OSU Track & Field Travels to Norman for J.D. Martin Invitational

Saturday, February 8

Norman, OK

10:00 a.m.

Oklahoma State University

J.D. Martin Invitational

OSU Track & Field Travels to Norman for J.D. Martin Invitational

February 06, 2020 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track, Cowgirl Cross Country & Track

MEET SCHEDULE (ALL TIMES CT)
The J.D. Martin Invitational will begin at 10 a.m., starting with field events. Running events are slated to begin at noon. The meet will take place at the Mosier Indoor Facility in Norman, Oklahoma.

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 track.

THE BASICS
The OSU track teams are nearing the halfway point of the indoor season. Last weekend, the Pokes competed at the Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas, 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. Birmingham also turned in a sixth-place finish in the 60 meters, running 7.35 in an exceptionally quick final. Freshmen Taylor Roe and Heidi Demeo had standout performances for the Cowgirls in the mile, finishing third and fourth places, respectively. For the Cowboys, Juan Diego Castro finished third in the mile invitational, finishing in 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. Sophomores Ashton Hicks and LaKyron Mays each competed in the 400 meters invitational. Hicks put down a time of 47.08 to finish fourth place while Mays cracked the top-10 with a ninth-place finish.

FROM HEAD COACH DAVE SMITH
On distance athletes at the Razorback Invitational last weekend:
"It was an early-season meet and we went out and ran hard, but we don't get participation ribbons. We're at a good starting point, but we need to make some really good progress over the next few weeks leading into the conference meet. There's no reason to panic, but we need to get to work and keep improving. It was a good first attempt for some of our athletes, but we have to get better."

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.