OSU Veterans Make Season Debuts

Vegard Oelstad at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships

January 16, 2016 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track, Cowgirl Cross Country & Track

STILLWATER – The Oklahoma State track and field program started 2016 with a successful weekend at the Texas A&M Team Invitational and the J.D. Martin Invitational, taking 10 top-five finishes across both meets.

At the A&M Team Invitational in College Station, Cowboy All-American John Teeters picked up where he left off last year's indoor season by winning the 60-meter dash final in 6.60 seconds. Teeters had the top-time of 6.62 coming out of the preliminary round and defeated TCU's Ronnie Baker and Texas youngster Senoj-Jay Givens in the final to take the win. Teeters was joined in the final by Cowboy freshman Malik Givens who finished sixth in 6.84 seconds.

"Teeters put together two great rounds in the 60," sprints coach Diego Flaquer said. "Givens competed extremely well and showed that he has what it takes to grow into a talented sprinter in the Big 12."

Jacob Fincham-Dukes made his way into OSU's record book in just his second competition as a Cowboy after finishing third in the long jump competition. The British international jumped a 7.09m/23-3.25 to grab No. six on the all-time indoor list.

"We've been able to pick up a lot of points at the conference meet in the middle distances and recently we've become a more complete team by bringing in great sprinters, throwers and jumpers," coach Dave Smith said." Adding him to our program is just going to help us even more."

Big 12 Cross Country Newcomer of the Year, Josh Thompson, won his debut indoor race for the Cowboys. The transfer from Central Arizona ran a 4:10.59 in the mile final, edging out BYU's Karson Fronk by four-hundredths of a second. Freshman Miles Yapp who won the 1,000-meter run at the KSU Winter Invitational back in December finished 17th and Bradley Johnson finished a spot ahead.

Vegard Oelstad started 2016 strong with a third place finish in the 3,000-meter final. His time of 8:15.18 was four seconds faster than the fourth place finisher from Stephen F. Austin.

The Cowgirls had four top-three finishers in College Station in Anna Boyert, Kaela Edwards and Molly Sughroue on the track, and Chase Ealey in the shot put.

Both Edwards and Sughroue ran in the 800-meter final for their first race of the season. Edwards' 2:03.60 was enough to take the win in the event and Sughroue's 2:08.72 got her third. Edwards' time was one-hundredth of a second off her indoor personal best that she ran at the 2015 NCAA Indoor Championships.

"I wasn't expecting any major performances, but John in the 60 and Kaela in the 800 were phenomenal," Smith said. "She took over the lead in the NCAA for that event and John ran the third best time in the NCAA this season."

Boyert's season debut went well as she finished second in the mile in 4:52.88. Last season, Boyert debuted with a mile just over five minutes but ended the season with a 4:44.40, the sixth-fastest mile in Cowgirl history.

All-American Chase Ealey wrapped up the day with a win in her first shot put competition of the season. Her throw of 16.22m/53-2.75 would be the second-best throw in school history if she did not currently hold the record with a throw of 16.71m/54-10.0 from a season ago.

A small group of athletes made the short trip to Norman, Oklahoma, to participate in the J.D. Martin Invitational.

Jillian Hagen led the way for the Cowgirls, finishing second in the 600-yard run in 1:30.42, which bested her season debut time by nearly two seconds.

"It was a good start to the season," Smith said. "It's the first competition of the year for most of the team, so it was a good chance to knock some rust off."

As a team, the Cowboys finished sixth and the Cowgirls finished seventh at the A&M Invitational.

The 16th ranked Cowboys and the 26th ranked Cowgirls head back to Manhattan, Kansas, for the DeLoss Dodds Invitational next weekend, where OSU won nine events at the meet in 2015.

J.D. Martin Invitational | Mosier Track Facility | Jan. 16, 2016

Women

Weight Throw
10. Aina Maartensson – 14.82m/48-7.5
22. Baylor Nelson – 11.09m/36-4.75

Triple Jump
--. Viktoriia Sadokhina - FOUL

60 Meters
21. Brittany Stallings – 8.00

400 Meters
6. Triana Browne-Hearrell – 1:00.05
10. Cydney Crook – 1:03.52

600 Yards
2. Jillian Hagen - 1:30.42

200 Meters
9. Brittany Stallings – 26.26

4X440 Yard Relay
--. Oklahoma State Team A - DQ
(T. Browne-Hearrell, C. Crook
J. Hagen, B. Stallings)

Men

High Jump
6. Reid Joyner – 1.98m/6-6.00
--. Cole Verble - NH

Pole Vault
--. Cole Verble – NH

60 Meters
9. Tyler Jackson – 6.98
29. Cole Verble – 7.62

60 Meter Hurdles
11. Cole Verble – 9.24

Texas A&M Team Invitational | Gilliam Indoor Stadium | Jan. 16, 2016

Women

60 Meter Prelims
30. Stephanie Ferrante – 8.02
31. Megan Harris – 8.06
33. Summor Fields – 8.12

Mile
2. Anna Boyert – 4:52.88
13. Kaytlyn Larson – 5:03.28
17. Kaylee Dodd – 5:09.86

400 Meters
13. Clara Nichols – 57.19
21. Amira Coleman – 58.16
23. Stephanie Ferrante – 58.31
26. Danielle Coleman – 59.39

800 Meters
1. Kaela Edwards – 2:03.60
3. Molly Sughroue – 2:08.72

200 Meters
27. Summor Fields – 25.63

3000 Meters
18. Gintare Zenkevicuite – 10:21.99

Long Jump
20. Maddie Lorant – 4.85m/15-11.00

Weight Throw
9. Chase Ealey – 15.95m/52-4
16. Katie Kehl – 14.57m/47-9.75
20. Ieva Zarankaite – 13.56m/44-6

Shot Put
1. Chase Ealey – 16.22m/53-2.75
6. Katie Kehl – 14.27m/14-.25
8. Ieva Zarankaite – 14.18m/46-6.25

4X400-Meter Relay
10. Oklahoma State Team A – 3:48.00
( S. Ferrante, C. Nichols,
D. Coleman, A. Coleman)

Men

60 Meter Prelims
1. John Teeters – 6.62Q
6. Malik Givens – 6.82q
19. Arlando Brewer-Johnson – 6.98
20. Sharod Selph – 6.98

60 Meter Final
1. John Teeters – 6.60
6. Malik Givens – 6.84

800 Meters
4. Matthew Fayers – 1:52.46
12. Chad Noelle – 1:53.64
24. Chance Galloway 2:01.83

200 Meters
15. Malik Givens – 21.97
20. John Teeters – 22.25
27. Anthony Grogan Jr. – 22.52
--. Sharod Selph - DQ

400 Meters
14. Brandon Singleton – 48.53
28. Tanner Green – 50.60

Mile
1. Josh Thompson – 4:10.59
16. Bradley Johnson – 4:22.23
17. Mile Yapp – 4:24.98

3000 Meters
3. Vegard Oelstad 8:15.18

Long Jump
3. Jacob Fincham-Dukes – 7.09m/23-3.25
18. Arlando Brewer-Johnson – 6.70m/21-11.75
22. Simon Imagbe – 6.61m/21-8.25

4X400-Meter Relay
13. Oklahoma State Team A – 3:21.59
(B. Singleton, B. Johnson,
T. Green, A. Grogan Jr.)