OU Heads to Austin for Final Tuneup

NORMAN – Just five weeks ago, the University of Oklahoma track and field teams competed in the Texas Relays in Austin. In four weeks, they will return to Austin for the NCAA West prelims, looking to advance to the NCAA Championship sessions in Oregon. Wedged between those two pressure-packed trips is Saturday's trip to the Longhorn Invitational. A smaller meet than the other two, any time you compete in Austin and you are a Sooner, the intensity ramps up a bit.

Texas will host the Sooners and 15 other teams at Mike A. Meyers Stadium on Saturday. A total of three ranked men's teams in addition to the No. 7 Longhorns will be competing on Saturday as No. 11 Baylor, No. 20 Florida State and No. 25 Akron head to Austin. On the women's side No. 11 Baylor, No. 18 Florida State and No. 23 Oklahoma join No. 7 Texas as the ranked teams as the meet.

Other teams set to compete at the Longhorn Invitational are Houston, Incarnate Word, Loyola University New Orleans, North Texas, Stanford, Stephen F. Austin, UT San Antonio, San Jose State, SMU, Texas State, Tulane and Tulsa.

Field events begin at noon and continue through the meet. Running events take the track at 4 p.m. and continue through the men's 1,600-meter relay, scheduled for 8:10 p.m.

After the teams made positive strides during the Texas Relays, with the women's 4x400-meter finishing second and the men's 4x800-meter quartet taking third, the Sooners hope to use those performances as motivation this weekend.

“It's a unique meet,” said head coach, Jim VanHootegem. “It's like the Olympic team trials for Big 12s for many of the athletes. Some of the athletes are resting and not competing and several are looking at this as a final sharpening before the Big 12s. Still others have the opportunity to earn a trip to the Big 12 based on their performance Saturday.”

Though both relay groups will rest this weekend, 43 members of the OU teams will participate in 25 events in the one-day meet. Julia Reedy and Sarah Tolson will open the day for the Sooners in the women's hammer. Reedy is currently ranked No. 10 nationally with a mark of 209-9.00.

The men's competition starts at 12:30 p.m. with five OU entries – Thomas Cheval, Steven Jazdyk, Thomas Noonan, Tyler Renton, and Garrett Snow — in men's javelin. The women's javelin begins at 2 p.m. with Liz Herrs, currently ranked No. 2 in the nation with a mark of 189-6.00, as the lone thrower for OU.

Chase Sammons, who is currently No. 15 nationally in men's shot put, will look to improve on his career-best 63-8.25 throw as he continues to work for a national qualifying mark. Sammons won Section B of the discus throw during the Texas Relays and hopes to repeat that performance in the shot.

“He wants to unleash a big throw and he's been getting over 60 feet consistently,” VanHootegem said. “We preach consistency with him and he has responded.”

The men's 4x100-meter relay will open up the running events at 4 p.m. Scott Petersen, Trae Armstrong, Benny Wesley and Mike Wells will compete for the Sooners.

The Sooners will compete in six additional sprint events throughout the day including women's 110-meter hurdles with Olivia Haggerty, Makayla Stephens, Georgina Tamez representing OU. Leya Buchanan will run in both the women's 100- and 200-meter races.

Will Hogston and Dan Schubert will open the meet for distance runners in the men's 3,000-meter run at 5:35 p.m. Both men and women will compete in the 800-meter and 1500-meter races. Among the 800-meter runners are Marissa Codispodi, Lauren Gibbs, Jessica Martin and Chloe Peek for the women and Hunter Heaton, Liam Meirow and Malcolm Wankel for the men. Kelsey McKee and Belle Wallace will run in the 1500-meter for the women while Allen Eke will run for the men.

Participants will have some background music during the races with both the Lonestar Jam and iHeart Radio Country Festival going on Saturday in areas north and south of the track. The Sooners, though, are only concerned about earning places on the postseason stage.

“This weekend will be a chance to measure up against Texas, the indoor conference champs,” VanHootegem said. “This is a preview of what's to come at Big 12s.”

Live results will be available throughout the meet at TexasSports.com. A complete recap for the Sooners will be available at SoonerSports.com at the end of the meet.

Players Mentioned

Trae Armstrong

Leya Buchanan

Thomas Cheval

Marissa Codispodi

Allen Eke

Lauren Gibbs

Olivia Haggerty

Hunter Heaton

Will Hogston

Steven Jazdyk

Jessica Martin

Kelsey McKee

Liam Meirow

Chloe Peek

Scott Petersen

Julia Reedy

Tyler Renton

Chase Sammons

Garrett Snow

Makayla Stephens

Georgina Tamez

Sarah Tolson

Belle Wallace

Malcolm Wankel

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