OSU Track & Field Splits for Husky Classic & Texas Tech Shootout

Friday, February 14

Lubbock, TX

10:00 a.m.

Oklahoma State University

Texas Tech Shootout

OSU Track & Field Splits for Husky Classic & Texas Tech Shootout

February 13, 2020 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track, Cowgirl Cross Country & Track

MEET SCHEDULE (ALL TIMES CT)
The Husky Classic will begin at 2 p.m. on Friday at the Dempsey Indoor Facility and resume at 11 a.m. Saturday morning. At the Shootout in Lubbock, action gets underway at the Texas Tech Sports Performance Center at 4 p.m. on Friday and picks back up Saturday morning at 11 a.m.

FOLLOW THE MEET
• Follow along on Twitter: @run4okstate
• Live results: Husky Classic | Texas Tech Shootout
• Final results & recap: www.okstate.com

THE BASICS
The OSU track teams are ramping up the competition as the squads split up for the weekend. Distance athletes will be heading to Seattle while everyone else will travel to Lubbock. Both meets feature an elite field of competition. Two weeks ago, the Pokes competed at the Razorback Invitational, where Bailey Golden broke her own pentathlon school record and the women's 4x400-meter relay team of Aaliyah Birmingham, Christina Ollison, Kalaya Ali and Nicolette Dixon broke a 23-year old school record. The quartet ran 3:39.86 to beat the previous record by 1.44 seconds. For the Cowboys, Juan Diego Castro finished third in the mile with a time of 4:03.35. That time by Castro, a native of San Jose, Costa Rica, was the fastest time ever for a Costa Rican athlete in the mile. Last weekend, the Pokes sent athletes to the J.D. Martin Invitational to prepare for the upcoming conference meet in Ames on Febuary 28 and 29.

FEOM HEAD COACH DAVE SMITH
On competing at the Husky Classic this weekend:
"We have some young athletes that I'm really excited to see what they do in a big environment on a trip where we're going specifically to run fast. Most off, we focus on competing and placing, but this is one of those meets we have a couple of times a year where we just go out and try and run fast and try and put the emphasis on big performances. I'm excited to see what we do."

On this weekend's Texas Tech Shootout:
"Texas Tech's track is one of--if not the fastest in the country. It's a big, wide track. It's configuration is set up to run fast, especially in the 200, 400 and 800 meters. We have several athletes in those races, specifically in the 400 meters that we're excited about. I think our 4x400 relays are ready to qualify for the national championships. This is a place where you can do it and the competition is going to be fantastic. It's a fast track and I think the athletes going there go there with the mindset that it's an opportunity to run fast. That usually produces good results."

COWBOYS & COWGIRLS RELOADED
The OSU track teams return two indoor All-Americans from last season: sophomore Ashton Hicks (400m) and the 400-meter leg of the Cowgirls' third-place, school-record setting Distance Medley Relay, junior Nicolette Dixon. 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), Sukhi Khosla (DMR), Isaiah Priddey (DMR) and Justin Long (4x400m relay). For the Cowgirls, Aaliyah Birmingham will look to improve her record-setting times from a year ago. Birmingham made a splash in her first season as a Cowgirl, breaking the 60m school record four different times and was Big 12 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 season. Pentathlon school-record holder Bailey Golden is back, along with four-time indoor All-Big 12 performer Ariane Ballner, who was a member of the Big 12-champ DMR team.

LAST YEAR AT A GLANCE
The OSU track teams will look to build on last year's success. Last 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.