Barrientez wins twice, McWilliams posts PR in OC Indoor Invitational

Larry Brown (left) posted a personal-best effort while finishing third in the weight throw at Saturday’s OC Indoor Invitational, while teammate Connor Lankford was 10th in the same event.

NORMAN, Okla. (Jan. 28, 2012) – Brayden Barrientez won the 1,000-meter run and was a part of a winning relay team as Oklahoma Christian competed Saturday in the OC Indoor Invitational, held at the University of Oklahoma’s Mosier Indoor Facility.

In winning individual races, Barrientez and teammate David McWilliams both posted conditional qualifying times for the NAIA Indoor Championships. Barrientez won the 1,000 in 2:33.31 – beating the second-place runner by almost six seconds – and his time was the 13th-best so far this season in the NAIA.

McWilliams similarly dominated in the 3,000 meters, posting a personal-best time of 8:37.76, more than 12 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor. McWilliams’ time was the sixth-best at that distance in the NAIA this season.

“McWilliams ran a solid PR in his first real test of the season,” OC assistant coach Mark Thompson said. “The (5,000 meters) is his race though, and we’re gearing up for one next week in Lubbock.”

Barrientez ran a 1:56 second leg for OC’s 4x880-yard relay team, which won in 8:01.65, more than four seconds faster than second-place Oklahoma Baptist. Casey Block, Nick Stoots and Nathan Mesta ran the other legs in the race for the Eagles.

As for OC’s other men’s middle- and long-distance runners, Drew Harwell (4:37.26) and Joseph Zarazua (4:39.98) ran sixth and seventh, respectively, in the mile. Robert Macom ran fourth behind Barrientez in the 1,000 meters in 2:40.05.

“Again this week, we used the meet as more of a workout,” Thompson said. “Over the next few weeks I am excited to test them at their best distances, and hopefully turn up a few more qualifiers.”

In other men’s events, OC’s Tracy Marshall posted the best individual finish with a second-place effort in the long jump with a leap of 22 feet, 6½ inches, just two inches behind the winner. Marshall finished seventh in the triple jump (42-9½), two spots behind OC’s Brandon Jackson (44-7).

Renaldo Garrett finished fourth in the 60-meter hurdles with a personal-best time of 8.34 seconds – a conditional qualifying time for the NAIA indoor meet and the ninth-best time in the NAIA this season – and was ninth in the 200 meters in 23.67 seconds, just ahead of 10th-place Winston Ogletree (23.95). In the weight throw, Larry Brown posted a personal-best of 44-4¼ to finish third while Connor Lankford was 10th with a throw of 34-2¼. Brown also finished sixth in the shot put with a throw of 42-2¼.

On the women’s side, the Lady Eagles dominated the mile run with five runners in the top nine, including winner Melyssa Cardenas (5:27.55), third-place Jacqueline Hallam (5:30.36) and sixth-place Erin Sesemann (5:37.11). Sesemann also finished fourth in the 600 meters in 1:49.15.

Cassandra Hallam was fifth in the 1,000 meters (3:10.65) while Maegan Cowan was ninth in the 400 meters (1:02.27). Andrea Dennis finished ninth in a field of 33 collegiate runners in the 200 meters (27.42).

“Cass Hallam is looking better and better with each race, and I was proud of the way she raced the 1000m today,” Thompson said.

In women’s field events, Katie Ostlund was fourth in the weight throw (35-8½) and 12th in the shot put (32-5).

EAGLE EYE BLOG

Chuck White’s final home game

This video features scenes from Chuck White’s final home game as OC’s head baseball coach. Coach White was the driving force in the revival of the baseball program and the construction of Dobson Field and the Bobby Murcer Indoor Training Facility.

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