ranked ahead of her as the NCAA West Preliminary had the nation's top-eight ranked athletes in the event. Her throw Saturday is the fifth longest in the NCAA this season and is just seven inches off her personal best of 173-11 (53.00). Borman finished second in the javelin at the 2010 NCAA Championships and was the top finisher returning in 2011.

Borman will see familiar faces in the throws area at Drake Stadium in Des Moines as Brooks and Shump each advanced to the NCAA Championships in the shot put for the second consecutive year. Battling not only her competitors, but a wet and slick throws ring, Brooks used a fifth-place throw of 53-10.25 (16.41) to earn her spot in the NCAA Championships where she will be joined by Shump who took 11th with a throw of 51-10.00 (15.80).

Oklahoma is one of four programs from the west to qualify two athletes in the event. Shump was the national runner-up in the event in 2010 while Brooks finished 20th. Brooks reversed her fortunes at this year's NCAA Indoor Championships when she finished second in the event while Shump took seventh.

Mock will compete in an NCAA Outdoor Championships for the third time in her career as she qualified in the long jump with the meet's fifth-best jump, 20-7.25 (6.28). The distance equaled Mock's third-best performance of the season as the senior passed on all three of her attempts in the final with a relaxing distance between her and the top 12 cutoff. Mock's teammate Jasmine Simmons was just four inches away from joining Mock in Des Moines as she finished 14th with a jumnp of 19-7.50 (5.98).

The final event of the night saw Engel running in just the second 10,000-meter run of her career, although her first was two weeks ago when she won the Big 12 title in the event. The junior not only qualified for the NCAA Championships in the event but improve her time by four seconds as she finished 10th with a time of 33:38.99.

Eric Bailey advanced to Friday's second round of the men's 400-meter hurdles as he easily won his event with a time of 50.57, his third-best time of the season. Running in the cold and wet conditions, Bailey's time was the second best of the prelims behind the 50.42 from Stanford's Amaechi Morton.

Oklahoma will have two athletes competing in the next round of the women's 100-meter dash on Friday as Candyce McGrone and Shawna Anderson advanced with times of 11.49 and 11.61, respectively. The men's 100-meter dash will have OU representation as well as Mookie Salaam used his third-fastest time of the season, 10.21, to lead all qualifiers advancing to the next round of the event on Friday.

Ranked No. 49 nationally in the 800-meter run coming into the weekend, Kelsey Brown clocked a time of 2:07.31, her second best of the season, to finish third in the event's fifth heat and automatically qualify for Friday's next round. The time was the 10th fastest of the event's first round.

Chris Sweeney was the last athlete to qualify for the 48-man field of the 800-meter run, but the senior quickly rebuked any thoughts he would be an easy elimination as he ran a PR of 1:49.75 to qualify for Friday's next round in the event. Sweeney's time was the 14th best in the prelims of the event and is the 10th fastest in Oklahoma history.

Oklahoma Final Results
Men's 400-Meter Dash: 41. Remuro Henry 48.42
Men's 1,500-Meter Run: 25. Rob Sorrell 3:47.27; 28. Jacob Boone 3:49.22
Men's Shot Put: 28. Conrad Aaron 54-9.25 (16.69)
Women's 100-Meter Dash: 33. Sherine Wells 11.96
Women's 10,000-Meter Run: 10. Jessica Engel 33:38.99
Women's 400-Meter Hurdles: 33. Jesica Ejesieme 1:01.06
Women's Long Jump: 5. Ti'Anca Mock 20-7.25 (6.28); 14. Jasmine Simmons 19-7.50 (5.98)
Women's Shot Put: 5. Tia Brooks 53-10.25 (16.41); 11. Karen Shump 51-10.00 (15.80); 32. Bailey Wagner 47-7.25 (14.51)
Women's Javelin: 2. Brittany Borman 173-4 (52.85)

Oklahoma Athletes Advancing to next round in Eugene
100-Meter Dash: Mookie Salaam 10.21
Men's 800-Meter Run: Chris Sweeney 1:49.75
400-Meter Hurdles: Eric Bailey 50.57
Women's 100-Meter Dash: Candyce McGrone 11.49; Shawna Anderson 11.61
Women's 800-Meter Run: Kelsey Brown 2:07.31