Seven Sooners Head to NCAA Indoors

NORMAN — Seven Sooners are set to compete at the 2021 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., Thursday-Saturday, March 11-13. The three-day championships is hosted by University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark., at the Randal Tyson Center.

Sophomore Mikeisha Welcome, juniors Chris Banks and Kristo Simulask, redshirt junior Vernon Turner and seniors Cooper Campbell, Demarius Smith and Essence Thomas are slated to represent OU at the championships. These seven student-athletes qualified for the championships after securing top-16 marks, nationally, in their respective events.

Simulask will get things going for the Sooners in the heptathlon beginning at 11 a.m. CT on Thursday. The rest of the squad will compete Friday and Saturday. Simulask will start OU off on Friday with the men's heptathlon 60-meter hurdles at 10 a.m. Campbell will compete in the men's shot put at 11 a.m., and Banks and Turner will get going at 11:30 in the men's high jump. Smith will close out Friday's action with the semifinals of the men's 200 meters at 3:25 p.m. The women's duo of Thomas and Welcome will start day-three action at 1 p.m. The finals of the men's 200 meters is slated for 2:50 p.m. on Saturday.

Live results can be found on Flash Results. Live stream of the championship meet can be found on ESPN3. Thursday's ESPN3 coverage will begin at 11 a.m. CT, Friday's at 1:45 p.m. and Saturday's at 12:30 p.m.

Junior Simulask is slated to make his second appearance in the men's heptathlon at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The Haapsalu, Estonia native finished 13^th in the event with 5,509 points in 2019. The junior qualified for the 2020 championships but was unable to compete due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He holds a personal-record 5,691 points in the multis event, making him the school-record holder. Simulask left the 2021 Big 12 Indoor Championships with the men's heptathlon title after notching 5,569 points. He snatched the 16^th spot in the national rankings, securing his place at the championships.

Campbell, the senior from Katy, Texas, had a strong season in the men's shot put, breaking meet records and notching top-four finishes in all four meets competed in. The Texas native holds a personal-best 63-6.75 (19.37m) and the No. 2 spot on OU's all-time top-10 list. He notched the No. 14 spot on the NCAA rankings.

Redshirt junior Turner and junior Banks are set to represent the Sooners in the men's high jump. Turner is set to make his second appearance in the indoor championships, claiming All-America status during the 2018 championships. Turner, the school-record holder, holds a personal-best 7-7.75 (2.33m). The Yukon, Okla., native heads into the championships ranked No. 4. Banks is slated to make his championship debut after an impressive performance at the Big 12 Indoor Championships, setting a personal-best 7-1.75 (2.18m). The native of Edmond, Okla., heads into the meet ranked No. 10 on the NCAA-qualifying list. He is tied for fourth on OU's all-time top-10 list.

Smith, the senior from Atlanta, Ga., had an impressive indoor season, competing in the men's 200-meter dash, 60-meter dash and 4x400 relay. He qualified for the 200-meter dash with a 13^th-place rank on the NCAA list. Smith ran a personal-best 20.75 in the event at the Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships. He holds the No. 2 spot on OU's all-time top-10 list in the event.

Thomas and Welcome will represent the women's squad, competing in the triple jump. Thomas, the school-record holder, leaped a personal-best 44-6 (13.56m) at the Big 12 Indoor Championships, claiming the school-record title. She is ranked seventh on the qualifying list.

Welcome recorded her personal-best 43-11.75 (13.40m) in the event at the Big 12 Indoor Championships. The sophomore from Toronto, Canada, is No. 2 on OU's all-time top-10 list and 14^th on the qualifying list.

Both women are set to make their first appearance at the championships despite qualifying in 2020, where the meet was cancelled due to the pandemic.

A top-eight finish in the championships will earn the athletes first-team All-America honors, while ninth through 16^th place will collect them second-team All-America accolades.

NCAA INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS INFORMATION
Thursday, March 11 – Saturday, March 13
Live Results: Flash Results
Live Stream: ESPN3
Venue: Randal Tyson Center; Fayetteville, Ark.

UP NEXT
The Sooners will travel to Fort Worth, Texas for their outdoor-season opener at the TCU Invitational on March 20.

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NCAA Indoor Championships Schedule
Thursday, March 11
Time (CT)	Event - Sooners
11 a.m.	Men's Heptathlon (60-meter dash) - Kristo Simulask
11:40 a.m.	Men's Heptathlon (long jump) - Kristo Simulask
1:10 p.m.	Men's Heptathlon (shot put) - Kristo Simulask
2:40 p.m.	Men's Heptathlon (high jump) - Kristo Simulask
Friday, March 12
10 a.m.	Men's Heptathlon (60-meter hurdles) - Kristo Simulask
11 a.m.	Men's Heptathlon (pole vault) - Kristo Simulask
	Men's Shot Put - Cooper Campbell
11:30 a.m.	Men's High Jump - Chris Banks, Vernon Turner
1:45 p.m.	Men's Heptathlon (1,000 meters) - Kristo Simulask
3:25 p.m.	Men's 200 Meters (Semifinals) - Demarius Smith
Saturday, March 13
2:50 p.m.	Men's 200 Meters (Finals) - Demarius Smith
5 p.m.	Women's Triple Jump - Essence Thomas, Mikeisha Welcome

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Chris Banks

Cooper Campbell

Kristo Simulask

Demarius Smith

Essence Thomas

Vernon Turner

Mikeisha Welcome

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