Dodd, Zarankaite Earn NCAA Championship Bids

May 26, 2017 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track, Cowgirl Cross Country & Track

AUSTIN, Texas – The second day of the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds saw two Cowgirls advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships, as Ieva Zarankaite made the discus final and Kaylee Dodd advanced to the 800-meter semifinal in Eugene, Oregon.

Zarankaite added another chapter to her stellar junior campaign as she advanced to her first NCAA Championship with a 10th-place finish in the discus throw.

"I told her all she needed to do was have an average day because she's so consistent," throws and multis coach Josh Langley said. "Consistency is what wins at the NCAA level, and some of those girls ahead of her hit one big throw, but their average was below where she'd been all year."

Keeping to the theme of the season for Zarankaite, the Lithuania international landed her best mark of the series on her first throw in flight two.

"I saw someone who was composed and knew what she had to do to get through," Langley said. "She had a great first throw, which is her M.O., and has been her thing all year. Once I saw her throw 54, I felt pretty good about where we were."

The 54.34m/178-3-foot heave was good enough to cement the Cowgirl in the top-12 for the remainder of the competition despite the 16-highest seeded competitors throwing in the final flight of the competition.

The dynamic Zarankaite's weekend continues tomorrow in the shot put.

She enters the competition with the No. 25 throw in the region, and Zarankaite has scored in the shot put at Big 12 Championships twice this season.

Dodd also earned her first trip to Eugene, Oregon, after a fourth-place finish in the 800-meter quarterfinal.

"It's exciting," Dodd said. "I'm looking forward to going to Eugene and getting that first outdoor championship experience. We've got people running tomorrow, so hopefully we can get more of them through and take a pretty big group."

The 2:04.80 was an outdoor personal best and just over one-hundredth of a second off her all-time PR set during the indoor season. The time is sixth on the OSU all-time top-10 list that now features eight times set during coach Dave Smith's tenure at OSU.

"I felt pretty good, and coming up on 400, I saw 64 and figured that has to get top-three," Dodd said. "We were rolling and I was so close to my personal best. I didn't realize it was going to be that quick."

Dodd finished second in her heat, and fourth overall in a loaded field to earn one of the nine automatic spots in the NCAA semifinal.

"This year I've learned that you can't be afraid of people," Dodd said. "Yes, they're big names and great athletes, but you can't be scared."

Earlier in the year, Dodd ran in the 800-meter indoor national semifinal and finished ninth, just missing out on the final by two-hundredths of a second.

"This has been my goal since August," Dodd said. "Once I missed out on the final indoors, it's kind of driven me the whole outdoor season."

This is the third-straight year that the Cowgirls have sent a representative to Hayward Field for the 800-meter run as Savannah Camacho went in 2015 and 2016, and Kaela Edwards ran in 2015 as well.

Zarankaite takes to the circle for the shot put and leads a group of athletes seeking NCAA berths on the final day of the Prelim, including Edwards in the women's 1,500, Josh Thompson and Craig Nowak in the men's 1,500 and the Cowboy 4X100-meter relay team.

After Friday's events, OSU has secured five bids to the NCAA Outdoor Championships from Dodd, Zarankaite, Hassan Abdi, Sylvester Barus and Jacob Fincham-Dukes.

NCAA West Preliminary Rounds | Austin, Texas | May 26, 2017

Women's Results

800 Meters Quarterfinal
4. Kaylee Dodd – 2:04.80Q
14. Kaytlyn Larson – 2:07.98
22. Abbie Hetherington – 2:11.63
--. Ambra Wesley – DNF

3,000-Meter Steeplechase Semifinal
40. Molly Sughroue – 11:14.7

Discus Throw
10. Ieva Zarankaite – 54.34m/178-3q

Men's Results

3,000-Meter Steeplechase Semifinal
36. Ryan Smeeton – 9:31.59