Sooners Compete at NCAA Prelims

NORMAN, Okla. – Led by the top two javelin throwers in the country, Elizabeth Herrs and Avione Allgood, the University of Oklahoma track and field program begins competition in the NCAA West prelims this weekend, the first step to the NCAA Championshpis. The prelims will be held Thursday, May 29, through Saturday, May 31, and will be hosted by the University of Arkansas. OU enters the meet with 14 men and six women declared to compete against the top student-athletes in the nation.

The meet features the top 48 individual competitors and top 24 relays from the western part of the country. Those student-athletes will then compete in an attempt to finish in the top 12. The top 12 student-athletes will then advance to the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Ore., on June 11-14.

The Sooners find themselves in familiar territory as they make their third trip to Fayetteville this outdoor season. Head coach Jim VanHootegem points out that while the environment is familiar, the meet format will be very different than anything the Sooners have experienced this year.

“Certainly having come to an outdoor meet earlier here gave us some familiarity with the track,” VanHootegem said. “This a different meet, though. There is no other meet like this where there are 48 people in every individual event. It is obviously a large meet with large field sizes, in terms of flights and a bigger warm-up procedure. I think that we have gone to a variety of meets throughout the year to prepare us for a meet like this.”

OU sends a variety of student-athletes who represent a number of events on a traditional event schedule. However, the javelin throwers make up an especially strong group looking to contend. Sophomore thrower Herrs steps into this weekend as the Big 12 champion with the top throw in the nation of 189-5, a mark she posted at the Big 12 Championships two weeks ago.

If having the top-ranked thrower in the nation was not enough, the Sooners also boast the second-ranked javelin thrower in the country in sophomore Avione Allgood, who also placed second at this event last year with a 171-7.50 before earning All-America honors with a seventh-place finish at the NCAA. Herrs, with a 154-11, finished 13^th in 2013, just missing out on a trip to the NCAA finals.

To further showcase Oklahoma's success in the javelin, the team also features two top competitors on the men's side. Garrett Snow ranks sixth in the event with a 232-8.00, recorded at the Big 12 Championship. Tyler Renton, with a season best of 229-6.00, is ninth.

Other Sooner student-athletes who are ranked in the top 12 of the events they have been declared for include Abbabiya Simbassa in the 10,000 (28:42.56) and Hayden McClain (51-7.25) in the triple jump.

“We have six or seven people who maybe would be favored to move on to the NCAA finals, but we really have a lot of opportunity here,” VanHootegem explained.

“There is usually a little bit of a war of attrition, in terms of who is healthy at this time of year and who is mentally still in the game. Obviously, I think we are in pretty good shape health wise, so I will say that I think it is going to come down to who really wants to go on to the final round of NCAA competition. I think there are a lot of Sooners that, if they really want to go, they can go. There are some people I think can make a good run at it. They may not be ranked that highly going into the meet, but, if they are still getting after it, I think they can put themselves in position to have a shot.”

The Sooners open competition at noon Thursday with the women's javelin. A complete schedule of OU competitors, events and date/time of competition is included.

Live results will be posted on FlashResults and live video of the meet is available here Thursday (begins 4:30 p.m.); Friday (begins at 5 p.m.); and Saturday (begins at 6 p.m.). A recap can be found on SoonerSports following each day's competition. Further information can be found at meet central.