OSU Sweeps Big 12 DMR Titles in Ames

February 24, 2017 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track, Cowgirl Cross Country & Track

Fincham-Dukes Repeats as Runner-Up in Men's Long Jump

AMES, Iowa – The Oklahoma State Cowgirls took the women's distance medley relay conference title for the third-straight year, and the Cowboys claimed gold in the men's DMR, Friday at the Big 12 Indoor Championships in Ames, Iowa.

After the first day of competition the Cowboys have 27 points and sit in second, while the Cowgirls are eighth with 15.

The Cowgirl team of Molly Sughroue, Stephanie Ferrante, Kaylee Dodd and Kaela Edwards completed the three-peat in 11:19.02, the second-fastest time in their three-year reign over the conference.

"It's always nice to finish off the night with a sweep in the DMRs," middle distance coach Bobby Lockhart said. "The two groups looked great and Kaela and Craig ran really solid anchor legs and looked really good doing it."

It was Edwards' fifth indoor conference title, tying her with Cowgirl greats Nataljia Piliusina and Jackie Goodman for the most in school history. Edwards has a chance to break the record Saturday in the women's 800-meter final.

The men's race saw more of the same for OSU with the Cowboys holding the top-spot or just off of first for the whole race.

Matthew Fayers handed off to Brandon Singleton with the lead and the Cowboys stayed with the lead-pack for the remainder of the race until Craig Nowak closed the door on the rest of the conference with a dominant anchor-leg after Bradley Johnson's effort in the 800.

"Craig is a closer," coach Dave Smith said. "If he's around you with 200 or 300 meters to go, he's not losing."

The win marked the second-time in three seasons that the Pokes took the DMR crown. The year they didn't win it – 2016 – they took second, and went on to win the conference team title.

For the second-straight year, Jacob Fincham-Dukes finished runner-up in the long jump. The eight points accrued for the Cowboys were the first of the meet for the Pokes and Fincham-Dukes' third consecutive all-conference honor.

"Jacob went up against a really great field and got second, so we're really proud of him, and how consistent he's become in that event," Smith said.

The sophomore school record-holder has now scored 18 points in the long jump since last indoor season, which is second in the conference behind two-time conference champion Charles Brown of Texas Tech.

In the men's 5,000-meter final, Cowboy newcomer Hassan Abdi took his second all-conference honor and first on the track when he finished runner-up in the race by just two-hundredths of a second.

"Hassan is one tough guy – he's one of the toughest athletes I've ever seen," Lockhart said. "We knew he could close with the best, and he held off an All-American in [Dylan] Blankenbaker for as long as he could. If you race that race 10 times, Hassan would probably win five and Blankenbaker would win five."

Fellow newcomer Sylvester Barus took eighth in the same event to give the Cowboys nine points from the 5,000.

"We were hoping for a little more in the 5K," Smith said. "We wanted 20 points and we got nine, but we had some great highlights too with the long jump and the DMRs."

All-American Aurora Dybedokken took sixth in the women's 5,000-meter final to claim her fourth all-conference honor in two years.

After missing out on scoring during her freshman year, Dybedokken has scored in three-straight conference championship events, including her conference title in the 1,500-meter run at the 2016 Big 12 Outdoor Championships.

Cowgirl freshman Jocelen Ruth scored the first points of the meet for OSU when she finished seventh in the weight throw.

"Truthfully, it's something we've seen in practice all year," throws and multis coach Josh Langley said. "She gave indications that she could do this at the last meet in Arkansas. The kid's just a competitor. She came out, fought hard and it was exciting to watch her."

Ruth launched a two-meter personal best on her first attempt of the competition and the throw was good enough to send the Cowgirl through to the final and give OSU two points.

Cole Verble and Donovan Nunley opened competition for the Pokes in the heptathlon.

Nunley finished the day in a scoring position after he landed a near lifetime best leap of 6.82m/22-4.5 feet and a personal best throw in the shot put of 13.28m/43-7.0 feet that earned him second in the event.

"I'm excited for both of them," Langley said. "Donovan had a huge PR and to see Cole come out and click in the high jump, they're both in a good spot going into tomorrow."

Verble began the say in 16th, but has moved up steady and ended the day in 12th. The Cowboy junior is already more than 200 points ahead of his scoring output from last year's heptathlon where he finished ninth.

Nunley's performance in the heptathlon translated to the track where later in the day he advanced to the 60-meter hurdles final and became the first Cowboy to do so in Big 12 history.

"We told him he just had to beat one person, and the guy he had to beat was right next to him," Langley said. "He knew who to beat, he knew how and he got it done. It was incredibly exciting to see him make his first final at a Big 12 meet."

In the 60-meter prelim, Malik Givens' 6.74 sent him into the final for the second consecutive year. He was one-hundredth of a second off heat one's winning time, but still advanced automatically to the final in one of the fastest conferences in the country.

Cowgirl newcomers Chelsea Jarvis and Ariane Ballner made the women's 1,000-meter final and Abbie Hetherington advanced to the event final with the fastest time of the qualifying round.

The Cowgirls have won the last three women's 1,000-meter titles at the conference meet and have scored 64 points in the event since 2013.

Defending mile champion Josh Thompson punched his return ticket to the mile final in the second event of the day, then advanced to his second-straight 1,000-meter final with the fastest time of the round.

Thompson, a senior, is looking to become the first Cowboy in school history to win the 1,000-mile double in back-to-back years, and the second Cowboy school history to win back-to-back Big 12 mile titles.

Matthew Fayers also advanced to the 1,000-meter final and Cowboy senior Brigham Hedges just missed out on a spot in the final by two-hundredths of a second, as he was out-leaned at the line by an Iowa State runner.

Molly Sughroue, Kaytlyn Larson and Anna Boyert all advanced to the women's mile final with Sughroue leading the way.

OSU has now sent 13 women through to mile finals at the last five indoor conference championships.

Defending women's mile and 1,000-meter champion Kaela Edwards stepped down to the 800-meter run Friday, but still ran the fastest time of the day and led two other Cowgirls in Savannah Camacho and Kaylee Dodd into tomorrow's final.

The Cowgirl trio has three of the four fastest 800-meter times in school history.

The Cowgirls have scored 62 points in the 800-meter run since 2013 to lead the conference in scoring in that event. The team with the second-most points in the women's 800 in that span, Baylor (32 points), advanced one woman to the final.

Johnson was the lone Cowboy to make the men's 800-meter final. It was the first time Johnson advanced to an individual Big 12 final, having scored one other time before tonight's DMR with the men's 4X400-meter relay team in 2016.

In total, OSU put 19 athletes into Saturday finals and will have more competing in the men's and women's shot put, the women's high jump, the 4X400-meter relays and the 3,000-meter runs.

"Each of the athletes has to focus on their individual event," Smith said. "They can't worry about the score or the other teams, everyone has to focus on themselves and what their job is and get that job done. If we're competitive and let the score sort itself out, we'll be OK."

Day two begins with the completion of the heptathlon at 11 a.m., CT. The final event of the 2017 Big 12 Indoor Championships will be the men's 4X400-meter relay at 5:25 p.m., CT.

Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships | Feb. 24, 2017 | Ames, Iowa

Men's Results

Heptathlon (After Four Events)
6. Donovan Nunley
13. 60 Meters – 7.34
5. Long Jump 6.82m/22-4.5
2. Shot Put – 13.28m/43-7.0
8. High Jump – 1.85m/6-0.75

12. Cole Verble
16. 60 Meters – 7.50
12. Long Jump – 6.36m/20-10.5
6. Shot Put – 12.22m/40-1.25
8. High Jump – 1.85m/6-0.75

M Mile Prelim
3. Craig Nowak – 4:10.20Q
4. Josh Thompson – 4:14.32Q
7. Sukhi Khosla – 4:11.31q
9. Alec Haines – 4:15.28

M Long Jump
2. Jacob Fincham-Dukes – 7.64m/25-0.75
11. Arlando Brewer-Johnson – 6.69m/21-11.5

M 60M Hurdles Prelim
8. Donovan Nunley – 8.44q

M 60 Meter Prelim
4. Malik Givens – 6.74Q
17. Arlando Brewer-Johnson – 6.92
18. Logan Daily – 6.93

M 600 Yard Prelim
8. Brandon Singleton – 1:10.76q
13. Tyler Jackson – 1:11.45
15. Ryan Wheatley – 1:12.89

M 400 Meter Prelim
14. Anthony Grogan Jr. – 49.19

M 1,000 Meter Prelim
1. Josh Thompson – 2:24.87Q
4. Matthew Fayers – 2:28.62Q
10. Brigham Hedges – 2:28.88
11. Ryan Smeeton – 2:29.95

M 800 Meter Prelim
7. Brad Johnson – 1:50.77q
9. Tre'Tez Kinnaird – 1:51.21
13. Garrett Calhoun – 1:54.73
14. Heinrich van Niekerk – 1:56.36

M 200 Meter Prelim
13. Malik Givens – 21.80
15. Tyler Jackson – 21.83
17. Anthony Grogan Jr. – 21.91
18. Arlando Brewer-Johnson – 22.01
19. Logan Daily – 22.09

M 5,000 Meter Final
2. Hassan Abdi –14:22.29
8. Sylvester Barus – 14:32.78
10. Anthoney Armstrong – 14:39.07
17. Christian Liddell – 15:14.57

M Distance Medley Relay Final
1. Oklahoma State Team A – 9:44.99
M. Fayers, B. Singleton
B. Johnson, C. Nowak

Women's Results

W Weight Throw
7. Jocelen Ruth – 17.49m/57-4.75
13. Ieva Zarankaite – 16.13m/52-11.0
17. Baylor Nelson – 13.79m/45-3.0

W Mile Prelim
3. Molly Sughroue – 4:51.15Q
4. Anna Boyert – 4:56.84Q
6. Kaytlyn Larson – 4:57.16q
9. Jennifer Celis – 4:58.25

W 60M Hurdles Prelim
14. Emily Hart – 8.76

W 60 Meter Prelim
17. Kira White – 7.63
20. Lexie Lewis – 7.71

W 600 Yards Prelim
5. Amira Coleman – 1:21.15q
10. Ambra Wesley – 1:22.00
14. Stephanie Ferrante – 1:25.58

W 1,000 Meter Prelim
1. Abbie Hetherington – 2:47.85Q
3. Chelsea Jarvis – 2:51.70Q
8. Ariane Ballner – 2:49.44q
12. Kaytlyn Larson 2:54.11
15. Haley Geissler – 2:57.15

W 800 Meter Prelim
1. Kaela Edwards – 2:07.52Q
2. Kaylee Dodd – 2:07.66Q
3. Savannah Camacho – 2:07.90Q
10. Danielle Coleman – 2:12.25
11.Sinclaire Johnson – 2:13.08

W 200 Meter Prelim
18. Lexie Lewis – 25.13
19. Kira White – 5.76

W 5,000 Meter Final
6. Aurora Dybedokken – 16:22.94
12. Michelle Magnani – 16:47.96

W Distance Medley Relay Final
1. Oklahoma State Team A – 11:19.02
M. Sughroue, S. Ferrante
K. Dodd, K. Edwards