Roberson Posts Worldly Performance on Day 1 in Arkansas

Friday, January 29

Fayetteville, Ark.

11:00 AM

University of Oklahoma

Razorback Invitational

Roberson Posts Worldly Performance on Day 1 in Arkansas

January 29, 2016 | Track and Field

By: Akilah Laster

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The view from the top never gets old. Just ask Daye Shon Roberson.

Roberson set a personal best, 23.14, in her first 200-meter performance of the 2016 indoor season at the Razorback Invitational on Friday. The mark placed her among the world's fastest on the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) list after earning the top spot a week ago in the 400-meter dash. She is also now second on OU's all-time list in the 200.

She finished second overall with a time to trail No. 6 Florida's Kyra Jefferson (22.72). Jefferson's time is top on the NCAA chart and is the current best worldwide. Tennessee's Felicia Brown (22.88) moved to number two in both standings.

While these rankings could change as other results are reported, Roberson continues to top the world and NCAA lists with her 400-meter effort from a week ago. She is also straddling the NCAA qualifying line in the 60-meter dash with a 7.36 time, currently 18th in the NCAA.

"It shows great range as a sprinter because she had a great first meet in the 60, a great second meet in the 400, and now in the 200," said head coach Jim VanHootegem. "It mostly shows her focus and competitiveness. It's a big-time performance at a great meet with great schools here.

"This is where she lives," he continued. "She lives this every day in practice. Very pleased there."

Thomas Cheval finishes day one of the Razorback Invitational in fourth place in the men's heptathlon with 3,221 points.

Another Sooner who sits near the top in his event after Friday is Thomas Cheval. The sophomore put together a solid performance to finish day one of the heptathlon in fourth place. After four events, the 60-meter dash, shot put, long jump, and high jump, he totaled 3,221 points and set personal bests in the 60 (7.04), shot (41-05.00) and long jump (24-04.25). He trails No. 7 Georgia's Garrett Scantling (3,369), Maicel Uibo (3,305) and Devon Williams (3,235), who were ranked second, fifth, and sixth, respectively, in the preseason.

"Thomas had a great first day," VanHootegem said. "He's four-sevenths of the way through it. At this time, I'm very pleased. He needs to come back solid tomorrow and move on from there."

Sophomore Steven Jazdyk, who began the heptathlon on Friday, dropped out of competition after the first two events of the day due to injury.

While the heptathlon will be completed Saturday, opening with 60-meter hurdles at 11 a.m. (CT), the pentathlon finished Friday. Sooner sophomore Makayla Stephens scored 3,517 points to finish eighth overall. In the process, she recorded a PR in the shot put with a 35-03.00.

Mackenzie Shell finishes third in the pole vault with a mark of 13-8.50 on Friday at the Razorback Invitational.

Mackenzie Shell made a strong statement in her first appearance in Fayetteville with a third-place performance in the pole vault. Shell finished with a mark of 13-8.50, behind Arkansas' freshmen twins, Alexis and Victoria Weeks. Alexis leads the NCAA with a 14-9.00 and Victoria was 10th on the qualifying list headed into the meet, but will likely move up after clearing a 14-2.50. Shell's PR 14-00.50 from the season opener was eighth in the nation heading into the weekend.

"Mackenzie's being consistent," the third-year head coach said. "I see her taking some chances now. It's not always about PRing week in and week out. It's about taking a chance to get better."

Baileh Simms finished ninth with a personal best in the long jump. While her 20-05.00 mark was not quite enough to add to the team score as the top eight places score, her performance left a strong impression with the coaches as she became third on OU's all-time list. Simms fouled on three of six attempts, but her aggressive performance was praised by the staff.

 Baileh Simms joing OU's all-time top performers in the long jump after posting a 20-5.00 on Friday at the Razorback Invitational.

"She had a great day today against extremely tough competition," VanHootegem said. "I've been to national meets that weren't as tough as that. It was a hot field and she did well.

"She had some big fouls, which as they close as they were to counting, I don't mind at this point in time during the season," he continued. "It shows she's going for it and being aggressive."

While the day was not marked by major waves, the Sooners made noticeable improvements in many events. The women are fifth in team scoring after day one with 20 points and the men were seventh with 12.7 points.

Julia Reedy led the women's weight throw foursome as the lone Sooner to score in the event, finishing fourth to add five points. Her 62-6.75 was barely shy of her personal best, but was a significant improvement from her 59-4.75 at last year's meet.

Sarah Tolson's mark of 57-08.25 also was an improvement from her mark a season ago. Ashley Bryant and Jess Woodard earned marks of 57-8.25 and 57-0.75, respectively.

Ama Pipi and Brianna Rodriguez added strong performances in the 200-meter dash and long jump, respectively. Pipi ran a 24.07 and Rodriguez's 18-07.25 was a season best.

Charles Nguyen was the lone men's thrower in the weight throw and finished eighth with a 58-6.75. Tanner Williams also added to the team score with an eighth-place finish in the pole vault with a 16-1.25 clearance.

Freshman Greg Vann earned a personal best in the long jump with a 23-11.5 and Carl Williams was the top high jumper for the Sooners, placing third with a 6-10.25. Williams added six points to the overall score for the men.

Julia Reedy placed fourth in the weight throw on Friday with a mark of 62-6.75 to add five points to the women's team score.

The men's distance medley relay finished with a time of 9:37.28, dropping 21 seconds from its time a week ago at the Texas A&M Quadrangular. The foursome of Allen Eke, Trae Armstrong, Jacob Goldberg and Jacob Burcham took fifth to close the day for the Sooners. They also made the program's all-time list, now eighth.

"We see a lot of people rising to the level of competition," VanHootegem explained. "We see people being more comfortable. We see people, in a good way, being a little disappointed because they want to do a little bit better.

"This is where we're going to be," the head coach continued. "We're going to go up against a lot of these great schools. It's a great field and I see people stepping up to that level."

The Sooners return to action tomorrow at 11 a.m. (CT) with the final events of the heptathlon. Running events are slated for an 11:30 a.m. start that will feature Sooners Brittany Tretbar and Elena Arriaza in the 3,000-meter run while field events begin at noon with OU entries Avione Allgood and Woodard scheduled to throw the shot put.

Live coverage of the meet will be broadcast on the SEC Network, beginning at 12:32 p.m. (CT) to approximately 4:20 p.m. Live results are also available on via Flash Results with a full recap on SoonerSports.com after the meet.