All-Americans Set to Return for OSU Track and Field

April 17, 2019 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track, Cowgirl Cross Country & Track

Meet Information
• Event – Cardinal Classic and the John Jacobs Invitational
• Times – Cardinal Classic – Friday: 4 p.m., Saturday: 2:30 p.m.; John Jacobs – Friday: 5 p.m., Saturday – 10 a.m.
• Facilities – Cobb Track and Angell Stadium; John Jacobs Track Complex
Meet Notes

The Basics
The Oklahoma State men's and women's track teams send select distance runners to the Cardinal Classic and every group will be represented at the John Jacobs Invitational. Noah Gade will also be running the 10,000 meters at the Mt. SAC Relays on Thursday night. Sinclaire Johnson is expected to make her full debut. She paced last weekend's 1,500 meters, a race that saw four Cowgirls qualify for the West Regional. Jacob Fincham-Dukes is slated to compete in the long jump at the John Jacobs Invitational. He is yet to compete in the long jump this season. He is coming off an indoor season where he finished fourth at Nationals.

Follow the Meet
           Fans can follow the action live on Twitter by following @run4okstate for updates. Final results will be published on www.okstate.com, along with a recap of OSU's day on the track.

Throws/Multis/Pole Vault Coach Josh Langley on the Meet
On the advantages Stanford meets bring
"Stanford's great. They do a great job of putting the right people in the right heats. The fast heats are seeded correctly. Usually, they have rabbits that take it out like they're supposed to. It's warmer and is good weather. There's not a lot of wind, and they run at night, so it's perfect for distance events. That's definitely an advantage when you're trying to put up qualifying marks."

On having All-Americans return
"It's awesome. I think they've done such a good job this year. They're hungry. I think Jacob (Fincham-Dukes)'s competing this weekend, and if he does, he will bring his A-game. So will Sinclaire. That's what is great about having high-level athletes is that you know they're going to bring everything they have and that's fun to watch them compete like
that."

Making Waves at the National Level
            The Cowboys and Cowgirls added four top-50 times in the NCAA last weekend to bring their total to 10 top-50 times in the country. Three Cowgirls cracked the top 50 with their performances in the 1,500 meters. Molly Sughroue ran a time of 4:17.81 to put herself at No. 12 in the nation in the event Jenny Martinez was right behind her fellow senior, clocking in with a time of 4:17.98 to put herself at No. 13 in the country in the 1,500 meters. The third Cowgirl to break into the nation's top 50 in the 1,500 meters was Ariane Ballner. She ran a time of 4:19.40 to become the 25th-best performer of the season.
            Juan Diego Castro was the lone Cowboy to put up a top-50 national time at the John McDonnell Invitational. He ran a time of 1:49.58 in the 800 meters to win the race and secure the No. 39 spot in the country.
            Ryan Smeeton is the closest of any OSU athlete to the No. 1 performance in the country. Smeeton currently owns the fifth-best time in the country in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. His time also catapulted him to No. 5 on the OSU performance list.
            Ashton Hicks ran the No. 2 time in the 400 meters in school history. His 45.82-second performance also put him in position for second in the West Region and No. 8 in the nation this season. He is coming off an indoor season that saw him earn second team All-America honors, and the freshman is poised to repeat the feat.
            Taylor Somers ran her first 10,000-meter race at the Stanford Invitational and is in the nation's top 50. She ran a time of 33:51.17 to finish seventh in her section of the 10,000 meters. Her performance puts her at No. 31 in the country in the event.
            Blake Scott is continuing his outdoor successes. After finishing as a second-team All-American in 2018, Scott is putting himself in position to do more of the same. Scott is currently No. 33 in the country in the pole vault with a mark of 5.21m/17-1.
            Aaliyah Birmingham had a record-breaking indoor season and has kept her momentum rolling outdoors. She ran a time of 11.51 in the 100 meters at the Jim Click Shootout. Birmingham's time is good enough for 43rd in the country.
            Hassan Abdi returned to distance events after running the 1,500 meters in the first weekend of competition. Abdi ran in the invitational section of the 10,000 meters at the Stanford Invitational and crossed the line in 29:13.95. His performance is No. 42 in the country.

Record Breaking 2018-19
            Eight school records have been rewritten so far this year for the Oklahoma State track and field teams.
            Cole Verble is the most recent athlete to break a record for OSU. He broke the school's decathlon record at the John McDonnell Invitational with 6,221 points, breaking Mace Metcalf's mark from the 2018 Big 12 Outdoor Championships.
            The Cowgirl distance medley relay squad of Molly Sughroue, Nicolette Dixon, Kaylee Dodd and Sinclaire Johnson ran a time of 10:55.93 at the UW Invitational. The time was not only the school record, but also the meet record. They broke the school record by almost six seconds and broke the meet record by almost seven seconds. The Cowgirls then upped their performance by almost a whole second at the NCAA Indoor Championships. They finished in third place with a time of 10:55.01.
            Bailey Golden broke the school record in the pentathlon with a score of 3,564 at the
Razorback Invitational. She broke Melody Vaughn's record of 3,498 points which was set back in 1998.
            Mace Metcalf also broke the school's indoor heptathlon record. He scored 4,999 points at the Big 12 Championships to set the school record in the men's indoor multi event.
            Aaliyah Birmingham, a transfer athlete coming in from the University of Tulsa, broke the school record at the Arkansas Invitational in the 60 meters in her first race as a Cowgirl. Her new school-best time of 7.42 surpassed Kira White's previous record of 7.54, set back in 2017. She broke her own record at the Big 12 Championships with a time of 7.25. She finished as the conference's runner-up in the 60 meters. All-in-all, Birmingham set the 60-meters record four times in her first season as a Cowgirl.
            Jacob Fincham-Dukes set the school record in the indoor long jump with a jump of
7.99m/26-2.75 at the Don Kirby Elite. He went on to finish fourth at the NCAA Indoor
Championships and was only four centimeters short of the winner (LSU's Rayvon Grey).
Fincham-Dukes, who is the indoor and outdoor long jump record holder, set the school
record in the 60-meter hurdles. He ran an 8.32 at the Arkansas Invitational. Fincham-Dukes
also bested his own record in the long jump.
            Ashton Hicks is only a freshman, but put himself at the top of the 400-meters performance list, running a 46.31 to set the school record in that event. He topped Timmy Thomas' 28-year old record. Nobody on OSU's roster was born when Thomas set that record in 1991.
            Isai Rodriguez finished the cross-country season with a bang, crossing the line in fourth place at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Rodriguez's finish was the highest-placing finish in OSU history.