OSU Qualifiers Head to West Preliminary Rounds

Thursday, May 26

Lawrence, Kan.

All Day

Oklahoma State University

NCAA West Preliminary Round

May 25, 2016 | Cowboy Cross Country & Track, Cowgirl Cross Country & Track

Pokes send 25 athletes and men's 4X100 team to Lawrence, Kansas

MEET NOTES

THE BASICS
            An elite group of Cowboys and Cowgirls will make the trip to Lawrence, Kansas, to compete in the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds for a spot at the NCAA Championships and a shot at glory.

FOLLOW THE MEET
            Oklahoma State's results and a full recap will be available on okstate.com following the completion of each day's events.
            For live results, visit kuathletics.com.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
            The West Preliminary Rounds will be live streamed through kuathletics.com and on the NCAA website.
            All three days will be available online.

MEET FORMAT/SCHEDULE (ALL TIMES CT)
            Three days are needed for the regional, as hundreds of athletes convene on Lawrence, Kansas, to compete for a trip to the NCAA Championships.
            Day one for OSU starts at noon with the men's hammer throw and women's javelin throw.
            A few hours later, at 3:30 p.m., Thursday, the men's long jump will be the last field event for OSU on the day.
            The women's and men's 1,500-meter prelims are scheduled for a 5:30 start, and they will be followed immediately by both 100-meter first rounds.
            The men's and women's 800-meter prelims start at 8:10, then the women's 10,000-meter national semifinal concludes the first day of competition.
            Friday is a day of just quarterfinals for the Pokes, including the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase at 8:50.
            Saturday starts with the women's shot put at 3:30, then the remaining quarterfinals follow on the track, beginning with the 4X100-meter relay and wrapping up with the 5,000-meter national semifinal.

LAST TIME OUT
            At the 2016 Big 12 Outdoor Championships, the Cowboys finished in sixth with 84 points and the Cowgirls took sixth with 74 points.
            With his first attempt of the season, Nick Miller launched the hammer 74.58m/244-8 feet to top his own meet record, then he threw a 74.81m/245-5 foot mark in his final attempt of the day to clinch the championship by 36 feet.
            Miller has been on the Bowerman Award shortlist all year despite this being his first taste of competition in the 2015-16 season. With his mark today, he is No. 2 in the NCAA and leads the West by two feet.

            Cerake Geberkidane controlled both the 10,000-and 5,000-meter Big 12 races en route to winning two titles and earning Freshman of the Year honors.
            Chase Ealey finished runner-up in the shot put after claiming honors in the hammer throw as well for her 11th all-Big 12 honor in her Cowgirl career.
            Four Cowgirls received all-conference honors in the 1,500-meter run, Aurora Dybedokken, who won the race, and Ingeborg Loevnes, the 3,000-meter steeplechase champion.
            Loevnes competed in the 1,500 30 minutes after taking the steeplechase crown.
            To go along with the four Cowgirls in the 1,500, five more Cowgirls took all-conference honors in the 800.
            Kaylee Dodd was OSU's highest finisher, taking second.
            On the men's side, Craig Nowak won the 1,500, and took all-Big 12 honors in the 5,000 a few hours later.
            John Teeters picked up his second-straight runner-up finish in the 100, and anchored the 4X100-meter quartet to a third-place finish.
            In the distance races, Monika Juodeskaite put a bow on her conference career for OSU, taking two third-place finishes in the 5,000-and 10,000-meter runs.

A LOOK BACK
            Seven Pokes punched tickets to the National Championships at last year's NCAA West Preliminary Rounds in Austin, Texas.
            NCAA Champion Chad Noelle qualified in the 1,500-meter run on the men's side, adding to his impressive undefeated senior outdoor season.
            Speedster John Teeters qualified in the 100, running a 10.00, then ran with the 4X100-meter relay team, which surprised the crowd by qualifying for the NCAA Championships, despite coming into the meet with a time outside the region's top-25.
            Kirubel Erassa grabbed the last spot for the Cowboys in the 10,000-meter run.
            Former NCAA Champion Natalja Piliusina qualified in her final regional competition in the 1,500, which she has a national title in, and two Cowgirls in Kaela Edwards and Savannah Camacho landed a spot in the national semifinal in the 800.
            Ingeborg Loevnes clinched the final spot for OSU in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, winning the event by two seconds en route to her first trip to Eugene, Oregon, for the final.

OSU FIELDS 28 ACADEMIC ALL-BIG 12 HONOREES
            Oklahoma State was well represented on the 2016 Big 12 Academic All-Conference list, released Tuesday, with 11 Cowboys and 17 Cowgirls earning the honor.
            The 28 total student-athletes on the list gave the Pokes second in the conference behind the 30 student-athletes honored from both the University of Kansas and University of Texas.
            The Cowgirls led the conference in first team honors, and three student-athletes in Natalie Baker, Stephanie Ferrante and Sarah Robinson earned the first-team spot with a 4.0 grade point average. Overall, OSU's four 4.0 student-athletes, including decathlete Cole Verble, is a Big 12 high as well.
            The Cowboys' 10 first-team all-conference honorees is the second-most in the Big 12, tied with Kansas and trailing only Texas' 11.
            First team members consist of those who have maintained a 3.20 or better GPA while the second team selections hold a 3.00 to 3.19 GPA.
            To qualify, student-athletes must maintain a 3.00 GPA or higher either cumulative or the two previous semesters and must have participated in 60 percent of their team's scheduled contests. Freshmen and transfers are not eligible in their first year of academic residence. Senior student-athletes who have participated for a minimum of two years and meet all the criteria except percent of participation are also eligible.
            In total, 222 student-athletes were named to the list.

EDWARDS LOOKS TO GO THE DISTANCE
            Oklahoma State's Kaela Edwards has some of the best range in the NCAA, and will put her range to the test at the West Regional as she jumps up to the 1,500-meter run for the first time in her Cowgirl career.
            Edwards is known as one of the best 800-meter runners in the NCAA, after taking two first-team All-America honors at the indoor championships, and this outdoor season running the No. 2 collegiate time at 2:01.97, also good enough for 35th worldwide.
            The increase in distance is nothing new for the decorated Cowgirl, as she won the mile national title at the NCAA Indoor Championships this year, and ran with the Cowgirl cross country team, helping them to their first Big 12 title and highest finish in school history of seventh at the NCAA Championships.
            If Edwards can manage to make it through the preliminary rounds, it will be the fourth time since 2012 that a Cowgirl was a national semifinalist in the 1,500.

FANTASTIC FIRST-YEARS
            Eight athletes who made their OSU outdoor debuts in the 2016 season are headed to the West Preliminary Rounds this weekend, looking to continue their breakout seasons with a spot in a national semifinal.
            Redshirt frosh Cerake Geberkidane (5,000) is in his first outdoor season, and fresh off two Big 12 titles in the 10,000-and 5,000-meter runs. He was also named Big 12 Freshman of the Year for his impressive performances.
            True freshman Jacob Fincham-Dukes will jump for the Cowboys following his two All-Big 12 honors for both indoor and outdoor long jump. He took runner-up at the Big 12 Indoor Championships to help the Pokes win their second indoor title in three seasons.
            Three transfers have put up big marks and are making their way to the regional for the Cowboys, including Josh Thompson (1,500), Tre'Tez Kinnaird (800) and Simon Imagbe (long jump).
            Thompson led all qualifiers in the 800-and 1,500-meter runs at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships and Kinnaird finished third in the final after winning the 800-meter title during the indoor season. Imagbe just missed out on all-conference honors outdoors, but earned an all-conference nod indoors.
            For the women, three new Cowgirls are headed to Lawrence, Kansas, including Kansas native Megan Honas (javelin), true freshman Kaytlyn Larson (800) and redshirt freshman Jennifer Celis (1,500).
            Honas qualified for the Preliminary Rounds with her first competition of the season back in March. Larson got into the competitive 800-meter prelim after claiming a two-second personal best at the Big 12 Championships only two weeks ago, and All-American Celis bounced back after sitting out the outdoor season last year to qualify for the 1,500 with two other Cowgirls.
            Every first-year participant, including the veterans will compete this weekend starting Thursday at noon with the men's weight throw.