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
2016 Track and Field: Distances Preview
December 18, 2015 | Track and Field
The foundation for success is in place and now is the time to build upon it.
The track and field distance squad has momentum in its favor coming off of a strong cross country season that added another All-America honor to the group as well as a nationally-recognized men's team and a regionally-competitive women's team.
Although the terrain will change, the expectations and efforts will not.
"The [cross country and track and field seasons] definitely build off each other," said Jason Dunn, associate head coach for cross country and assistant coach of distances. "When you come off a good cross country season, it should give us some nice momentum heading into the indoor track season.
"One of the things about our sport, especially with the distance runners, is that when things go well, it's an opportunity to build off that success toward the next season," he continued. "If things don't go as well as you might like, it's nice to know there's another season around the corner. I think both of my groups, men's and women's, made good progress this fall and that should set us up well for track season."
Juniors Jacob Burcham (right) and Dylan Blankenbaker (left) prepare for the indoor track and field season after coming off of a 15th-place team finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Pictured with former teammate Alex Deir (center) who graduated last season.
The distance lineup is the largest event group on the track and field squad. With nearly 40 runners to work with, the distance group has the opportunity to bring in the most points in team competition.
"For both men's and women's groups, we want to be able to score in every event in our event area at the conference meet - indoors and outdoors," Dunn said. "From 800 meters through the 5K indoor, including the distance medley relay, and outdoor, from 800 meters up to the 10K, we want to be able to score points in all of those events and have a well-rounded performance from each group.
Jacob Burcham was a conference scorer in the indoor 1,500-meter and mile runs and also an in the outdoor 1,500-meter.
"We were able to do that last year on the men's side, in terms of scoring in every event," he continued. "On the women's side, we're hoping to continue to spread out our point scoring over more events and create more of an impact on our track team with middle distance and distance runners."
The men return 12 to the indoor roster, including cross country All-American Jacob Burcham, Allen Eke and Dylan Blankenbaker, all conference scorers last season. Eke is also the only returnee from the 2014 Big 12 Indoor Championship and 2015 runner-up distance medley relay. The Sooner men also add four freshmen and one transfer to the roster. Of the newcomers, freshman Blake Yount, an Englewood, Colo. native, looks to contribute right away.
"For sure, Jacob Burcham is a guy who has already taken some obvious steps toward providing a good leadership role on the team. He's done a good job with that," Dunn said. "I think he'll be ready to have a great track season as he continues to help us from a running standpoint as well as bringing good leadership to the table.
"We have a couple of guys who are already pretty accomplished and have already been conference-level scorers or regional scorers in Allen Eke and Dylan Blankenbaker. I'm excited to bring them back," Dunn continued. "We're excited about some of the freshmen who can contribute as they get experience. Blake Yount is a guy on the men's side who can make an impact right away as a freshman. He's a very good middle distance runner."
Senior Allen Eke is a three-time Big 12 scorer. He finished eighth in the 1,500-meter run at the Big 12 Indoor Championships in 2015.
The Sooner men will, however, be one short during the indoor season as redshirt senior and team captain, Brandon Doughty, sits out after exhausting his eligibility. Doughty will have to wait until the outdoor season opens in March to compete in the outdoor season.The Sooners will have to make up the points has contributed in the past. Doughty contributed as a five-time indoor scorer at conference, running on the 2014 DMR champion and 2015 DMR runner-up. He added the 2015 indoor 3,000-meter Big 12 title. He was also a second team All-American in the distance medley relay in 2013.
Redshirt senior and captain Brandon Doughty will sit out the 2016 indoor season. He was the 3,000-meter indoor conference championship.
"Our groups are better than they were last year, both men and women's," Dunn said. "They should be better both indoor and outdoor, although we don't have Brandon (Doughty) indoor. That's a hit, but I think Jacob is ready to step into that sort of a scoring role that Brandon has had for us the last two years."
Sophomore Jacob Goldberg is also a key returnee for the Sooners.
Jacob Goldberg was a scorer at the outdoor conference in the 4x400 relay in 2015.
"Jacob Goldberg is a guy who ran pretty well last year for us as a freshman in the 800 and I've seen some things from him that show he's better than he was last year," Dunn said. "He ran pretty fast as a freshman last season and was right on the bubble of scoring in the conference and right on the bubble of qualifying for the NCAA first round outdoors. I think he's ready to do that."
The women return nine sophomores and eight juniors, including Elena Arriaza, Belle Wallace, and Brittany Tretbar, who is also a team captain. All three just finished the successful cross country season. Tretbar is coming off her best cross country season as a Sooner after earning all-regional and all-conference honors. Wallace had a standout cross country season, picking up her first all-conference award.
Arriaza, who struggled because of an injury during the cross country season, is now healthy and is set to improve upon last season on the track. In 2015, she scored in the Big 12 indoor in the 5,000-meter.
Wallace and Tretbar also had key performances during their sophomore years as Wallace scored in the indoor conference meet, but also qualified for regionals in the 1,500-meter run. Tretbar scored in the 5,000-meter race at the indoor conference championships with a PR.
"Brittany is one we're certainly excited to have back," Dunn said. "We're really looking forward to seeing Elena get back to the kind of form she had last year where she was an indoor scorer for us at the conference level.
Brittany Tretbar was a 2015 outdoor conference scorer in the 10,000-meter.
"She had that injury early in the cross country season that held her back. She's getting back into things now and should be ready to have a very good track season," Dunn continued. "Belle is another one who had success this past fall, but is probably more of a track runner at this point. Based on her freshman year and the success she had, I think we can look for some big things from her from a competitive and leadership standpoint."
The Sooner women also add five freshmen to the roster, including several who were key contributors during the cross country season. Dunn hopes that, with a range of experience on both the men's and women's teams, everyone plays a contributing role.
"It's nice to have seniors who have established themselves and gained experience," Dunn said. "You also must constantly have new people filtering in to gain experience. That prepares them to take the reins of leadership for years to come. It's nice that we have kind of a balance. We don't have a senior-laden team but we have experience. We also have some young runners who can continue to develop and get to the point where they can carry the load going forward."
Players Mentioned
Distance
/ Track and FieldDistance
/ Track and FieldDistance
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and FieldDistance
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and FieldDistance
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and FieldDistance
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and FieldDistance
/ Track and FieldDistance
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and FieldDistance
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and FieldDistance
/ Track and FieldDistance
/ Track and FieldDistance
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and FieldDistance
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and FieldSaturday, June 13
Friday, June 12
Thursday, June 11
Wednesday, June 10
