University of Oklahoma Athletics

Sooners Send Five Individuals, One Relay To NCAA Track & Field Championships :: McNamara ranked fourth in the pole vault heading into this weekend's meet.

Sooners Send Five Individuals, One Relay To NCAA Track & Field Championships :: McNamara ranked fourth in the pole vault heading into this weekend's meet. Sooners Send Five Individuals, One Relay To NCAA Track & Field Championships

McNamara ranked fourth in the pole vault heading into this weekend's meet.




Senior Michael McNamara is ranked fourth in the nation heading into this weekend's NCAA Indoor Championships.

March 5, 2002

NORMAN, Okla. - A total of five Sooner individuals and one relay will be competing in this weekend's NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. The first group of student-athletes and coaches will leave Wednesday and the second group will head to Fayetteville on Thursday. Competition begins Friday with field event finals and running prelims and finals. The meet ends Saturday with the remaining field and running event finals.

On Their Way
While sophomore Leslie Dunlap and senior Michael McNamara knew they were going (based on posting automatic qualifying marks in the pole vault earlier this season), the remaining competitors had to wait for invitations from the NCAA Track and Field Committee. Those invited to participate included junior Michael Westlund in the pole vault, redshirt freshman Aldwynn Sappleton in the 800-meter run and as a member of the 1600-meter relay, freshman Jason Stanley in the 60-meter hurdles, and the remaining members of the 1600-meter relay, seniors Raoul Harvey, Ernest Lewis and Moses Washington. Sophomore Brontez Steele will travel as the alternate for the relay.

Sappleton will be the first Sooner to compete when he steps on the track for the 800 prelims at 4:15 p.m. Friday followed by Jason Stanley in the 60-meter hurdle prelims at 4:50 p.m. The hurdles final is set for 7:50 p.m. Friday while the 800 final is set for 6:35 p.m. Saturday. Dunlap will begin competition in the pole vault at 5:30 p.m. while McNamara and Westlund will compete in the pole vault at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. The 1600-meter relay will run at 8:10 p.m. Saturday.

The National Ranking
The Sooner men are ranked ninth in this week's Trackwire 25 poll. OU is one of six Big 12 men's squads listed in the top 25 and is the second best conference team (Nebraska is eighth).

Past Experience
This isn't the first time on the NCAA stage for many of the Sooners who are traveling to Fayetteville. Freshman Jason Stanley and sophomore Brontez Steele, the alternate on the 1600-meter relay, are both making their first trips to NCAA action. Michael Westlund is a three-time All-American and has qualified for three NCAA Indoor and two NCAA Outdoor Championships. Michael McNamara is a two-time NCAA Indoor and two-time NCAA Outdoor qualifier. Leslie Dunlap qualified for both NCAA meets last year as a true freshman. Aldwynn Sappleton earned All-America honors as a member of the outdoor 1600-meter relay last as did Ernest Lewis and Raoul Harvey. Harvey also earned All-America honors as a member of the indoor and outdoor 1600-meter in 2000.

Moses Washington earned NCAA Indoor All-America honors in 1999 in the 800-meter run and as a member of the indoor 1600-meter relay. Additionally, he ran on the indoor 1600-meter relay that qualified for the 2001 NCAA meet , was an alternate on the outdoor 1600-meter relay that qualified for the 2000 NCAA Championships and ran in the 1999 NCAA Outdoor in the 800-meter run and as a member of the 1600-meter relay. Lewis qualified for the NCAA Indoor in the 400 as a junior, was on OU's indoor 1600-meter relay that qualified for the 2001 meet and was on the outdoor 1600-meter relay in 1999 in addition to the trips that resulted in All-America honors.

Rankings on the NCAA Qualifier's List
After all the automatic and provisional qualifiers were added from last weekend's qualifier meets, the NCAA Track and Field Committee pared the field to a total of 270 men and 270 women. After all automatic qualifiers were included in the field, the remaining slots were given to those student-athletes who had met provisional marks.

Here are the rankings for the Sooners who will head to Fayetteville: Leslie Dunlap -- ninth in the pole vault (out of 17), Michael McNamara -- fourth in the pole vault (out of 16), Michael Westlund -- sixth in the pole vault (out of 16), Aldwynn Sappleton -- 10th in the 800 (out of 16), Jason Stanley -- 11th in the 60 hurdles (out of 18), and the 1600-meter relay -- 11th (out of 11).

At Last Year's Meet
The Sooners produced three All-Americans at the 2001 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships and several others just missed earning All-America honors. Michael Westlund finished third in the pole vault to earn All-America honors for the second time (he later added All-America honors in the outdoor pole vault). Senior Bambi Carson took seventh in the shot put to earn All-America honors for the first time in her Sooner career.. Hurdler Alesha Peel also earned All-America honors for the first time in her career, finishing 10th in the 60-meter hurdles (eighth best American).

Other qualifiers for the Sooners included Ernest Lewis in the 400 and as a member of the 1600-meter relay, Raoul Harvey as a member of the 1600-relay, LaBoris Bean, as a member of the 1600-meter relay, Moses Washington, as a member of the 1600-meter relay, and Leslie Dunlap in the pole vault. Lewis was 16th in the 400, Dunlap was tied for 12th and the relay was 10th.

The Sooner men finished in a tie for 38th at the 2001 Championship while the women were tied for 51st.

Last Week
Several Sooner student-athletes used last weekend's qualifier meets to improve their best marks for the season, post NCAA provisional marks for the first time and lower school records. The time posted by the 1600-meter relay at Ames, 3:07.73, improved their previous best by a second. Aldwynn Sappleton's time in the 800, 1:48.81, was an improvement by more than a second. The time was good for fourth place. Michael Westlund improved his NCAA provisional mark in the pole vault to 17-11 at Saturday's Nebraska Qualifier. He finished second in the competition.

Sophomore Quentin Morgan lowered the school record in the 60-meter dash for the second week in a row, running a 6.74 in the prelims at the Ames meet. He later finished sixth in the finals. Junior Aisha Stringer posted an NCAA provisional mark for the first time in her Sooner career with a 2:09.20 at Ames. She finished sixth with that time. Other results included Sand

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