Roberson and Sammons Take Pentathlon Title

NORMAN - Senior thrower Chase Sammons and junior sprinter Daye Shon Roberson head into the Thanksgiving break as champions. Not in the shot put/discus or 400-meter dash, their respective events during the season, but as pentathletes in the third annual track and field intrasquad pentathlon.

 Sprinter Daye Shon Roberson took the title at the 
second annual intrasquad pentathlon on Tuesday.

With the indoor competition season still two months away, the Oklahoma track and field teams have been training for nearly three months. Aware that by this time of the year, most members of the team have a competitive itch, head coach Jim VanHootegem introduced the intrasquad competition in 2014. It is the one time each season the entire team competes not only together, but also against each other. The distance runners, who just completed the cross country season, did not compete but served as meet workers.

"It's pretty fair to all of the events if you look across the top," said VanHootegem, now in his third year with the program. "Anyone can excel in it, so it gives some common ground where we can compete. We don't have a traditional intrasquad meet so this is our chance to compete."

The traditional events of the pentathlon are replaced by a 30-yard dash, a standing long jump, a standing triple jump, an over-the-head backward shot put and a forward, between-the-legs throw. The five events are not considered to be advantageous to any of the events groups and this year's results proved that once again.

Freshman, Marcus Mitchell led the men's
jumpers to a group victory with a pair of wins
in the standing triple jump and standing long
jump on Tuesday.

Roberson, who finished last season as a first team All-American in the 400-meter dash, led the women sprinters to a victory over the jumpers and throwers. She also won the standing long jump for the women.

The men jumpers won the overall pentathlon for the men's event groups led by freshman horizontal jumper Marcus Mitchell. Mitchell, in his pentathlon debut, impressed the squad with a pair of wins in the standing long jump and standing triple jump.

The throwers were led by Sammons, who was a national qualifier last season in discus. Sammons outperformed the men's sprinters, throwers, and jumpers in the over-the-head backwards shot put and the forward, between-the-leg shot put.

While the pentathlon assesses performance level as the season approaches, it is also an opportunity to build camaraderie. This season's individual results surpassed those of previous year's marks, a positive as the season approaches.

"We want to see if someone is trying to improve on what they did last year and to see how we compete, not only as individuals, but as a group," VanHootegem said. "This is the first chance for us to have everybody [from the event groups] doing their thing at the same time, which is going to happen when we open with the J.D. Martin Invitational in January."

Men's top three finishers
Chase Sammons
Hayden McClain
Tyler Renton

Women's top three finishers
Daye Shon Roberson
Brianna Rodriguez
Jess Woodard

Event winners
Over-the-head Backwards Shot - Chase Sammons, Jess Woodard

Between-the-legs shot - Chase Sammons, Jess Woodard

Standing Triple Jump - Marcus Mitchell, Nay Strickland

Standing Long Jump - Marcus Mitchell, Daye Shon Roberson

30-yard dash -- Trey Armstrong, Bianca Brazil

Overall Group winners
Men - Jumpers
Women - Sprinters