Sooners Head to LA for UCLA Meet

NORMAN – It's called many starry-eyed dreamers and The University of Oklahoma track and field teams will make their appearance in the movie capital of the country on Saturday as 43 student-athletes will compete at the 13^th annual Rafer Johnson-Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational at Drake Stadium in Los Angeles.

Named after a pair of Bruin track and field legends, this meet marks OU's first trip to compete in a UCLA-hosted event. The meet started in 2003, and salutes two of UCLA's greatest champions. Both are Olympic gold medalists and world-record holders. Johnson won the decathlon in 1960 and set three world records in that event between 1955 and 1960. Joyner-Kersee won the Olympic heptathlon in 1988 and 1992 and the long jump in 1988, and set seven heptathlon world records in all, including her still-standing mark of 7,291, set in 1988.

Top track and field athletes, collegiate and open, are included in the events as the meet also serves as a dual between OU and UCLA.

“The format is going to be a little tough for us, unlike our upcoming John Jacobs Invitational,” head coach Jim Vanhootegem said. “This isn't really going to be a multi-team meet. We don't have enough people to put on the plane so we can cover all of the events. What we do expect is where we have people entered, they will compete very strongly.”

As the Sooners venture into unfamiliar territory, assistant coach Brian Blutreich will be returning to compete against his alma mater with Oklahoma's throwers.

Blutreich, a thrower at UCLA, won two Pac-10 discus titlea and was a three-time All-American In shot put and discus, during his collegiate career, and the competition from UCLA throwers is still just as fierce for Saturday's meet.

“There ought to be a lot of really good competition,” thrower Chase Sammons said. “I've never been to UCLA, but they've got a really good throws program.”

Sammons was named Big 12 Male Athlete of the Week on Wednesday after a double win at the Baylor Invitational in shot put and discus last weekend. The week before, Sammons had won the discus throw at the Texas Relays. With multiple wins, VanHootegem is confident the Edmond junior will have a successful performance against UCLA competition in the shot put.

“He has been nothing but consistent,” VanHootegem said. “When you're that way, there will be a breakout performance at some point. He just needs to be consistent, but what I think we'll see is a breakout performance.”

Sprinter Daye Shon Roberson, who won the 400-meter dash despite wind conditions at the Baylor meet, is looking forward to the next challenge. The victory was her first collegiate win and the time was a career best. Roberson hopes to carry the momentum to Los Angeles as she competes in the 4x100 relay, the 4x400 relay and the 400-meter dash.

“For me personally, winning that race is just the beginning of me going undefeated,” Roberson said. “I'm really excited. I know for a fact that I'm in a position where I'm on a cloud because I want to race. I'm taking it as duplicate what I did there and hopefully execute better at UCLA.”

Field events begin at noon central time and the first event on the track is scheduled for 3:25 p.m. central.

Live results are available at Finished Results.com. A complete recap of the Sooner results will be available after the meet at SoonerSports.com