OSU Track & Field Heads to Fayetteville For First Meet of The New Year

Friday, January 17

Fayetteville, AR

10:00 a.m.

Oklahoma State University

Arkansas Invitational

OSU Track & Field Heads to Fayetteville For First Meet of The New Year

January 16, 2020 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track, Cowgirl Cross Country & Track

LAST TIME OUT
The Pokes are heading to Fayetteville for their first meet of the new year after kicking off their season back on December 6 at the Bob Timmons Challenge. The Cowboys and Cowgirls produced four individual champions, as Ryan Roane won the women's long jump, Juan Diego Castro won the men's 1,000 meters, and Hannah Bradford and Torrey Hickel each took home shot-put titles.

COWBOYS & COWGIRLS RELOADED
The OSU track teams return two indoor All-Americans from last season: sophomore Ashton Hicks (second team; 400m) and the 400-meter leg of the Cowgirls' third-place, school-record setting Distance Medley Relay, junior Nicolette Dixon. Also returning, sophomore Isai Rodriguez was the conference runner-up in the 3,000m and 5,000m for the Cowboys a year ago. Hicks set the OSU indoor 400m school record in his freshman campaign when he finished second at the Big 12 Championships with a time of 45.6. Other returning all-conference honorees for the Cowboys include LaKyron Mays (400m, 4x400m relay), Juan Diego Castro (800m, DMR), Garrett Calhoun ( 1,000m), Ryan Smeeton (mile, 3,000m), Victor Shitsama (5,000m) , Ayrton Ledesma Fuentes (5,000m), Blake Scott (pole vault), Mace Metcalf (heptathlon), Cole Verble (heptathlon), Sukhi Khosla (DMR), Isaiah Priddey (DMR) and Justin Long (4x400m relay). For the Cowgirls, Aaliyah Birmingham will look to improve upon her record-setting times from a year ago. The University of Tulsa transfer made a splash in her first season as a Cowgirl, breaking the 60m school record four different times and was conference runner-up in the 60 meters. Taylor Somers is coming fresh off of her first All-American finish in cross country and will look to carry that success onto the track. Somers was all-conference indoors last year in the 3,000m and 5,000m. Sophomore Molly Born also earned her first all-america honors in the fall and will look to build on her all-conference finish in the 5,000m last indoor season. Pentathlon school-record holder Bailey Golden also returns for the Pokes, along with four-time indoor All-Big 12 performer Ariane Ballner, who was a member of the conference-champ DMR team.

LAST YEAR AT A GLANCE
The Oklahoma State men's and women's track teams will look to build on last year's success. During last year's indoor season, the Cowgirl distance medley relay team of Molly Sughroue, Nicolette Dixon, Kaylee Dodd and Sinclaire Johnson finished third place at the NCAA Championships. Other indoor season highlights for the Cowgirls included Johnson's 1,000m title and Sughroue's conference crown in the mile. Jacob Fincham Dukes ended his Cowboy career as an indoor All-American in the long jump with a school-record setting jump of 7.99m.

FROM SPRINTS COACH GILES MCDONNELL
On the first meet of the new year:
"Unfortunately for us, when you are coming off of a break it's difficult for them to train away from our facilities. They may not have access to things likes blocks or even an indoor facility. So, sometimes training over the break can be dicey. You never know what you're going to get, but we're excited to get out and compete."

On Aaliyah Birmingham making her season debut:
"Aaliyah obviously had a very strong season last year. I'm excited to see how she can build on that. You hope that she doesn't put too much pressure on herself after last year, you know, after you run that fast it's easy to think that you have to have to match those improvements. I hope that she just continues to focus on trying to get better on a daily and weekly basis. She looks to be in pretty good shape and I anticipate her running well."

MEET SCHEDULE (ALL TIMES CT)
The Arkansas Invitational will get underway at 12:30 p.m., starting with field events. Running events are slated to begin at 3 p.m. The meet will take place at Randal Tyson Track Center, 1380 Beechwood Ave., Fayetteville, AR.

THE FIELD
Allen CC
Arkansas-Little Rock
Coffeyville
Missouri Southern
Missouri State
Oklahoma Baptist
Oklahoma Christian
Oklahoma State
Oral Roberts
Southwest Baptist
Tulsa
Neosho County
Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Arkansas
Tulsa

FOLLOW THE MEET
Fans can follow the action live on Twitter by following @run4okstate for updates. Live results can be found HERE. Final results will be published on www.okstate.com, along with a recap of OSU's day on the course.