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University of Oklahoma Athletics
Cunliffe Runs for Record Book
March 12, 2015 | Track and Field
NORMAN – Hannah Cunliffe will step into the blocks at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., on Friday with the goal of advancing to the final and continuing her record-setting freshman season in indoor track.
Cunliffe is scheduled to run in the second heat of the 60-meter dash and will run her semifinal shortly after 7:25 p.m. Friday. The top two runners from the two semifinals and the next four fastest will advance to Saturday's final. That race is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday.
The 16 runners in the women's 60 are from four conferences. There are three runners from the Big 12, eight from the Southeastern Conference, one from the Big 10 Conference and six from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Those teams are part of the Pac 12 Conference but run indoor track under the MPSF banner. Champions from each of the four conferences are in the race as well as the conference runner-up from two.
Of the 15 women in the race, Cunliffe has faced all but three in a race at some point during her freshman season. One of those three, senior Remona Burchell of Alabama, is the current collegiate record holder with her winning time of 7.08 in last month's Southeastern Conference Championship. Two of the three are in Cunliffe's semifinal at the NCAA while Burchell is in the first semifinal heat.
The Federal Way, Wash., freshman arrived on the Norman campus in January and, ironically, opened her OU career on the same track she will run on Friday, competing in the Razorback Invitational, Jan. 30-31. In her first race, her time, 7.48, was .02 away from the 10th spot on the all-time OU career list. In her semifinal race at the meet, she posted a 7.41, good for a tie for seventh place. In the final, her time of 7.37, was good for sixth place in the talent-loaded race and a sixth-place ranking on the all-time OU career list.
Her next competition was two weeks later and she made her mark at the Don Key Invitational in Albuquerque. She ran a 7.30 to advance to the final from a 46-women preliminary. In the final, she recorded a 7.28 and moved to fifth overall on the Sooner career list.
That set her up for the Big 12 Championships. In addition to ranking third in the Big 12 heading into the championships, she also ranked in a tie for 13th on the national indoor list. She won her preliminary heat with a 7.39, then led for the majority of the final before finishing second with a sea-level 7.28.
The 7.28 from Big 12 earned her a tie for 11th on the national ranking, good for a trip to the NCAA Indoor. That invitation puts her in rare company for the Sooners. The last true freshman female to qualify for the NCAA Indoor in an individual event was Jessica Eldridge in 2004. Going back to 1999, Cunliffe is the first true freshman to qualify for the 60-meter dash as a Sooner.
“Hannah has a very good sense of who she is and what she can do,” Jim VanHootegem, head coach, said. “She runs very well in the very big races. She really loves to race. She smiles after her race because she is having fun. We want to her to just keep having fun.”
Her event coaches, Kevin Tyler and Natasha Harvey, are equally impressed with their young sprint star.
“She's really easy to work with, as opposed to some kids that are that good when they're young. They are difficult because they have very peculiar or specific needs and they need to be met,” Tyler said. “She hasn't come in with any kind of ego. She's fit in with the group really well and she relates to them.”
According to Harvey, Cunliffe's personality is contagious.
“She's one of those people that you want to be around,” Harvey said. “She's really mature for her age and carries little to no stress with her. And she's always smiling.”
Cunliffe has the opportunity to join a group of Sooners who have experienced a significant amount of success in the 60-meter dash. OU has produced All-Americans five times in the 60. Scottesha Miller and Candyce McGrone earned All-America honors in the 60 in 2011, the last time for OU to have an entry in the race. Miller also earned All-America honors in 2010. Laverne Jones, who competed for the Virgin Islands in the Olympic Games in 2004, 2008 and 2012, earned All-America honors in 2003 and 2004. Felecia Moore earned All-America honors in the indoor 60 in 1982. Yolanda Goff qualified for the 60 in in 2006 and 2007.
The top eight finishers are named first-team All-Americans by the U.S. Track and Field & Cross Country Coaches Association. The second eight are named as second-team All-Americans. Cunliffe would become the first Sooner woman to earn All-America honors in the 60-meter dash as a true freshman.
Cunliffe is the lone Sooner competing in the NCAA Indoor meet. Her OU teammates will begin the 2015 outdoor season March 20-21 at the Baldy Castillo Invitational.
To follow the NCAA Indoor, visit the University of Arkansas website devoted to the championship or at the USTFCCCA website. Live results are available at ncaa.com. Live video is available at ESPN3.
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Friday, June 12
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