OU Looks for NCAA/Olympic Bids at Big 12s

OU Looks for NCAA/Olympic Bids at Big 12s

May 12, 2016 | Track and Field

By: Akilah Laster

FORT WORTH, Texas - Championship season is here.

The first stop for the Oklahoma track and field teams is Fort Worth, Texas, for the Big 12 Championship.

While the teams look to improve on last year's results, - the men placed third (107 points) and the women sixth (79 points) - several Sooners also have some Olympic-sized goals.

With the 2016 Summer Olympics scheduled to begin on Aug. 5 in Rio de Janeiro, a pair of Sooners have posted qualifying marks that will send them to the US Olympic Team Trials in Eugene, Ore., July 1-10, the first step on the way to Rio. Daye Shon Roberson's 22.65 school-record time in the 200, surpasses the 23.20 U.S.A. Track and Field standard. She also was faster than the USATF 52.20 time in the 400, recording a season-best 51.37. Avione Allgood has beaten the US mark for javelin with her 182-8.00, which also is the team-leading mark.

"It's a fun thing to see someone like Daye Shon to get to that level in an Olympic year, while Avione has been performing at that level for a while," said head coach Jim VanHootegem. "That's something we hope a lot of people aspire to. That's a byproduct of what we do, it may be a background goal to get to the level of an Olympic athlete. We have coaches that have not only competed at that level, but have coached at that level."

Several other OU entries, including freshman Mackenzie Shell, are near U.S. trial-qualifying standards and will have a chance to improve before the June 26 qualification deadline. Shell's program-record 14-5.50 may be shy of the pole vault standard of 14-9.00, but she has continued to improve with big-time performances throughout both indoor and outdoor seasons.

"Obviously we want to have athletes to get to that level, while striving for excellence and we want people who want to be at that level," VanHootegem said. "Our overall goals are collegiate goals and so Big 12s and NCAAs are our first focus."

Daye Shon Roberson has qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 200- and 400-meter races.

For both teams, NCAA qualifying marks are up for grabs as entries look to maintain or earn a top-48 mark or time to advance to NCAA West Preliminaries on May 26. OU currently has more than 30 competitors with top-48 marks in the west region and two top-24 relays (the women's 4x100 and 4x400).

Lofty goals make the conference weekend more significant for the teams. However, with a combined 38 top-eight conference marks across 28 events with the top eight earning points in each event, the Sooners have a strong chance to make this a very special Big 12 weekend and meet their goal of continued improvements in team finishes.

The Sooner women head into competition ranked 15th in the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Team Computer Rankings, but will face stout conference competition with fifth-ranked Texas, No. 9 K-State, No. 18 OSU, No. 19 Texas Tech and No. 20 Baylor among the other Big 12 schools.

OU men also face a tough field with No. 5 Texas, No. 8 Texas Tech, No. 23 Kansas and host team No. 24 TCU.

"This is the time of year that we've trained for," the third-year head coach said. "Anytime the athletes were getting in those last intervals on the track, doing a long run or getting up early in the morning to lift, all the trips, all the sacrifices - it's all so we can come together this time of year and put up a championship performance. Only one team can win the meet, but that doesn't mean everyone can't put up a championship effort."

OU Big 12 (Top-Eight) and Regional (Top-48)Standings
Event	Athlete	Mark	Big 12	NCAA Regional
100m (M)	Trae Armstrong	10.35	8th	22nd
100m (W)	Daye Shon Roberson	11.49	6th	30th
200m (W)	Daye Shon Roberson	22.65	1st	4th
	Ama Pipi	23.50	8th	35th
400m (W)	Daye Shon Roberson	51.42	3rd	5th
800m (M)	Allen Eke	1:49.57	7th	34th
1500m (M)	Jacob Burcham	3:43.03	2nd	20th
5000m (M)	Dylan Blankenbaker	13:58.97	7th	41st
10,000m (M)	Dan Schubert	29:06.90	2nd	13th
10,000m (W)	Brittany Tretbar	34:24.21	5th	29th
	Elena Arriaza	34:25.15	6th	31st
100mH (W)	Olivia Haggerty	13.54	6th	34th
3000m Steeplechase (M)	Dylan Blankenbaker	8:45.04	2nd	10th
	Liam Meirow	9:07.11	8th	--
3000m Steeplechase (W)	Sarah Scott	10:28.29	5th	32nd
4x100 Relay (M)		40.51	8th
4x100 Relay (W)	Brazil, Pipi, Roberson, Buchanan	44.38	3rd	16th
High Jump	Carl Williams	6-11.75	5th	30th
Pole Vault (W)	Mackenzie Shell	14-5.50	2nd	4th
Long Jump (M)	Greg Vann	24-7.25	6th	31st
Long Jump (W)	Baileh Simms	20-6.50	4th	10th
Triple Jump (M)	Hayden McClain	52.10.00	1st	2nd
Shot Put (M)	Chase Sammons	60-6.00	2nd	19th
Shot Put (W)	Jess Woodard	55-10.5	4th	8th
	Avione Allgood	52-0.50	7th	31st
Discus (M)	Chase Sammons	186-10.00	3rd	13th
Discus (W)	Jess Woodard	176-5.00	5th	19th
	Kate Foster	170-7.00	8th	28th
Hammer (M)	Charles Nguyen	200-9.00	4th	29th
Hammer (W)	Julia Reedy	219-2.00	2nd	3rd
	Sarah Tolson	202-2.00	4th	9th
	Ashley Bryant	198-7.00	5th	17th
Javelin (M)	Tyler Renton	252-2.00	1st	3rd
	Garrett Snow	229-10.00	2nd	14th
	T.J. Noonan	203-9.00	6th	--
Javelin (W)	Avione Allgood	182-8.00	2nd	4th
	Liz Herrs	174-8.00	3rd	7th
Heptathlon (W)	Makayla Stephens	4,886	6th	--

Action opens Friday at 9 a.m. with the women's hammer throw that includes the OU trio of Julia Reedy, Sarah Tolson and Ashley Bryant. Reedy's 219-2.00 is currently second in the conference and third nationally. The men's division will follow at noon and feature OU's Charles Nguyen.

The bulk of the events on the first day of the three-day competition will center around the men's decathlon and women's heptathlon. Sophomore Steven Jazdyk will compete in his first decathlon of the season, while Makayla Stephens will contend in the heptathlon, her first since the Texas Relays in late March.

Decathletes will complete five events (long jump, shot put, high jump, 400 meter) on Friday beginning with the 100-meter dash at 2:30 p.m. The110-meter hurdles will open the second day of competition at 11:30 a.m. with the remaining events - discus, pole vault, javelin, 1500 meter - to follow.

The heptathlon opens Friday with the 100-meter hurdles at 3 p.m. and will include the high jump, shot put and 200-meter dash in the first-day schedule. The long jump opens competition on Saturday at 10 a.m. The final two events of the seven, javelin and 800 meter, will follow the long jump.

Tyler Renton leads the Big 12 in the javelin  with a 252-2.00 program record mark and holds the fifth-best mark in the nation.

Other field events on Friday's schedule are the men's javelin and pole vault. The javelin will feature OU program-record holder and conference leader Tyler Renton (252-2.00), Garrett Snow and T.J. Noonan, while Tanner Williams and Everette Favor compete in pole vault.

Friday closes with the women's and men's 10K at 8:30 p.m. and 9:15 p.m., respectively.

Brittany Tretbar and Elena Arriaza will run in the women's competition while Dan Schubert, Will Hogston, and Eric Alldritt close it out in the men's race.

"We want everybody to care," VanHootegem said. "Whether it's trying to score one more point or seeing if you can get to an event final if you're not coming into conference ranked in the top-10. We want to try to score points until we're done on Sunday night."

Live results are available at Delta Timing, while the running events on Sunday, May 15 will also be streamed live on Fox Sports Go. A full recap will be available at the conclusion of action each day on SoonerSports.com.