OU Releases 2016 Slate

NORMAN - Places familiar and places new dot the 2016 University of Oklahoma track and field schedule released Wednesday by head coach Jim VanHootegem and University of Oklahoma vice president for intercollegiate athletics and director of athletics Joe Castiglione.

The Sooners will open the 2016 indoor season on Saturday, Jan. 16, by hosting the J.D. Martin Invitational at the Mosier Indoor Facility. That event, named after the longtime Sooner coach, is followed by a quadrangular meet featuring OU, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Arizona State in College Station on Jan. 23 and the two-day Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville on Jan. 29-30.

“We open the season with a home meet that is a very important meet for us,” VanHootegem said. “It is a dress rehearsal as we go through the routines of preparing to compete, then actually competing. It's an opportunity for people who don't make our travel squad to show us what they can do in competition. We will have practiced for a long time at that point and we need to see how those things we have worked on in practice hold up in competition ? do our student-athletes continue to do things the way they have been working on in practice or do we need to do some problem solving. We get to see what's there and what we need to work on more in practice. We've spent the offseason building up to competition -- the JDM gives us a chance to see where we are and what needs more work.

“Our second meet is a repeat from last year, giving us the opportunity to judge where we are compared to last year. It's also a scored meet which measures team depth. The final meet of the opening trio, in Fayetteville, is one we usually participate in and it is a tremendous place to compete. That facility hosts a number of prestigious meets, including past NCAA Indoor Championships, and the crowd is so track and field savvy. It also provides the only opportunity for our multi-event competitors to go through that event before the Big 12 Championship,” he added.

The squads will split the weekend of Feb. 12-13 with part of the team heading to Seattle for the Husky Classic. The rest of the team will head west as well, traveling to Albuquerque for the Don Kirby Elite Invitational.

A year ago, it was the distance runners who headed northwest while a smaller group of Sooners traveled to New Mexico. Their experience in Albuquerque made the third-year OU coach decide to take most of the team to that meet.

“Last year, we sent distance runners to Seattle while a small group of sprinters went to Albuquerque,” VanHootegem continued. “One of our sprinters qualified for the NCAA Indoor last year and we discovered she had run against everyone who was in that championship field because of going to Albuquerque. We see different competitors as it is a great chance to see athletes from the western part of the U.S. It is a fantastic facility and they know how to put on a great meet at New Mexico. Hosting quality indoor meets is what they do.

“You also are competing at altitude which gives the sprinters a boost and the distance runners a challenge. Those are adjusted for in terms of qualifying marks but it still is a valuable experience. It is just a great place to compete and we wanted more of our team to experience that atmosphere.”

The next Saturday, Feb. 20, will be reserved for those competitors who compete on the distance medley relays. The Alex Wilson Invitational in South Bend is the place to be to get possible NCAA-qualifying times in the DMR. It also is the final place to make sure everything is in place for that relay prior to the Big 12 Indoor Championship.

The Big 12 Championship will be hosted by Iowa State for the fourth consecutive year and the eighth time in Big 12 history Feb. 26-27.

The NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships are scheduled for March 11-12 in Birmingham, Ala. The indoor meet still uses a qualifying system that ranks times/marks throughout the season with the goal of landing in the top 16 and earning an invitation to Birmingham.

"It is important to let our teams experience very different environments, to compete at places that are filled with knowledgeable track and field fans surrounded by rich competitive histories. We want our teams to experience places that have what we are building here at OU."
? Jim VanHootegem

OU opens the outdoor season March 18-19 in Tempe at the Baldy Castillo Invitational. and, according to VanHootegem, that two-day meet is very important in part because it caps a week of training and gives a range of competitive options. For the head coach, though, there is a much more important factor to consider.

“It will literally be the first time this year for all of our team to be together and competing as a complete team,” he explained. “We opened the cross country season on Sept. 1 and all the other people on the team started training. The indoor season opens on Jan. 16 but we still won't have everyone competing. It's not until we arrive in Tempe that we will have all the throwers competing, we will have the 400 relay and some of the other events that are only on the outdoor championship slate. It will be a chance for us to see what we really have in terms of a complete team.”

The early outdoor meets are at familiar places ? Tempe, Arlington, Texas, and Austin. After the Tempe meet, the Sooners will compete March 26 at the UTA Bobby Lane Invitational and the Texas Relays are scheduled for March 30-April 2. A smaller group of student-athletes will go to the Stanford Invitational April 1-2.

OU has added the Battle of the Bayou in Baton Rouge on April 9 and it will be a unique competition format. The Sooners will pair with Kansas State to represent the Big 12. Purdue and Ohio State will represent the Big 10 while LSU and Mississippi State will carry the SEC's banner. LSU has quite a history of hosting track and field championships and there is something else VanHootegem wants his young but gaining experience teams to see.

“We will be paired with a program that we compete with twice a year at conference championships,” VanHootegem said. “In this meet, we will work together to challenge the Big 10 and the SEC. Our teams are ready to compete in Baton Rouge as we continue to change the culture here at OU. Plus, any meet at LSU presents unique challenges.

“I have never seen anyone defend their home track as well as LSU does. We want that to be the spirit when we host the John Jacobs Invitational April 22-23. We want to be known as a program that defends its home complex.”

John Jacobs Field, site of the 47th John Jacobs Invitational, April 22-23

Like the J.D. Martin Invitational, the John Jacobs gives team members who haven't made travel rosters one more opportunity to show VanHootegem and his staff what they are capable of doing in competition just three weeks before the conference championship. The final regular season meet will be the Payton Jordan Invitational at Palo Alto, a trip that VanHootegem is looking forward to his teams experiencing.

“That meet is going to be held in a place that has a rich tradition, hosted by a program that is acknowledged as one of the best around in a meet that is named after a track and field coaching legend in Payton Jordan, who coached U.S. Olympians and was a longtime Stanford coach. We host meets named after people who were important in the track and field arena in the J.D. Martin and the John Jacobs. It is equally important for our student-athletes to compete in other major named meets.”

The Big 12 Championship is scheduled for May 13-15 in Fort Worth, the first time for TCU to host the meet. The Sooners will travel to another Big 12 location, Lawrence, Kans., May 26-28 as Kansas hosts the West Region prelims. The top 48 individuals and top 24 relays in each of two regions compete during the prelim weekend, looking for the top-12 finish that earns a trip to Tracktown, U.S.A., Eugene, Ore., for the NCAA Championships June 8-11.

“There are certain meets that we just know we are going to be in,” VanHootegem added. “We get the date set for our own John Jacobs Invitational, we add the Big 12, NCAA prelims and NCAA Championships and we put the Texas Relays on the schedule in ink. After that, we fill in with meets that are going to challenge our team, to let them experience the very best in terms of track and field cultures, and to let them see for themselves what we are building at OU in terms of a highly competitive culture.

“It is important to let our teams experience very different environments, to compete at places that are filled with knowledgeable track and field fans surrounded by rich competitive histories. We want our teams to experience places that have what we are building here at OU. It's also so important for our teams to compete together.

“Unlike so many other sports, our athletes train daily with their event group at different times from other event groups,” VanHootegem explained. “It is through competition together that our event areas earn and give mutual respect to their teammates. This is a schedule that really fits our teams well as we look at the schedule for this single year as well as over multiple years. We really enjoyed ourselves last year at the Penn Relays but the calendar didn't fall right for us to go this year. Plus, it is important for these teams to be at the meets that prepare us for Big 12, NCAA prelims and NCAA, competing in those events that are part of the championship program.”

An indoor and outdoor schedule that covers 23 weeks, stretching from January to June, with trips around the Midwest as well as the West Coast, a conference and NCAA championship in each part of the schedule, a different competition schedule in the indoor and outdoor season with a total of 18 different competitions and competitive sites ? that's the 2016 Sooner track and field schedule. By January, these Sooners will be ready to go.

2016 Oklahoma Track and Field Schedule
?Date	?Meet	?Location	?Time (CT)
Jan. 16	J.D. Martin Inv.	Norman	TBA
Jan. 23	A&M Quadrangular	College Station, Texas	TBA
Jan. 29-30	Razorback Inv.	Fayetteville, Ark.	?
Feb. 12-13	Don Kirby Elite Inv.	Albuquerque, N.M.	TBA
Feb. 12-13	Husky Classic	Seattle, Wash.	TBA
Feb. 20	Alex Wilson Inv.	South Bend, Ind.	TBA
Feb. 26-27	Big 12 Championship	Ames, Iowa	TBA
March 11-12	NCAA Championships	Birmingham, Ala.	TBA
March 18-19	Baldy Castillo Inv.	Tempe, Ariz.	TBA
March 26	UTA Bobby Lane Inv.	Arlington, Texas	TBA
March 30-April 2	Texas Relays	Austin, Texas	TBA
April 1-2	Stanford Inv.	Palo Alto, Calif.	TBA
April 9	Battle on the Bayou	Baton Rouge, La.	TBA
April 22-23	John Jacobs Inv.	Norman, Okla.	TBA
May 1	Payton Jordan Inv.	Palo Alto, Calif.	TBA
May 13-15	Big 12 Championship	Fort Worth, Texas	TBA
May 26-28	NCAA West Prelims	Lawrence, Kan.	All day
June 8-11	NCAA Championships	Eugene, Ore.	All Day

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