Cowboy Quartet Claims First-Team All-America Honors

March 10, 2017 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track, Cowgirl Cross Country & Track

Edwards, Thompson advance to NCAA Finals

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Oklahoma State Cowboy distance medley relay team earned back-to-back first-team All-America honors Friday at the first day of the NCAA Indoor Championships to give OSU its first points in College Station, Texas.

The relay team consisted of senior Craig Nowak on the opening 1,200-meter leg, Brandon Singleton on the 400-meter leg, Bradley Johnson for the 800 and Hassan Abdi was on anchor-duty on the biggest stage of the indoor season.

"It was fun out there," Abdi said. "The coaches and the team believed in me and when I was out there I wasn't even thinking about myself. I was thinking about the guys and how I didn't want to let them down."

Usual anchor-leg Josh Thompson was unavailable because of the mile semifinal he ran earlier in the day, so Abdi – the Big 12 Cross Country Runner of the Year – took the baton for the first time in his OSU career for the mile.

The Pokes finished sixth in 9:35.02, earning back-to-back first-team honors in the DMR for the first time in school history.

"It was a tough team to throw together last minute, but we all had high expectations for ourselves," Nowak said.

With the finish, Nowak, Johnson and Abdi each earned indoor first-team All-America honors for the first time in their Cowboy careers.

"It's my first and last time at indoor nationals," Nowak said. "Going out as a first-team All-American is a good way to go out."

Singleton picked up the honor for the second time. The Cowboy junior has been a part of each of the last three DMR teams at the NCAA Championships and has been on six of the fastest DMR quartets in OSU history.

"Coach told me to maintain where I was and, if I could get a better position, move up," Singleton said. "I knew Craig would put me in a good place, so after that it was just about execution. Watching the other guys run, it was just faith and trust, but I knew they'd get the job done."

Nowak and Johnson were the two seniors on the team and only have outdoor eligibility remaining.

"It was tough but the adrenaline helped a lot," Johnson said. "This was an opportunity that I had been working for all year and I was really grateful to be put on the team and I'm glad I got a chance to represent OSU."

In the first race of the day, defending NCAA women's mile champion Kaela Edwards advanced to her second-straight mile final when she finished third in heat one.

She didn't hold an automatic qualifying spot as the pack approached the start of the bell-lap, but gunned for the top-four with 100 meters to go to secure her bid to defend her title.

It took another sub-four minute effort from Cowboy senior Thompson to advance to the men's mile final.

In a field with the collegiate record-holder, the race thinned out in a hurry and was single-file for most of the mile-run.

Thompson made his move late, during the bell lap, as he sprinted into the third automatic qualifying spot and finished fourth overall in 3:59.94.

This year's semifinal was significantly faster than last year's, as the top-time from the 2016 semi was 4:07.50.

Matthew Fayers missed out on advancing as he finished 14th overall, despite clocking a 4:01.62 in the mile.

Jacob Fincham-Dukes' first NCAA Championship appearance ended Friday when he was just edged out of the long jump final by a fourth of-an-inch. His mark of 7.59m/24-11 feet on his first attempt earned him a tenth-place finish and second-team All-America honors.

He wraps up his historic indoor season as the first Cowboy to earn All-America honors in the long jump in school history, adding to his second-straight runner-up finish at the Big 12 Championships and his school-record jump of 7.89m/25-9.5 feet.

Kaylee Dodd's push to the 800-meter final came up just short as she was the first one out in the semifinal with her time of 2:05.82. She fought her way into fourth, but missed out on an automatic qualifying spot by just over two-tenths of a second.

Dodd qualified for her first NCAA Championship with the 15th-best time in the field of 16, but managed to take ninth among the talented field.

OSU's finalists run at 4 and 4:10 p.m. CT in the women's and men's final tomorrow with first-team honors on the line in College Station.

NCAA Indoor Championships | March 10, 2017 | College Station, Texas

Men's Results

Men's Mile Semifinal
4. Josh Thompson – 3:59.94Q
14. Matthew Fayers – 4:01.62

Long Jump
10. Jacob Fincham-Dukes – 7.59m/24-11

Distance Medley Relay
6. Oklahoma State Team A – 9:35.02

Women's Results

800 Meters Semifinal
9. Kaylee Dodd – 2:05.82

Mile Semifinal
3. Kaela Edwards – 4:35.46Q