Track and Field Conclude Regular Season with Trip to Arkansas

Track and Field Conclude Regular Season with Trip to Arkansas

May 01, 2019 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track, Cowgirl Cross Country & Track

Meet Information
• Events – Arkansas Twilight
• Times –Friday: 12:30 p.m.
• Facilities – John McDonnell Field
Meet Notes

The Basics
The Oklahoma State men's and women's track teams wrap up the regular season when they head to Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Friday for the Arkansas Twilight.
It's the final chance to put up fast times and tune up before the Big 12 Championships in Norman next weekend.
Ryan Smeeton is also headed to the Payton Jordan Invitational in Palo Alto, California, to run in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at 10:05 p.m. on Thursday.

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/Javelin Coach Josh Langley on the Meet
On expectations for the weekend
"We're just looking to go in and work on one or two cues or race strategies. We just want to sharpen up, that's essentially what we're trying to do this weekend. I think for the throwers and multi-event athletes, you want to pick one or two events and just work on one or two things in a meet situation instead of a practice situation. It's a quick there-and-back trip, so we'll recover Saturday and Sunday and get ready for Big 12s next week."

On dealing with inclement weather
"Well the Big 12 meet is at Oklahoma, so you never know what you're going to get with weather. I think the weather guys around here do a pretty good job, given it's an unpredictable environment. You go over to Arkansas and you compete in bad weather. You need to learn how to compete in bad weather. You never know what's going to happen next week, and hopefully we get good weather. If you don't get good weather, maybe we're better off competing in some adverse conditions this weekend. You also have to be smart as a coach. You don't want to risk someone getting hurt before the conference meet."

On who is improving late in the season
"Watching Molly Sughroue close last weekend was awesome for me. She's been in the program a long time. She's been a staple in that middle distance/distance program for a while, so watching her come on and compete has been awesome. Our women's vaulters are also really starting to come on. Maybe they're not getting the heights that are in scoring contention, but we feel like we're getting closer every week. It's fun to watch Michael Releford and Torrey Hickel compete when they practice. You can tell they push each other without being verbal."

Leading Ladies
               Sinclaire Johnson and Molly Sughroue both finished the 2018 outdoor season in Eugene, Oregon, at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and figure to again lead the way for OSU this year.
               Sughroue and Johnson both threw down massive anchor legs to win relays for the Cowgirls at the Drake Relays.
               Jonhson's anchor leg in the 4X800-meter relay clocked in at 2:02.79. That performance would have been No. 3 in the NCAA had it been a solo 800-meter race. Her leg also helped the Cowgirls set the Drake Relays record, OSU school record and the world lead in the event.
               Sughroue anchored the DMR team to victory to sweep the distance relays for the third time in program history. She battled with Utah's Sarah Feeny, who is No. 2 in the NCAA in the 1,500 meters this season. Sughroue came out as the victor and helped OSU win the race comfortably.
               Both Sughroue and Johnson are coming off a third-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships as members of the Cowgirls' distance medley relay team. Sughroue led off that relay with the 1,200-meter leg and Johnson anchored the race for OSU.
               Johnson has been steadily improving since her breakout outdoor season in 2018. She finished that season with honorable mention All-America honors in the 1,500 meters.
               She has put herself toward the top of the country in the 1,500 meters. She ran a time of 4:13.35 to win the invitational section of the 1,500 meters at the Cardinal Classic. Her time is the second-best time in the country.
               She won a conference title in the most recent indoor season in the 1,000 meters. Johnson also set the Big 12 Indoor Championships' meet record in the event with a time of 2:44.23.
               Sughroue is entering her final season as a Cowgirl and has set herself up for success.
               Sughroue ran a time of 4:17.81 in the 1,500 meters at the John McDonnell Invitational to put herself at No. 28 in the country. Her performance is the best in the Big 12 this season.
               Sughroue is a four-time All-American and owns five Big 12 titles. In the 2019 indoor season, she claimed her third consecutive Big 12 title in the Mile and was a member of the distance medley relay squad that won a conference championship.
               Johnson and Sughroue are primed to once again earn All-America honors.

Record-Breaking 2019
               Ten school records have been rewritten so far this year for the Oklahoma State track and field teams.
               The women's 4X800-meter relay team broke the school record at last weekend's Drake Relays with a time of 8:25.41. Their time also set the Drake Relays record and set the world lead in the event. Sinclaire Johnson anchored the relay in 2:02.79, which would have been the third-best 800 meters' race in the NCAA this year had it come in a solo race.
               Elissa White beat out Elliett Kulkin and Megan Robbins on the performance list for the school record in the pole vault. She cleared 3.85m/12-7.5 at the John Jacobs Invitational.
               Cole Verble 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 10:55.01 to beat a record they previously broke. Their performance earned them third place and All-America honors.
      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.