Oklahoma State University Athletics
OSU Prepares For Big 12 Track & Field Championships
February 26, 2014 | Cowgirl Cross Country & Track
Feb. 26, 2014
STILLWATER -
Oklahoma State track and field will travel to Ames, Iowa, this weekend, Feb. 28 - March 1, for the Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Championships.
How to Follow the Meets
Online, fans can follow the action live on Twitter by following @run4okstate for updates, or by using the hashtag #Big12TF. Final results will be published on www.okstate.com.
Meet Schedule
On Friday, both field and running events will begin at 3 p.m., and on Saturday, field events begin at noon and running events get started at 1:30 p.m.
Quoting Coach Dave Smith
On the added focus placed on this meet with the deeper team they have this year:
“It's a balancing act, especially with determining how many times the distance runners should race. It's a like a pitcher in baseball. If he throws way too many innings, he won't be as good down the stretch. You have to pick and choose. However, there's a difference between exerting yourself to move from ninth to sixth in the conference and doing it to move from fifth to second, third or possibly winning it. That changes everything.”
On what it will take to break school records for place and team score:
“I think there will have to be a couple heroes. You will have to have a couple guys who outperform their expectations. Also, you have to have some guys who are expected to do well, do more than they probably should. They have to be ok with maybe sacrificing a couple spots at Nationals to have a shot at a Big 12 title.”
On some athletes doing multiple events to help score more team points:
“Everyone wants to put that 'S' on their chest and carry the team. The guys are excited about this. You wouldn't want them doing this for an eighth place finish, but when you're talking about a conference championship, things change. They really want to do this.”
Running Down”Hill”
Tyreek Hill has been named the male Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Athlete of the Week for his record-breaking performance at the Kansas State Open.
Hill is the second Cowboy to be named Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Athlete of the Week since the inception of the award. He joins 2009 NCAA outdoor 1,500 meter champion German Fernandez. Hill is the first OSU sprinter, indoor or outdoor, to win this award.
Hill broke the meet record in the 60 meter dash at the Kansas State Open. Hill's run, a 6.68, edged the meet record of 6.69, which was set in 2002 by Terence Newman, who is a two-time NFL pro-bowler at the cornerback position. This is the second-straight week in which Hill has broken a school or meet record in the 60 meter dash.
Full Speed Ahead
The sprint events have not been a major factor for OSU track and field in recent years, but newly-hired Sprints Coach Diego Flaquer is changing that.
Under Flaquer, the OSU men's 60 meter record has been broken three times and the women's has been challenged this season. John Teeters ran a 6.69 at the Husker Invite, breaking the 10 year-old school record of 6.70, and at the KSU Wildcat Invite, Britney Presley ran a 7.65, just missing the school record of 7.63.
At the Tyson Invitational, Tyreek Hill took his shot at the record in his OSU debut. He ran a 6.67 in the prelims to break it once, and then broke it again in the semis, with a 6.65.
Last Year At The Big 12 Championships
Oklahoma State Cowgirl track and field enjoyed a historically high team finish, taking fifth place with 48 points, at the Big 12 Indoor Championships in Ames, Iowa.
The women's fifth-place finish ties their highest since the team began competing at the indoor conference championships. The other two times the women finished fifth were in 1989 and 1990.
The men took seventh place with 73 points, barely finishing behind Kansas (74.5) and Texas Tech (76). The Cowboys were only five points behind fourth-place Baylor (79).
To lead the women's side, Natalja Piliusina won her third straight Big 12 title in the 800 meter run, with a 2:06.27, which was a Big 12 meet record. Mihaela Bobos took sixth in the event.
Monika Juodeskaite also landed a third-place finish, running a 9:18.11 in the 3,000 meter run.
Kate Kujawa joined the scoring parade, finishing seventh in the mile, with a 4:56.83.
On the men's side, Taylor Buck got the day started with a fifth-place finish in the high jump. He was able to match his indoor personal best, clearing 2.08m/6-09.75.
Then, the Cowboys got on a scoring roll of their own. A trio of scorers in the 3,000 meters led the way for the Cowboys. Shadrack Kipchirchir, Kirubel Erassa and Fabian Clarkson finished second, third and sixth, respectively. Kipchirchir's 7:56.20 was a personal best, and would have been the Big 12 meet record, had he won.
Kirubel Erassa (4:02.02) and Tom Farrell (4:05.90) landed second and seventh-place finishes, respectively, in the mile.
The Cowgirls enjoyed a pair of third-place finishes from Adela Hofmannova, who ran a personal-best 2:47.83 in the 1,000 meters, and Clara Nichols, who ran a 1:22.51 in the 600 yard run.
Last Time Out
Oklahoma State's Tyreek Hill broke the meet record in the 60 meter dash at the Kansas State Open, in Manhattan, Kan., on Friday.
Hill's run, a 6.68, broke the meet record of 6.69, which was set in 2002 by Terence Newman, who is a two-time NFL pro-bowler at the cornerback position.
This was the second-straight week in which Hill has broken a school or meet record in the 60 meter dash. They are also the first two meets in which Hill has competed for OSU.
On the women's side, Chase Ealey won the shot put, with a launch of 15.67m/51-5.0. She has finished in the top six in the shot put at each meet in which she has competed this season.
Three Cowgirls set new personal collegiate bests in their events: Triana Browne-Hearrell (1:28.14) took second in the 600 yard run, Julia Schmaltz (1.63m/5-4.25) finished fifth in the high jump and Jordan Highsmith (5.64m/18-6.00) took second in the long jump.
The Oklahoma State men's distance medley relay qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships at the Alex Wilson Invitational, in South Bend, Ind., on Saturday.
The team of Tyler Payton, Chad Noelle, Shane Moskowitz and Kirubel Erassa, which is responsible for a combined six track and field All-American honors, raced like it, putting up a blistering time of 9:29.91, which missed the school record by 1.5 seconds. The mark ranks No. 7 in the NCAA. The top 12 relays qualify for the national meet.
This was the second-straight year in which OSU has qualified a distance medley relay at the Alex Wilson Invite.
On the women's side, Clara Nichols ran a personal-best 2:06.56 in the 800 meters, moving her up to No. 19 in the NCAA. The Cowgirls now have three athletes ranked in the NCAA top 20 in the 800 meters.
Viktoriia Sadokhina took second in the long jump, with a mark of 12.74m/41-9.75.
In The Rankings
The Oklahoma State men's and women's track and field teams have a combined 14 individuals or relays ranked in the NCAA top 50.
On the men's side, Tyreek Hill (6.65) and John Teeters (6.69) are No. 18 and No. 24 in the NCAA, respectively, in the 60 meter dash. The trio who went 1-2-3 in the 3,000 meters at the Tyson Invite, Kirubel Erassa (7:54.05), Shane Moskowitz (7:57.79) and Chad Noelle (7:59.64), have the No. 10, No. 23 and No. 29 3,000 meter times in the nation.
Noelle is also ranked No. 14 in the mile, after running a 3:59.12 at the Iowa State Classic.
Nick Miller's school record-setting weight throw of 21.99m/71-11.75 from the Tyson Invite ranks sixth in the nation, and the distance medley relay's time of 9:29.91 from the Alex Wilson Invite holds the No. 7 spot in the NCAA.
On the women's side, the Cowgirls have six athletes ranked in the NCAA top 50 in their respective events. Savannah Camacho (2:05.41) and Kaela Edwards (2:05.59) still lead the way, holding the nation's No. 8 and No. 12 spots, respectively, in the 800 meters. Clara Nichols joined them in the 800 meter rankings, at No. 22, with her 2:06.56 at the Alex Wilson Invite.
Monika Juodeskaite (9:17.37) has the NCAA's No. 28 time in the 3,000 meters, and Viktoriia Sadokhina (12.86m/42-2.25) is No. 20 in the nation in the triple jump, after winning the event at the Husky Classic. Chase Ealey is No. 35 in the shot put, after throwing a season-best mark of 15.78m/51-9.25 in Lincoln, at the Husker Invite.
Throw It Down
Heading into this weekend's championships, the OSU throwers have experience with success at the Big 12 meet and the credentials to show it.
Nick Miller, defending Big 12 Champion and First team All-American in the weight throw, has picked up where he left off a season ago. Miller has won three of the four meets in which he has thrown, and in the other, he finished in second by a tenth of a meter.
He has broken his own school record in the weight throw twice, and has a history of performing well under the spotlight, with his previous best in the weight coming at last year's NCAA indoor meet, and his personal best in the hammer coming at last year's NCAA West Outdoor Regional.
Itamar Levi will be making his first appearance at the Big 12 championships, but he currently holds the No. 8 shot put in the conference, which would be good enough to score team points.
On the women's side, Chase Ealey is currently fourth in the Big 12 in the shot put. She is coming off an outdoor season where she earned All-Big 12 honors and was an NCAA qualifier in both the shot put and the javelin.
Caitlin Way was an All-Big 12 performer in both the indoor weight and outdoor hammer in 2013, and currently has the ninth-best weight throw mark in the Big 12.
Distancing Themselves From The Competition
OSU has definitely added some talent and depth in the sprint and field events, but make no mistake, distance is still the backbone of this squad.
Three different Cowboys have the conference's top marks in the 1,000 meters (Shane Moskowitz), mile (Chad Noelle), and 3,000 meters (Kirubel Erassa). Also, OSU has the Big 12's top Distance medley relay.
Erassa, Moskowitz and Noelle are ranked No. 10, No. 23 and No. 29, respectively, in the NCAA in the 3,000 meters. Noelle is No. 14 in the mile, with a time of 3:59.12
Chasing A Record
With the addition of accomplished sprinters and field athletes to the already strong distance program, the OSU men look poised to take down the school records for highest finish and most team points at the conference meet. At the 1982 Big 8 Indoor Championships, OSU took third place, scoring 79 points. In 2013, the Cowboys came close, finishing with 73 team points.
A New Home
OSU track and field now has a new state-of-the-art facility to call home. The new complex was finished in the summer of 2013, and the teams have already started using it for practice. The complex is home to new locker rooms, a large team room and a large training room, among other brand new features for the teams to enjoy.
