University of Oklahoma Athletics

Allard Sixth In The Heptathlon After First Day Of Big 12 Track & Field Meet :: Cates only 47 points out of eighth place.

Allard Sixth In The Heptathlon After First Day Of Big 12 Track & Field Meet :: Cates only 47 points out of eighth place. Allard Sixth In The Heptathlon After First Day Of Big 12 Track & Field Meet

Cates only 47 points out of eighth place.






May 17, 2002

COLUMBIA, Mo. - After competing Friday in weather conditions more like her native Canada, OU freshman Chaunda Allard stands in sixth place after the first four events of the heptathlon in the weather-delayed Big 12 Track and Field Championships. The meet continues through Sunday at the Audrey J. Walton Stadium.

The combined event athletes and the men's and women's hammer throwers sat for nearly four hours waiting for their events to begin as a slow moving rain storm, which dumped nearly an inch of rain on the meet, passed through the Columbia area. Eventually, the decathlon, originally scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m., started at 3:30 p.m. The men's hammer was pushed back about an hour and the women's heptathlon started at 4:30 p.m., after being scheduled to start at 1 p.m. The women's hammer competition was pushed to Saturday.

When the competition finally started, the competitors faced temperatures that continued to fall into the 40s, gusty north winds and light drizzle.

Allard used strong performances in the 100-meter hurdles and the 200-meter dash to finish the first day with 2,821 points. She is just 15 points behind the first-day total she posted to finish second in the Kansas Relays earlier this season.

Junior Taylor Cates came back from a shaky first event to post solid scores in the final three events to finish the first day with 2563 points, good for ninth place. Cates is just 47 points out of eighth place and has two of her better events coming up Saturday.

In the men's decathlon, OU senior Ben Winter is in 14th place with 3,101 points. Sooner freshman Dan Strong finished the first event of the competition, the 100 dash, then pulled up at the finish line. He withdrew from decathlon because of the injury but could be back for the high jump competition on Sunday.

Darren Hutchins was the only other Sooner to compete on the first day of the meet. He finished 19th in the 10,000-meter run with a 33:00.46.

Missouri has the team lead in the men's competition after two finals while Baylor used a one-two finish in the women's 10,000 meter to take the team lead after one women's final.

Action resumes at 10 a.m. Saturday with the decathlon's 110-meter hurdles. Running event prelims begin at 1 p.m. and field event finals start at 10:30 a.m. with the rescheduled women's hammer competition.

Men's Results

Team Standings -- 1. Missouri 25; 2. Iowa State 11; 3. Kansas 10; 4. Colorado 8; 5. Nebraska 6; 6. (tie) Kansas State, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State 5; 9. Texas 2; 10. Texas A&M 1

Winners and OU Results (complete results at www.mutigers.com)

Hammer Throw -- 1. Scott Russell, Kansas, 218-5
10-000-Meter Run -- 1. Mike Mwangong, Iowa State, 29:47.26; 19. Darren Hutchins, OU, 33:00.46

Decathlon First Day Leader: Andy Morris, Kansas, 3926; 14. Ben Winter, OU, 3101; Dan Strong, WD after first event
100 Dash -- Winter, 11.55 (742); Strong, 12.03 (645)
Long Jump -- Winter, 19-5.25 (569)
Shot Put -- Winter, 40-0.5 (619)
High Jump -- Winter, 5-9.75 (602)
400 Dash -- Winter, 55.75 (569)

Women's Results

Team Standings -- 1. Baylor 25; 2. Colorado 9; 3. Kansas State 5; 4. Kansas 4; 5. Texas Tech 2; 6. Texas A&M 1

Winners and OU Results

10,000-Meter Run -- 1. Debbie Thornhill, Baylor, 35:06.21

Heptathlon First-Day Leader: Kathy Livesay, Nebraska, 3467; 6. Chaundra Allard, OU, 2821; 9. Taylor Cates, 2563
100 Hurdles -- Allard, 14.77 (846); Cates, 16.29 (679)
High Jump -- Allard, 4-11 (621); Cates, 4-9.75 (588)
Shot Put -- Allard, 35-10 (590); Cates, 33-10 (550)
200 Dash -- Allard, 26.69 (738); Cates 26.59 (746)