Doughty Repeats as Steeplechase Champion

Sunday, May 17

Ames, Iowa

1:00 PM

University of Oklahoma

Big 12 Outdoor Championship

Doughty Repeats as Steeplechase Champion

May 18, 2015 | Track and Field

By: Athletics Communications

AMES, Iowa – There's something about a conference championship meet that brings out the best in OU competitors, especially redshirt junior Brandon Doughty.

Doughty ran a steady pace to win his second 3,000-meter steeplechase on the final day of the 2015 Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championship. It marks Doughty's fourth title in his last four conference meets – anchor leg of the 2014 indoor distance medley relay, 2014 steeplechase, 2015 indoor 3,000-meter run and now a repeat of the steeplechase title.

Doughty then came back just over three hours later to finish third in the 5,000-meter run.

His performances reflected that of all the Sooners who competed Sunday as well those of the last two days. The combination of those performances resulted in 107 points for the OU men, good for a third-place finish in the team standings, and 79 points for the OU women, which led to a sixth-place finish.

Our team competes … we don't melt down. Certainly a part of that comes from having experienced throwers.
Jim VanHootegem, head coach

The Longhorn women compiled 141.5 points, outpacing Kansas State, which finished with 129.5 team points to take second place. Texas Tech was third with 103, just ahead of Kansas (101) and Baylor (96). Oklahoma (79), Oklahoma State (62), Iowa State (59), West Virginia (32) and TCU (15) rounded out the women's standings.

On the men's side, the Longhorns outscored the field with 152 points, 24.25 points ahead of runner-up Texas Tech (126.75). Oklahoma took third with 107 points, with Baylor (93) and Kansas (85.25) taking fourth and fifth. Oklahoma State (69), TCU (67), Kansas State (62) and Iowa State (58) completed the men's standings.

“Our program is growing,” head coach Jim VanHootegem praised. “Everybody is looking at the standings in terms of first, second, third. As a coach looking at your program, you're looking more at point totals. We just scored a lot more points than we did last year at this meet, significantly more on the men's side and an incredible amount more on the women's.”

Since the Sooners won the men's outdoor title in 2007, the 2015 point total is the third highest. The 79 points produced by the OU women is the second highest total since the first Big 12 championship in 1997. A year ago, the first year under VanHootegem, the women scored 30 points.

“Our overall impression of the meet is that our team is growing and we feel good about the culture we're establishing,” VanHootegem continued. “As people continue to come into our program, we're going to have a lot of experienced people to let them know what OU track and field is about.”

The final day saw seven women and nine men earn a place on the award podium. The men's and women's 4x100- and 4x400-meter relays also produced points for OU.

Included in the top individual performances of the day were Daye Shon Roberson, second in the 400; Hayden McClain, second in the triple jump; Allen Eke and Jacob Burcham, second and seventh in the 1,500-meter run respectively; Dylan Blankenbaker, third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase; Chase Sammons, third in the discus; Jess Woodard, Alexandra Morgan and Kate Foster, who finished second, fifth and sixth respectively in the discus; Trae Armstrong, sixth in the men's 100; Zac Randall, sixth in the 800; Abbabiya Simbassa, sixth in the 5,000; Belle Wallace, seventh in the 1,500; Erin Jones, who was eighth in the 100; and Bryce Perry, eighth in the women's steeplechase.

The women's 400- and 1,600-meter relays each finished second and the men's 400- and 1,600 meter relays finished eighth and seventh.

McClain, a sophomore, joined Doughty by continuing his string in the triple jump. McClain finished second in the triple jump on Sunday, his fourth consecutive runner-up finish in four championships, two indoor and two outdoor.

In a meet where placing for points was as important as the marks recorded, the women's 1,600-meter relay, in the process of finishing second on Sunday, posted the fifth best time in school history with a 3:33.98. That quartet included Ama Pipi, Roberson, Daunicia Demerson and Payton Baker.

The Sooner throwers also provided a huge boost to the team totals. When Sammons finished third Sunday in the discus, it meant every student-athlete who competed in a throwing event placed well enough to score points, a total of 78 points for the record. That fact was not lost on VanHootegem.

“Coach (Brian) Blutreich is in his eighth season at OU and the rest of the coaching staff is in their second season at OU,” VanHootegem added. “He has had a chance to build up continuity with his group. There's a real security with the rest of the team knowing that when the throwers go out there they score points. They come to this meet and they know how to perform at this meet.

“They don't have to feel great, they don't have to set every PR, but they know how to get in there and get the job done. I think that reflects across the team. Our team competes … we don't melt down. Certainly a part of that comes from having experienced throwers.

“We are a true track and field team,” VanHootegem continued. “When you look at an event, you can see a thrower cheering for a distance runner, you can see a high jump cheering on the thrower. Whatever it is, we are a team. We might have individual disciplines, but we support each other as a group. That's really important to me and to the success of our program.

Next up for the Sooners will be the West prelims in Austin May 28-30. Sunday marked the final day to post a qualifying mark and the final list of marks is to be posted on Monday. Declarations must be done by Wednesday and a final list of competitors accepted into the meet will be released on Thursday. The top 48 individuals in every event, except heptathlon and decathlon, qualify for the East and West prelims. The top 24 relays are also included in the fields. From the prelims, the top 12 individuals and top 12 relays advance to the NCAA Championship in Eugene, Ore., June 10-13.