Oklahoma State University Athletics
OSU Track and Field Announces 2015-16 Signees
June 17, 2015 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track, Cowgirl Cross Country & Track
OSU welcomes 20 high school seniors, two junior college transfers
STILLWATERÂ -- The Oklahoma State track and field program has received National Letters of Intent for the 2015 track and field and cross-country seasons from 20 high school seniors and two junior college transfers, coach Dave Smith announced Wednesday.
"I think the recruiting coaches have done an incredible job this year," Smith said. "This is one of the best classes we've ever gotten. We've got representation in each aspect from distance to throws."
The 2015 Cowboy class includes some of the top athletes from seven states and the United Kingdom, including the 2014-15 Florida Gatorade Cross Country Athlete of the Year, Sukhi Khosla.
Khosla, the Tallahassee, Florida, native, was a five-time state champion for Leon high school. Ranked as one of the best distance runners in the country, Khosla chose Oklahoma State over his hometown Florida State to compete on a team that has won three NCAA Cross Country Championships since 2009. He won back-to-back Class 3A cross-country titles in 2013 and 2014, and finished second at the Nike Cross Nationals Southeast Regional Championships.
Edmond's Bryce Balenseifen is one of five Oklahoma seniors to join the Cowboys. Balenseifen is ranked as the best 1,600-meter runner in the state and won 13 state championships and two Cowboy Jamboree titles while at Deer Creek high school. His 15:18 set the all-time state record for the 5,000-meter cross-country run in 2014 at the Class 5A championships, and he broke a 21-year-old state record in the 1,600 back on April 5 at the Jenks Invitational, with a 4:11.57.
Balenseifen will be joined at OSU by his Deer Creek teammate Austin Rochford. The young sprinter started running track only two years ago, but finished third in the 100-meter dash at the State Championships in 2015, and was the runner-up in 2014.
"We got some transfers and young guys who hopefully can make an impact instantly in cross-country, and that's pretty difficult to do in the NCAA," Smith said. "We're bringing in a bunch of young guys and girls who want to come in and score and help this program progress."
Braden Brock, Austin Swann and Chance Galloway are the three other Oklahoma natives to commit to the Cowboys.
Brock was the 2015 Class 3A 400-meter champion and 2014 800-meter champion from Kansas high school, and Swann was the Class 3A 400-meter champion in 2014, but the 800-meter champion this year for Chisholm high school in Enid.
Galloway, a middle-distance runner from Tulsa Memorial high school, joins the Pokes with a fourth place finish in the 5A 800-meter run, a third place finish in the 400-meter run and a sixth place finish in the long jump on his résumé.
The two junior college transfers are both from Central Arizona. Poli Baltazar and Josh Thompson were teammates on the No. 2 NJCAA team in the country and ran on the national champion distance medley relay team, with Thompson running the leadoff 1,200-meter leg and Baltazar running the anchor leg of 1,600-meters. Thompson was the national runner-up in the mile and finished third in the national 1,000-meter final.
Four-time Class 7A State Champion Christian Liddell is headed west to Stillwater from Rogers high school in Rogers, Arkansas. The distance runner has a career best in the 1,600-meter run of 4:20.74, and his career best in the 3,200-meter run of 9:10.94 is the best in the state this year.
"We were able to bring in some of the best athletes from all over the world and I'm just really excited about future," Smith said. "This class is making OSU a well-rounded program and one that can contend at Big 12 and NCAA level."
The Cowboys will add Jacob Fincham-Dukes from Leeds, England to the young sprints and jumps program. Dukes won the gold in the long jump competition at the Wales vs. England Indoor Championships, has a personal best of 14.62 in the 100-meter hurdles and 53.75 in the 400-meter hurdles, and he also won the UK under-20 indoor long jump with a European junior qualifying 7.60m jump, just shy of his career best 7.61m/24-11.75. Dukes' personal best is the fourth best all-time jump on the United Kingdom's under-20 list.
Dukes brings international experience to the Cowboys' roster. He competed in the 2014 IAAF World Junior Championships in Eugene, Ore., and narrowly missed the long jump final.
"We've got talented hurdlers and a world-class long jumper who can really be an impact type of guy on the Big 12 and national level," Smith said. "The sprints program just gets better with the people we've picked up. We had a good men's 4X100-meter relay team last year that made Nationals, and when we add these guys, we just get better."
Anthony Grogan and Bryce Balous are both joining the Cowboys from McKinney North high school in McKinney, Texas. Balous has a personal best of 10.34 in the 100-meter dash and Grogan owns the McKinney North school record in the 200-meter dash with a 21.13 from this past season.
Kansas Class 6A 400-and 200-meter champion Tanner Green out of Olathe South high school joins the Cowboys with a personal best of 48.55, which he ran to win the title in 2014. He also has a 200-meter title from 2013 and 2015, with a personal best of 21.72 in the event.
Georgia native Miles Yapp and Carmel high school's Benito Muniz from Carmel, New York, round out the 2015-16 recruiting class. Yapp joins the Cowboy team with a personal best 9:01.05 in the 3,200-meter run, a race that he won at the 2015 6A Georgia State Championships for Brookwood high school in Snellville.
Muniz comes to OSU with a seventh place finish at the 2014 New Balance Outdoor National Track and Field Championships. He has a personal best in the mile of 4:09.74 and a 1:53.67 in the 800.
Four Texans and two state champions from Nebraska and Minnesota are joining the Cowgirls in the fall.
Megan Harris will join the Cowgirls in 2015 from Grapevine, Texas. Harris was a state finalist in the 5A State Championships in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.80. She also was a 5A regional qualifier in the 400-meter dash and 4X100-meter relay in 2014, and the 4X400-meter relay in 2013. In the TAAF summer league she placed fourth in the 200-meter and reached finals in the 4X100-meter relay.
Brownwoods' Lexie Lewis is another Texan crossing the northern border into Cowboy country. Lewis made the State finals in both 3A and 4A in the 100-and 200-meter dash in 2014. She finished second in the 200 with a time 24.11 and was third in the 100 in 11.83. She broke the regional record in Lubbock two straight years and medalled at the Texas state meet three of her four years.
"Our core strength has been middle, long distance and cross country," Smith said. "Those events have been the base of this program on the men's and women's sides, but we're branching out into the sprints and the jumps."
The Cowgirl throwers add Swedish weight and hammer thrower Hanna Mårtensson to coach John Baumann's squad. Martensson set a career best 53.57m throw in the hammer throw this year at the Folksam Challenge in Uppsala, Sweden.
Katie Spencer from Omaha, Nebraska, comes to OSU with the fifth-fastest 3,200-meter time in Nebraska girls' history. She earned a 4.0 in her four years at Millard South high school and was the girls' champion in the 3,200 at the Nebraska state meet where she ran a career best 10:31.58.
Kaytlyn Larson is the only Minnesota native to join the Cowgirls this year. She has a personal best in the 800-meter run of 2:09.87 and has a 1,600-meter time of 4:58.74. She won the 1,600-meter final and finished third in the 800 in 2015.
Distance runner Sofia Santos from Houston was more than just a track athlete at North Shore Senior high school. Along with being the 2014 cross-country district champion and the 3,200-and 1,600-meter district champion in 2015, she was named as the top pitcher in the district as a freshman for the Mustang softball team.
A pair of Dallas area sprinters completes the Cowgirl list of signees. Kennedy Turner is a hurdler from Dallas' Desoto High School and a three-time regional qualifier in the 300-meter hurdles. She has a personal best of 43.88 in the event and a 16.11 personal best in the 100-meter hurdles. Wylie East's Amira Coleman brings a career best in the 200-meter dash of 25.10 and 400-meter career best of 54.90 to Diego Flaquer's sprints program.
"We're really trying to build a good men's and women's 4X400-meter relay team and we've brought in some great people to help," Smith said. "This recruiting class just makes us a deeper, well-rounded program going forward and I couldn't be more excited."
The OSU track and field and cross-country teams are finished for the season, but will be back in action again next fall as the Cowboys go for their eighth consecutive Big 12 title, and the Cowgirls seek their first conference title since 1986 as Oklahoma State's course will host this year's Big 12 championship runs.
"I think the recruiting coaches have done an incredible job this year," Smith said. "This is one of the best classes we've ever gotten. We've got representation in each aspect from distance to throws."
The 2015 Cowboy class includes some of the top athletes from seven states and the United Kingdom, including the 2014-15 Florida Gatorade Cross Country Athlete of the Year, Sukhi Khosla.
Khosla, the Tallahassee, Florida, native, was a five-time state champion for Leon high school. Ranked as one of the best distance runners in the country, Khosla chose Oklahoma State over his hometown Florida State to compete on a team that has won three NCAA Cross Country Championships since 2009. He won back-to-back Class 3A cross-country titles in 2013 and 2014, and finished second at the Nike Cross Nationals Southeast Regional Championships.
Edmond's Bryce Balenseifen is one of five Oklahoma seniors to join the Cowboys. Balenseifen is ranked as the best 1,600-meter runner in the state and won 13 state championships and two Cowboy Jamboree titles while at Deer Creek high school. His 15:18 set the all-time state record for the 5,000-meter cross-country run in 2014 at the Class 5A championships, and he broke a 21-year-old state record in the 1,600 back on April 5 at the Jenks Invitational, with a 4:11.57.
Balenseifen will be joined at OSU by his Deer Creek teammate Austin Rochford. The young sprinter started running track only two years ago, but finished third in the 100-meter dash at the State Championships in 2015, and was the runner-up in 2014.
"We got some transfers and young guys who hopefully can make an impact instantly in cross-country, and that's pretty difficult to do in the NCAA," Smith said. "We're bringing in a bunch of young guys and girls who want to come in and score and help this program progress."
Braden Brock, Austin Swann and Chance Galloway are the three other Oklahoma natives to commit to the Cowboys.
Brock was the 2015 Class 3A 400-meter champion and 2014 800-meter champion from Kansas high school, and Swann was the Class 3A 400-meter champion in 2014, but the 800-meter champion this year for Chisholm high school in Enid.
Galloway, a middle-distance runner from Tulsa Memorial high school, joins the Pokes with a fourth place finish in the 5A 800-meter run, a third place finish in the 400-meter run and a sixth place finish in the long jump on his résumé.
The two junior college transfers are both from Central Arizona. Poli Baltazar and Josh Thompson were teammates on the No. 2 NJCAA team in the country and ran on the national champion distance medley relay team, with Thompson running the leadoff 1,200-meter leg and Baltazar running the anchor leg of 1,600-meters. Thompson was the national runner-up in the mile and finished third in the national 1,000-meter final.
Four-time Class 7A State Champion Christian Liddell is headed west to Stillwater from Rogers high school in Rogers, Arkansas. The distance runner has a career best in the 1,600-meter run of 4:20.74, and his career best in the 3,200-meter run of 9:10.94 is the best in the state this year.
"We were able to bring in some of the best athletes from all over the world and I'm just really excited about future," Smith said. "This class is making OSU a well-rounded program and one that can contend at Big 12 and NCAA level."
The Cowboys will add Jacob Fincham-Dukes from Leeds, England to the young sprints and jumps program. Dukes won the gold in the long jump competition at the Wales vs. England Indoor Championships, has a personal best of 14.62 in the 100-meter hurdles and 53.75 in the 400-meter hurdles, and he also won the UK under-20 indoor long jump with a European junior qualifying 7.60m jump, just shy of his career best 7.61m/24-11.75. Dukes' personal best is the fourth best all-time jump on the United Kingdom's under-20 list.
Dukes brings international experience to the Cowboys' roster. He competed in the 2014 IAAF World Junior Championships in Eugene, Ore., and narrowly missed the long jump final.
"We've got talented hurdlers and a world-class long jumper who can really be an impact type of guy on the Big 12 and national level," Smith said. "The sprints program just gets better with the people we've picked up. We had a good men's 4X100-meter relay team last year that made Nationals, and when we add these guys, we just get better."
Anthony Grogan and Bryce Balous are both joining the Cowboys from McKinney North high school in McKinney, Texas. Balous has a personal best of 10.34 in the 100-meter dash and Grogan owns the McKinney North school record in the 200-meter dash with a 21.13 from this past season.
Kansas Class 6A 400-and 200-meter champion Tanner Green out of Olathe South high school joins the Cowboys with a personal best of 48.55, which he ran to win the title in 2014. He also has a 200-meter title from 2013 and 2015, with a personal best of 21.72 in the event.
Georgia native Miles Yapp and Carmel high school's Benito Muniz from Carmel, New York, round out the 2015-16 recruiting class. Yapp joins the Cowboy team with a personal best 9:01.05 in the 3,200-meter run, a race that he won at the 2015 6A Georgia State Championships for Brookwood high school in Snellville.
Muniz comes to OSU with a seventh place finish at the 2014 New Balance Outdoor National Track and Field Championships. He has a personal best in the mile of 4:09.74 and a 1:53.67 in the 800.
Four Texans and two state champions from Nebraska and Minnesota are joining the Cowgirls in the fall.
Megan Harris will join the Cowgirls in 2015 from Grapevine, Texas. Harris was a state finalist in the 5A State Championships in the 200-meter dash with a time of 23.80. She also was a 5A regional qualifier in the 400-meter dash and 4X100-meter relay in 2014, and the 4X400-meter relay in 2013. In the TAAF summer league she placed fourth in the 200-meter and reached finals in the 4X100-meter relay.
Brownwoods' Lexie Lewis is another Texan crossing the northern border into Cowboy country. Lewis made the State finals in both 3A and 4A in the 100-and 200-meter dash in 2014. She finished second in the 200 with a time 24.11 and was third in the 100 in 11.83. She broke the regional record in Lubbock two straight years and medalled at the Texas state meet three of her four years.
"Our core strength has been middle, long distance and cross country," Smith said. "Those events have been the base of this program on the men's and women's sides, but we're branching out into the sprints and the jumps."
The Cowgirl throwers add Swedish weight and hammer thrower Hanna Mårtensson to coach John Baumann's squad. Martensson set a career best 53.57m throw in the hammer throw this year at the Folksam Challenge in Uppsala, Sweden.
Katie Spencer from Omaha, Nebraska, comes to OSU with the fifth-fastest 3,200-meter time in Nebraska girls' history. She earned a 4.0 in her four years at Millard South high school and was the girls' champion in the 3,200 at the Nebraska state meet where she ran a career best 10:31.58.
Kaytlyn Larson is the only Minnesota native to join the Cowgirls this year. She has a personal best in the 800-meter run of 2:09.87 and has a 1,600-meter time of 4:58.74. She won the 1,600-meter final and finished third in the 800 in 2015.
Distance runner Sofia Santos from Houston was more than just a track athlete at North Shore Senior high school. Along with being the 2014 cross-country district champion and the 3,200-and 1,600-meter district champion in 2015, she was named as the top pitcher in the district as a freshman for the Mustang softball team.
A pair of Dallas area sprinters completes the Cowgirl list of signees. Kennedy Turner is a hurdler from Dallas' Desoto High School and a three-time regional qualifier in the 300-meter hurdles. She has a personal best of 43.88 in the event and a 16.11 personal best in the 100-meter hurdles. Wylie East's Amira Coleman brings a career best in the 200-meter dash of 25.10 and 400-meter career best of 54.90 to Diego Flaquer's sprints program.
"We're really trying to build a good men's and women's 4X400-meter relay team and we've brought in some great people to help," Smith said. "This recruiting class just makes us a deeper, well-rounded program going forward and I couldn't be more excited."
The OSU track and field and cross-country teams are finished for the season, but will be back in action again next fall as the Cowboys go for their eighth consecutive Big 12 title, and the Cowgirls seek their first conference title since 1986 as Oklahoma State's course will host this year's Big 12 championship runs.
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