OSU Track and Field Takes on West Regional

May 21, 2019 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track, Cowgirl Cross Country & Track

Meet Information
• Event – NCAA West Regional
• Times – Thursday: 2 p.m.; Friday: 2 p.m.; Saturday: 4:45 p.m.
• Facilities – Hornet Stadium
Meet Notes

The Basics
            The Oklahoma State men's and women's track teams head to the West coast for the first round of NCAA postseason competition. The NCAA West Regional takes place Thursday to Saturday.
            The Cowgirls have 11 entries and the Cowboys send nine entries to Sacramento.
            Ryan Smeeton comes into the weekend ranked first in the country in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
            Sinclaire Johnson, Molly Sughroue, Jacob Fincham-Dukes and Blake Scott earned bids to the NCAA Outdoor Championships last year and have the chance to head back to the national championships.
            Aaliyah Birmingham is coming off a Big 12 title and a World standard performance in the 400 meters.

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.

Director of Cross Country and Track and Field Dave Smith on the Meet
On expectations for the weekend
"It's a prelim. You want to get through to the next round and exert as little energy as possible. You want to set yourself up for the national championships. For most of these races, it's four rounds. You want to be ready to put a effort in during every round."

On OSU individuals' chances to advance
"I think we have a lot of kids who are poised and have a great chance to advance. We have some who I think aren't going to advance on paper, but they have a real chance to move on based on their seasons. Taylor Somers is a great example of that. I think we could advance four or five women and five or six guys plus both 4X400-meter relays."

Making Waves at the National Level
            The Cowboys and Cowgirls own 10 NCAA top-50 times heading into the weekend.
            Ryan Smeeton took over the NCAA lead in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase with a win at the Payton Jordan Invitational with a time of 8:27.90. His time met the World standard to qualify for the World Championships. His time is No. 2 in school history.
            Sinclaire Johnson made a statement in her outdoor debut. She won the invitational section of the 1,500 meters at the Cardinal Classic in a time of 4:13.35. Her mark slots her at fourth-best in the NCAA and No. 3 in the West Region and No. 1 in the Big 12.
            Johnson is also one of the best in the country in the 800 meters. She ran an 800-meters time of 2:04.79 last weekend to put herself at No. 22 in the country in the event. Johnson is only entered in the 1,500 meters for the West Regional this weekend.
            Jacob Fincham-Dukes improved his mark in the long jump at the National Relay Championships. The senior jumped 7.96m/26-1.5 to take over 10th place in the country. He is also tied for No. 4 in the West Region and finished fifth at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships.
             Two Cowgirls ran top-50 times at the John McDonnell Invitational. Molly Sughroue ran a time of 4:17.81 to put herself at No. 37 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. 40 in the country in the 1,500 meters.
            Ashton Hicks ran the No. 2 time in the 400 meters in school history. His 45.68-second performance also put him in position for fifth in the West Region and No. 13 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. 45 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. 43 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 school-record time of 51.51 in the 400 meters last weekend to put herself at No. 7 in the NCAA in the event.

Record-Breaking 2019
            Thirteen school records have been rewritten so far this year for the Oklahoma State track and field teams.
            Aaliyah Birmingham set the school record in the women's 400 meters with a Big 12-title winning time of 51.51. Her time also met the World standard.
            Birmingham then helped the Cowgirls' 4X400-meter relay team set the school record. Birmingham, Nicolette Dixon, Latriceia Smith and Amira Coleman ran a time of 3:35.85.
            Allie Stern broke the school's record in the women's pole vault last weekend. She cleared 3.92m/12-10.25 to break the record which she set earlier this season.
            The women's 4X800-meter relay team broke the school record at the 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.
            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.

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.
            Johnson won the 800 meters at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships last weekend, and Sughroue took home a conference title in the 1,500 meters last weekend.
            Sughroue and Johnson both threw down massive anchor legs to win relays for the Cowgirls at the Drake Relays.
            Johnson'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.
            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.