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
New Season, New Events for the Sooners
March 21, 2014 | Track and Field
NORMAN, Okla. -- The track and field season is unlike many other sports. There are two parts, indoor and outdoor, for which the athletes must prepare. The University of Oklahoma throwers have transitioned from the indoor season and have prepared for their time in the sun. That time begins this weekend as the Sooners open the 2014 outdoor season at the Baldy Castillo Invitational in Tempe, Ariz.
Throwers are unique in that they make a complete transition from indoor to outdoor. The only event that is competed in both halves of the season is shot put. For the student-athletes, this means an adjustment in how they train and their state of mind.
Austin Perry, a sophomore thrower, specializes in the shot put and the hammer throw. Competing in two events during the season requires a special kind of focus. While Perry has been practicing and training for shot put all season, he only starts focusing on the hammer throw once the indoor season comes to a close.
“Picking up hammer and going into competition takes a new mindset,” explained Perry. “You have to be a lot more chill, whereas shot is more aggressive.”
Perry's success in the shot put is well documented -- his 2014 indoor season included reaching a career best and no finish outside the top 10. As a freshman, the Duncan, Okla., native, qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in the shot and finished 18th in his first NCAA appearance.
There is a substantial amount of work that has to be put in when competing in two separate events. For Perry, his mindset isn't the only thing that needs an adjustment during a track meet. His ability to make those adjustments will determine his success this spring.
Weight throw specialists take their talents to the hammer throw for the outdoor season. On the women's side, Rylee Rackley and Julia Reedy are two specialists looking to carry their indoor success, outdoors.
Rackley and Reedy, joined by Brooke Garner and Sarah Tolson, formed a record-setting quartet for the 2014 indoor season. As a group, they amassed personal bests that added all into the top five of OU women's weight throwers. Rackley established a school record in the weight throw with a 61-7 in February, then improved the record to 63-0 at the Big 12 Championship three weeks ago.
The move to the hammer throw requires a change in the group's strength training. They focus more on their speed and reduce the amount of weights they lift.
“We do a lot more speed training,” said Rackley. “Weight [throw] is short, powerful stuff. [In hammer throw] we want to lift a lot, but we need to be faster.”
The reason for this change is the difference in the weights that the throwers use. While the weight ball is 20 pounds, the hammer is a little bit above the eight pounds. The throwers use the same motions, but with an extra turn and a different timing for the hammer throw.
While some of the athletes are adjusting to a new event, others are coming out of their indoor dormancy. Discus and javelin are only thrown outdoors, but they start practicing along with the rest of the group in the fall.
Avione Allgood is one Sooner who flourished in past outdoor seasons. She specializes in the shot put and the javelin. Allgood competes in the shot put in OU's indoor seasons.
Just a sophomore, Allgood is already a first team All-American. Competing in the 2013 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, she became the first freshman in OU's program history to score in the javelin. It marked OU's fourth consecutive season to produce an All-American in javelin and fifth in the last six.
Tyler Renton, like Allgood, is coming from a freshman season where he competed in the outdoor championships. But Renton has spent the entire indoor season working out but not competing, as he only throws the javelin.
Both athletes are poised for a return back to NCAAs this year, says their coach Brian Blutreich, whose success with the Sooner throwers is well documented.
Making the transition is partly natural ability and the experience gained from being in the sport for their formative years. Most of the Sooner student-athletes credit their coach with their smooth entry into the outdoor portion of the season.
“He's really good about asking us how our bodies feel and how we think we're going to do,” said Rackley of the assistant coach in his seventh year at OU.
Blutreich also helps his two-season, two-event athletes balance their focus between their two specialties. Though it would be easy for them to focus solely on the event they've been doing throughout the indoor, he helps them improve and compete with both skill sets.
“It varies meet by meet,” said Perry of his event focus. “There may be some things that I'm working on in hammer and have shot going really well one week, so I don't really have to worry about that -- I can just step in the ring and throw.
“Two weeks later, shot can be going really bad and hammer can be going well so I have to focus a lot on shot and coach will prepare me for that.”
Technique and attitude -- both need adjustment for the outdoor season. Whether they're adding an event or starting anew, the ultimate goal is continued excellence for Oklahoma's throwers. With a proven coach, talented student-athletes and a plan for continued improvement in the second half of the season, success is sure to follow.
By Laila Wani, student intern
Players Mentioned
Throws
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and FieldSaturday, June 13
Friday, June 12
Thursday, June 11
Wednesday, June 10
