NORMAN, Okla. — The University of Oklahoma's Chip Heuser took the men's pole vault title Friday night at the Arkansas Invitational in Fayetteville.
Heuser was the lone vaulter to pass the 17-6.50 mark, exceeding the NCAA Championships provisional standard. The sophomore kept the meet's pole vault title in the Sooner family after Scott Martin won the same event in 2005.
In OU's season-opening meet and first under head coach Martin Smith, the Sooners posted several impressive results.
Yolanda Goff set two personal bests in the 60- and 200-meter dashes, but that wasn't enough to catch former teammate and Olympian Laverne Jones.
In the 60, Goff finished as the top collegian behind Jones, who won in 7.32 seconds. The Tulsa native's time (7.47) was just .03 seconds off an NCAA Championships provisional mark.
Jones, a six-time All-American at OU, swept the short sprints with a victory in the 200 at 23.65. Goff placed eighth (24.38).
Junior college transfer Dermillo Wise, the 2004 NJCAA National Indoor Long Jump Champion, placed second in the long jump with a leap of 24-5.75 (7.46 meters), besting the NCAA provisional standard.
Catherine Odell finished as the top collegian (second) in the 800 with a personal best time of 2:12.56. Jessica Eldridge came in sixth in 2:13.37.
Anthony Francis also took top collegian honors in the 60-meter hurdles with a third-place run of 8.08 seconds.
Other notable results for the Sooners included Brayon Brown's fourth-place run (1:51.93) in the 800, Marcus Pugh's fourth (6.81) in the 60-meter dash followed by Ronnie Pines in fifth (6.84), Toni Smith's fifth (18-11.75) in the long jump, Jennifer Plank's eighth (11-11.75) in the pole vault and Frankie Wright's eighth (47.88) in the 400.
OU returns to the Randal Tyson Track Complex on the University of Arkansas' campus next weekend for the Razorback Invitaitonal (Jan. 20-21).