OU T&F to Compete at Texas Relays

NORMAN — For the second year in a row, the Oklahoma track and field teams will be splitting their time this weekend between the 90^th edition of the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays and the Stanford Invitational.

Oklahoma will have 41 student-athletes in Austin, competing in 34 events throughout the four-day meet.

In total, there will almost 200 college teams, and it will be the largest meet in its illustrious history.

“First of all, it has got a large history,” head coach Jim VanHootegem says about the prestige of the Texas Relays. “You look through the record book and see all of the great people that have competed there, the great NCAA athletes and the future Olympians. Also, it's regional. It's the big track meet in our part of the country. Like the Drake Relays, like the Penn Relays, the Texas Relays are a great track meet in our part of the country.

“In one aspect, it's just the next meet on our schedule. We're just trying to get better each week and grow each week. On the other hand, it's going to put us in a different situation. There are going to be some opportunities to compete against a lot of great athletes. We don't always get the big crowds in track and field and there will be upwards of 18,000 people in the stands on Saturday watching those final events.”

As VanHootegem mentioned, it is just the next meet on OU's schedule, and he hopes his team will take advantage of the next opportunity to compete.

“It's the next step in our season. It's the third outdoor meet. Everything is in preparation for the outdoor season, and we are now at our third outdoor meet. We are rolling with the outdoor season. For the people who will compete here, they are going to see great competition. We should have a good weekend of competition, and we hope everyone wants to take advantage of it. Where we want to be as a program is we want to be a program that can consistently line it up. We have a track meet on an average of three out of every four weeks, and I would like to see our team ready every time they have the opportunity to take the track.”

VanHootgem believes that each Sooner competitor, if ready, has the potential to be successful this weekend.

“The way we enter the meet, we are probably in situations that, if we are ready, we will be able to compete. Competition-wise, it would be closest to the Tyson Invitational during the indoor season. If we are ready, then, we have a chance to be right in the mix. If you don't bring your A-game, then you'll be sitting in the stands for the finals.”

The Texas Relays, held at the University of Texas' Mike A. Myers Stadium, will take place over the course of four days, starting on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. with the multi-events. OU will have one entry in the heptathlon and one in the decathlon.

Makayla Stephens will be competing in the heptathlon, which will be broken up into two days. Four events (100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200-meter dash) will take place on Wednesday, with three events (long jump, javelin and 800-meter run) scheduled for Thursday morning starting at 11 a.m.

Steven Jazdyk will be competing in the decathlon, starting on Wednesday at 11 a.m. and concluding on Thursday. The first day of his competition will feature the 100-meter dash, the long jump, shot put, high jump and 400-meter dash. Starting at 10 a.m. on Thursday, the decathletes will finish the competition with the 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500-meter run.

In addition to the multi events, also taking place at 11 a.m. on Thursday, will be the women's hammer. Men's hammer, javelin and pole vault are the other field events scheduled for day two. The running events will begin later in the afternoon with the preliminary round of women's and men's 400-meter hurdles at 4:30 p.m. and 5 p.m., respectively. The men's and women's 1,500-meter run and the 3,000-meter steeplechase are scheduled for the evening. The final event on Thursday is the 5,000-meter run at 9 p.m.

The Sooners start up again on the track Friday morning with the preliminary rounds of the women's and men's 4x100-meter relay and 100-meter dash, the women's 100-meter hurdles and men's 110-meter hurdles and the women's 4x400-meter relay. Races are scheduled to start 9:35 a.m. At 10 a.m., the field events will get underway with men's long jump, women's pole vault, and men's and women's shot put. OU will have an earlier ending time on Friday, with the last event of the day being the finals of the women's and men's 400-meter hurdles at 7 and 7:05 p.m.

On the final day of competition, the women's discus will be the first event for OU at 10 a.m. The 4x800-meter relay starts off the day of running events at 10:40 a.m. The finals for the running events held on Friday will take place on Saturday afternoon, starting with the men's and women's 4x100-meter relay final at 1:30 p.m.. The last field event will be the women's shot put at 4 p.m. and the final running event will be the 4x400-meter relay at 4:05 p.m.

The Texas Relays are also special for other reasons as well. Given the structure of the OU roster, which contains a large number of student-athletes from the Lone Star state, many of them have experience competing on this track as high school students.

Adding to the importance of this meet, the NCAA West Preliminary Track and Field Championships will be held in Austin at the end of May, providing a chance for the Sooners to experience the facility. The similarities in the schedule between the Texas Relays and the NCAA West Prelims will also allow the Sooners to experience a stretched out schedule of events, and to prepare for maintaining concentration levels over a long weekend.

The Longhorn Network will be providing television coverage each day. Wednesday's coverage will be a tape delay of the multi-events from 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday will have tape delayed showings of the conclusion of the multi-events from 4:30-6 p.m., with live coverage from 6-8 p.m. Friday will have live coverage from 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., and from 7-9 p.m. Saturday will have live coverage from 1:30-5:30 p.m.

Live results can be accessed at http://pttiming.com/. A recap will be posted at the end of each day of competition on Soonersports.com, and updates will be posted throughout the day on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram (OU_Track).

Players Mentioned

Steven Jazdyk

Makayla Stephens

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics