Women's Track & Field 5/21/2019 5:56:00 PM

11 OCU athletes compete in NAIA women's championships

Olowora goes for 12 national championships

GULF SHORES, Ala. – Eleven Oklahoma City University runners head to Mickey Miller Blackwell Stadium to compete for titles in the NAIA women's track & field championships Thursday through Saturday.
Oklahoma City will compete in seven events, with nine individuals led by 10-time national champion Aminat Olowora as well as the 4x400 meter team competing.
Olowora, a senior from Lagos Nigeria, will compete in the 5,000 meters as well as run in the 10,000 meters. Olowora is a 10-time national champion and 14-time all-American in her cross country and track & field career. She ran the fastest qualifying time for both races. She ran a time of 15 minutes, 48.48 seconds in the Mt. SAC Relays earlier this season in the 5,000 and 33:33.33 in the 10,000 at the Friends University Spring Open this season.
"I have been training for these races for a while," Olowora said. "Coming back after the indoor seeing how I did there I was not really impressed with it. So, I just need to step up my game and train harder than before."
OCU will have five individuals running in the marathon as Tyler Berge, Anna Palacios, Alexas Vargas, Michaela Werner and Kassidy Williams will all contend for all-American status.
Williams, a senior from Anadarko, Okla., posted a qualifying time of 1:29:04.00, while Werner, a senior from Grove, Okla., qualified with a time of 1 hour, 26 minutes, 42 seconds with the 10th best overall time. Vargas, a junior from Terrell, Texas, turned in a time of 1:28:39.00 to qualify, Palacios has a qualifying time of 1:28:25.00 and Berge posted a qualifying time of 1:29:11.00. All five competitors tuned up for the event by placing in the top 20 of the half marathon in the Oklahoma River Half Marathon on March 9.
"We have a good group running in the marathon," head coach Matt Aguero said. "They are all pretty fit and I am pretty excited about our chances."
The 4x400 team consisting of Sheridan Hoyer, Anysia Romain, Delaney Mayo and Nikole Halladay-Meth will also look to compete for the title. The Stars completed the race in 3:54.94 to qualify with the 19th fastest time.
Dryden, a freshman from Christchurch, New Zealand, will also compete in the 5,000 meters. She ran her qualifying time of 17:48.78 in the Wichita State KT Woodman Classic on April 10.
Hoyer will also run in the 800 meter race. Hoyer, a junior from Poteau, qualified on April 5 at the Friends University Spring Open with a time of 2:15.49.
Halladay-Meth is the only Star that will compete in three different events, along with the 4x400 meter relay, she will also be vying for a chance to win the 100 meters and 200 meters. Halladay-Meth, a freshman from Odessa, Texas, qualified with the 12th best time for the 100 meter race at the SCU/Paul Parent Invite on April 5 with a time of 11.89. her 200 meter race qualifying time was met at the Kansas Relays on April 17 where she posted the 14th best overall time of 24.54.
The preliminaries for the majority of the races in the NAIA Championships occur Thursday. The relays happen Friday and individual finals Saturday.