Track and Field Heads to College Station for NCAA Indoor Championships

Friday, March 9

College Station, TX

Oklahoma State University

NCAA Indoor Championships

Track and Field Heads to College Station for NCAA Indoor Championships

March 07, 2018 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track, Cowgirl Cross Country & Track

Meet Notes

The Basics
A select group of Cowgirls and Cowboys join the elites of the collegiate track and field world this weekend at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships in College Station, Texas.
The lone Cowboy representative is senior Hassan Abdi, who is highlighted by his Big 12 title in the men's 3,000m.
Kaylee Dodd, Molly Sughroue, Ariane Ballner, Jenny Celis, Amira Coleman, Abbie Hetherington and Ambra Wesley will represent the Cowgirls in College Station.

Follow the Meet
To follow the meet, live results have been made available by Flash Results and can be found on the NCAA's website, NCAA.com.
Results and a full recap of each day's events for Oklahoma State will be posted following the rst and second days of competition on okstate.com.
Follow @run4okstate for more live updates during the meet on the Cowboys' and Cowgirls' progress.

Broadcast
Fans of Oklahoma State track and field can watch the 2018 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships on ESPN3 or the ESPN app Friday, and on tape delay Sunday on ESPN2.
The coverage for day one begins at 5:30 p.m. CT, while Saturday's championship stream is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. CT.
Sunday's tape-delay airing on ESPN2 is set for 6 p.m. CT.

Meet Format/Schedule - All Times CT
The first event for OSU at the NCAA Indoor Championships will be the women's mile prelims featuring two-time Big 12 mile champion Molly Sughroue at 5:50 p.m.
Kaylee Dodd in the women's 800-meter prelims is the second open event for the Cowgirls on day one, and her race is scheduled for 7:25 p.m.
Senior Hassan Abdi is set to run in the men's 5,000-meter final at 8:05 p.m.
The final race of day one includes the Cowgirls, as the distance medley relay closes competition on Friday at approximately 9 p.m.
The second day's schedule is available on NCAA.com.

Last Time Out
Two weeks ago at the Big 12 Championships in Ames, Iowa, the Pokes saw consistency from two veterans - Hassan Abdi and Molly Sughroue.
Abdi held off Iowa State's Edwin Kurgat in a fierce 3,000-meter final to take gold for the Cowboys in 8:02.22. Abdi showed his versatility, as he won his Big 12 title just a week after qualifying for this week's championships in the 5,000m at the Husky Classic.
Sughroue held strong in the lead pack in the women's mile en route to winning back- to-back Big 12 titles in the event. In her typical fashion, Sughroue sat near the front and unleashed a ferocious kick in the last 100 meters to her 4:52.48 first-place finish.
OSU also earned points from unexpected events in the conference meet, beginning with Hootie Hurley in the men's heptathlon. With his eighth-place finish, he earned the first points in OSU history in the event.
Togher, Ireland native Emily Rogers continued her stellar debut for the Cowgirls, taking fifth overall in the women's high jump. Rogers is already becoming a household name for the Cowgirls in the high jump. In just her fifth jump in a Cowgirl uniform, she earned her spot in the OSU record books as No. 2 all-time in the high jump.

DMR Dominance
The DMR has just one appearance for the Pokes this indoor season, which came three weeks ago at the Alex Wilson Invitational. In an event that has traditionally been an impactful one for the Pokes, this year's women's squad has not disappointed.
At the Alex Wilson in Notre Dame, Indiana, the Cowgirl quartet of Ariane Ballner, Ambra Wesley, Kaylee Dodd and Molly Sughroue qualified for this week's championships in a time of 11:01.55.
That time earned the relay team No. 2 all-time in the OSU history books, while sitting as the No. 11 time in the country this season. Their mark was merely four-tenths of?a second behind the top spot for OSU all-time, set by the Cowgirls at the Razorback Invitational in 2016.

Dodd's Time to Shine
Kaylee Dodd has been a staple of the Cowgirl middle-distance lineup since her arrival from across the pond in Essex, England. Dodd has two All-America honors to her name, both coming from her premiere event, the 800 meters.
In last year's indoor season, Dodd ran her way to a Big 12 title, when she was a member of the DMR team that took gold at the conference meet in Ames, Iowa.
In the NCAA Championships, Dodd took ninth place overall, just one spot out from qualifying for the 800-meter finals. She continued that hot streak into the outdoor season, where she ran a personal best 4:20.09 in the 1,500 meters at the Stanford Invitational. She took that momentum into the Big 12 Championships where she finished runner-up in the 800 meters, then went on to earn her first NCAA Outdoor Championships qualifying mark with her fourth-place finish at the West Prelims.
Dodd went on to earn a first-team All-America honor with her fifth-place finish at the NCAA Championships in the 800 meters, and ran a personal best mark of 2:03.38 in the process.

Abdi's Legacy
Hassan Abdi has made an impact to the Oklahoma State track and field team since his arrival. Born in Ethiopia, Abdi attended South Plains College in Texas before transferring to OSU. In his first season in the brightest orange uniform in the country, he made four appearances in the 2016 cross country season.
Abdi picked up bronze in his first Big 12 Cross Country Championships appearance, earning his first All-Conference en route to leading the Cowboys to its ninth-straight conference title. He was later named the Big 12 Runner of the Year in his first season at OSU.
Abdi earned four All-Big 12 honors in the 2017 indoor and outdoor seasons, further solidifying himself as one of OSU track and field's most versatile athletes.
In the 2017 cross country season, Abdi added to his trophy shelf, winning gold in the Big 12 Cross Country Championships in Round Rock, Texas. His prowess for distance running was exemplified, as he placed top-two in four out of the five total cross country meets he competed in.
So far in the 2018 indoor season, Abdi has shown he can run with some of the?best athletes in the country. He's placed top-three in all three meets he's competed in, highlighted by his first-place finish at the Big 12 Indoor Championships two weeks ago in Ames, Iowa.
Abdi has a chance to become one of the most decorated male athletes in the OSU cross country and track and field program history. His impact is sure to be felt again this weekend at the NCAA Championships.