Completed Event: Track and Field at Battle on the Bayou on April 3, 2026 ,
Final
Track and Field
at Battle on the Bayou
University of Oklahoma Athletics
Sooners Release 2015 Track and Field Slate
November 25, 2014 | Track and Field
NORMAN – A pair of home meets and trips to several of the major track and field meets/venues highlight the 2015 University of Oklahoma track and field schedule, released today by Joe Castiglione, Vice President of Intercollege Athletics Programs/Director of Athletics and Jim VanHootegem, the Sooners' second year head coach.
“We are excited about what this schedule offers our student-athletes,” VanHootegem said. “We built the schedule to reflect the philosophy of our program and give our athletes the best opportunities to make it to nationals.”
The indoor season will open on Jan. 17 when the Sooners host the annual J.D. Martin Invitational at the Mosier Indoor. That will be the only home meet of the indoor season as the schedule has trips to Fayetteville, Ark., Albuquerque, N.M., Seattle and South Bend, Ind., before the Big 12 Championships, scheduled Feb. 27-28 in Ames, Iowa. The NCAA Indoor Championships return to Fayetteville March 13-14 and VanHootegem believes the schedule gives OU the opportunity to have several qualifiers.
“Our sport is unique in that you build toward Big 12 Indoor and NCAA Indoor Championships, then shift gears and move outside. The way you qualify for our two national championships are different and that has an impact on scheduling. During the indoor season, you are going after the best mark possible and then, depending on what others across the country post, you are either in or you aren't as they take the top 16 marks in the country,” VanHootegem explained.
“We built our indoor season to give us some team meets to prepare us for the championship part of the season and then we have a weekend where our team will split up for three meets, sending people to the competition where they have the best chance to post the best mark of the season.”
That weekend is Feb. 14-15 and the Sooners will be traveling to Fayetteville, Albuquerque and Seattle for three separate competitions.
The outdoor season will open on March 20-21 in Tempe, Ariz. That part of the schedule includes trips to the 88th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays; the venerable Penn Relays, the largest and oldest track and field meet in the United States, and to Los Angeles for the 13th annual Rafer Johnson-Jackie Joyner Kersee Invitational, hosted by UCLA. The duo is arguably two of America's finest track and field athletes all-time as both are Olympic gold medalists and world record holders.
“We want to give our student-athletes the opportunity to experience the very best of what the track and field collegiate world can offer,” VanHootegem continued. “That's why we added the Penn Relays and the trip to Los Angeles. We want to keep certain meets on the schedule every year and we want to have 'wild card' meets that we go to with regularity but not every year.”
The Sooners will host the annual John Jacobs Invitational on April 17-18, with the University of Alabama scheduled to be in the field. The outdoor Big 12 Championships are scheduled May 15-17, again in Ames. That takes the team to the postseason and the differences between the indoor and outdoor season. While the top 16 advance directly to the NCAA during the indoor season, the U.S. is divided into two regions and the top 96 individuals advance to an East and West preliminary round. OU's qualifiers will travel to Austin, Texas, May 28-30, for the West preliminary. From each of the preliminary rounds, the top 12 will advance to the NCAA Championships to be held in Eugene, Ore., June 10-13.
“We think this schedule is best to provide our student-athletes the widest variety of experiences at a wide variety of meets, whether they are team scored or more individually focused,” VanHootegem added. “We started training early in the fall semester and our athletes have spent the fall preparing for our seasons which will run 22 weeks from the first indoor meet to the NCAA Outdoor. It also reflects the diversity of our team, from the sprinters to the distance runners to the jumpers and to the throwers. We have a diverse team and we want to take them to a diverse set of competitions.
“This schedule gives them the opportunity to line up and compete with some of the best in the country, to deal with big meets, like the Penn Relays, where there is a lot of chaos with the number of athletes and events,” the Sooner coach explained. “It gives them the best opportunity during the indoor season to get that single best mark that will qualify them for the NCAA Indoor and it gives them the opportunity to see athletes from all over the country during the outdoor season, allowing them to compete against those athletes they will see in the preliminary round or the NCAA Championships in the outdoor season.
“I truly believe we have something for everyone on our schedule and we can't wait to get it started.”
Saturday, June 13
Friday, June 12
Thursday, June 11
Wednesday, June 10
