Oklahoma State University Athletics
OSU Travels To Lubbock For Big 12 Championships
May 15, 2014 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track
May 15, 2014
LUBBOCK, Texas -
No. 5 Oklahoma State men's track and field and OSU women's track and field will travel to Lubbock, Texas, this weekend for the Big 12 Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
How to Follow the Meets
Online, fans can follow the action live on Twitter by following @run4okstate for updates. Final results will be published on okstate.com. Live results can be found at www.deltatiming.com.
Meet Schedule
On Friday, events will run from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Saturday's events will start at 10 a.m. On Sunday, action begins at 11 a.m., and concludes at 9:45 p.m.
Quoting Head Coach Dave Smith
On the men's No. 5 ranking:
“We're in some pretty good company being in the top five. If you look at it, our team isn't concentrated on one or two guys scoring well in multiple events. We have a diverse array of athletes who can score well in different events. When you have that balance, your performance is less likely to be impacted by one person having an off weekend.”
On managing athletes who will compete at each of the next three meets:
“At the conference level, we're a better indoor team than outdoor team. It may be the opposite on the national level. We knew we could win the Big 12 indoor title, so we took risks and went for it. We have a chance in outdoors as well, but we could also go top 10 nationally in outdoors, meaning we would be a top-10 team in cross country, indoors and outdoors. That's never been done here. Knowing that, it's a delicate balance.”
On the team peaking at the right time:
“In theory, you want to see the best marks at the national championships, so if our recent performance is just a sign of things to come, then we're in really good shape. It's hard to know exactly where you are, mainly because each athlete is different. So many things you can't control can affect performance, so you worry about what you can control and hope for the best.”
A Top-10 Trifecta
Oklahoma State men's track and field has a chance to make even more history in 2014.
With a top-10 finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, it would be the first time in OSU history to achieve top-10 finishes in cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field within the same academic year.
The Cowboys could become the first team in Big 12 history to sweep the cross country, indoor and outdoor track & field conference titles in the same academic year.
OSU is already the first team in Big 12 history with titles in both cross country and indoor track & field, accomplishing the feat in the same academic year.
Historical Highs
Shadrack Kipchirchir and Nick Miller have made conference and national history with their performances this season.
Kipchirchir broke the OSU and Big 12 all-time records in the 10,000 meters, running a 27:36.79 at the Payton Jordan Invitational. It's the No. 1 time in the NCAA this season, and the No. 9 mark in NCAA history.
Miller threw the hammer a monstrous 74.37m/244-0 at the KSU Wildcat open, crushing the OSU and Big 12 records by more than two meters. His mark is also No. 1 in the NCAA. Miller just missed the NCAA all-time top-10 list in the event by 0.40 meters.
Last Time Out
Oklahoma State's Nick Miller threw the NCAA's top mark this season in the hammer throw at the KSU Wildcat Open, in Manhattan, Kan.
Miller broke his own school record twice in six throws. On his second throw of the day, he launched the hammer 74.15m/243-3, which was a new OSU record and the best throw in the nation by a meter and a half.
On his fifth throw, he achieved a mark of 74.37m/244-0, extending his lead on both the NCAA and OSU all-time lists. Miller's previous best was a throw of 71.60m/234-11 at the 2013 NCAA West Preliminary Round.
Nationally Known
The Oklahoma State men's track and field team once again achieved its highest outdoor ranking in school history today, jumping two spots to No. 5 in this week's edition of the USTFCCCA outdoor rankings.
OSU is the highest-ranked team in the Big 12, and is ranked ahead of Georgia, LSU, Alabama, Texas, UCLA, USC and Florida State, among others.
Individually, Oklahoma State has 12 athletes ranked in the NCAA's top 50 in their respective events. On the men's side, there are five Cowboys claiming top-10 NCAA rankings. Shadrack Kipchirchir (27:36.79) holds the No. 1 spot in the 10,000 meters, Kirubel Erassa (13:27.55) ranks No. 2 in the 5,000 meters, Chad Noelle (3:40.06) sits at No. 4 in the 1,500 meters, Nick Miller (74.37m/244-0) claims the No. 1 spot in the hammer throw and John Teeters (10.14) is No. 7 in the 100 meter dash.
Kipchirchir, Erassa and Noelle are all ranked in two events. Kipchirchir (13:37.68) also has the No. 9 spot in the 5,000 meters, Erassa (29:02.77) is No. 25 in the 10,000 meters and Noelle (1:48.62) sits at No. 26 in the 800 meters.
Rounding out the ranked Cowboys are Tyler Payton (1:49.17) at No. 44 in the 800 meters, Brian Gohlke (29:17.41) at No. 41 in the 10,000 meters and Itamar Levi at No. 45 in the shot put, with a mark of 18.21m/59-9.
For the Cowgirls, Savannah Camacho leads the way at No. 4 in the 800 meters. Her mark of 2:02.84 ranks second in OSU history.
In the discus, Ieva Zarankaite (54.34m/178-3) continues her impressive debut season, checking in at No. 20, and Monika Juodeskaite (16:00.32) ranks No. 32 in the 5,000 meters and No. 34 in the 1,500 meters, with a mark of 4:19.58. Viktoriia Sadokhina (12.78m/41-11.25) holds the No. 36 spot in the triple jump.
OSU has 17 athletes on track to qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary Round, in a combined 16 events. The top 48 marks in each event will compete in Fayetteville, Ark., May 29-31.
Last Year At The Big 12 Championships
At the 2013 Big 12 Outdoor Championships, in the men's 5,000 meters, Kirubel Erassa (13:53.53), Girma Mecheso (13:54.62) and Tom Farrell (13:55.47) spent the entire race in the lead group of seven runners, until they separated themselves with two laps to go. On the final turn, Erassa was able to kick past his teammates and win the championship.
The surprise of the weekend had to be Chase Ealey. After throwing a personal best to finish sixth in the shot put on Saturday, she participated in the javelin on Sunday--an event she had not thrown since high school. It didn't matter. She launched a personal-best 44.82m/147-00, which was good enough for fifth place and four more team points.
Nick Miller dominated the hammer throw as he has all season. His winning mark of 69.22m/227-01 won the championship by nearly seven meters, and was a stadium record. His other two marks would have won the event as well.
Littering the Record Lists
The OSU men and women have had 22 athletes or relays combine for 28 marks that have appeared on the all-time school outdoor top-10 lists this season.
The Cowboys have had top-10 marks in the 100 meters, 200 meters, 800 meters, 1,500 meters, 3,000 meters, 5,000 meters, 10,000 meters, triple jump, shot put and hammer throw.
The Cowgirls have registered top-10 marks on the school's all-time lists in the 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters, 800 meters, 1,500 meters, 3,000 meters, 5,000 meters, 100 and 400 meter hurdles, 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 meter relays, high jump, triple jump and discus.
Cream of the Conference Crop
Oklahoma State's Nick Miller was named the Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Athlete of the Week following his record-setting performance at the KSU Wildcat Open.
Miller launched the hammer 74.37m/244-0, which broke his own OSU record and was the best throw in the nation by more than a meter and a half.
Miller's throw also broke the Big 12 Conference record in the hammer. The previous mark was 71.92/235-11.5, by Chris Rohr of Missouri, in 2009.
This is Miller's second time to win the award. He also won on April 18, 2013, for his performance in the hammer throw at the John McDonnell Invitational. Miller and Girma Mecheso are the only Cowboys to win this award in the outdoor season.
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.
