• Oklahoma Program Record Holder -- Javelin (171.10/52.39) • 2009 All-Big 12 Indoor Conference (Shot Put) Personal: Full name is Amy Nichole Backel ... Daughter of Mike and Kathy Backel ... Hobbies include hunting, running, weightlifting, rock climbing, skiing, studying and volunteering ... Scored a 1400 on the SAT, including a perfect 800 in the math section and was ranked fourth in her graduating class ... Favorite subject is mathematics ... Member of the National Honor Society and local 4-H program ... Led the 2007 and 2008 Academic All-Big 12 Teams with a 4.00 GPA in civil engineering ... 2007 recipient of OU's Dan Gibbens Outstanding Scholar Athlete of the Year Award and Athletics Council Service Award ... 2008 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American ... Named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VI Men's and Women's Track and Field/Cross Country Team ... Named to the 2009 Academic All-Big 12 First Team with a perfect 4.0 grade point average. 2009: (Indoor) Opened the season with a win in the shot put at the Oklahoma Christian Invitational, tossing a personal-best distance of 49-6.25 (15.09) ... Took second in shot with a throw of 49-1.50 (14.97) at the J.D. Martin Invitational ... Hit NCAA provisional qualifying mark and PR in the shot put with a top toss of 50-6.25 (15.40) at the Sooner Open I ... Threw a NCAA provisional qualifying distance of 50-4.75 (15.36) in the shot put at the Sooner Open II ... Earned All-Big 12 honors with a fourth-place finish in the shot put at the Big 12 Championships, tossing the implement a distance of 50-7.50 (15.43). (Outdoor) Moved up to No. 3 on the OU women's shot put performance list with a regional qualifying throw of 50-1.75 (15.28) to finish second overall and first among all collegiate competitors at the Bobby Lane Invitational ... Took fifth in the B section of the women's shot put at the Texas Relays with a personal best and NCAA Regional qualifying throw of 50-6.75 (15.41) ... Extended her personal best in the shot put with a regional qualifying throw of 51-9.25 (15.78) at the Sooner Invitational ... Finished second in the shot at the Sooner Twilight with a regional qualifying throw of 49-11.25 (15.22) ... Earned All-Big 12 honors in the shot put with a sixth-place finish at the Big 12 Championships, 50-0.75 (15.26) ... Received an at-large bid in the shot put for the NCAA Championships after finishing sixth in the event, 51-6.25 (15.70), at the NCAA Midwest Regional ... Named USTFCCCA AcademicAll-American following the season. Summer 2008: Competed in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, where she finished 10th in the javelin with a top throw of 164-4 (50.08). 2008: (Indoor) Redshirted. (Outdoor) In her first season as a full-time thrower, became Oklahoma's first NCAA All-American in the women's javelin along with topping the previous program record by over 17 feet ... Named to third team Academic All-Americans by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) ... Opened the season by breaking the Oklahoma program record in the javelin with a throw of 155-4 (47.34) at the Tulsa Duels ... Also took second in the put (44-9/13.63) at the event ... Extended her program record and won the javelin with a throw of 166-8 (50.80) and took fifth place in the shot put (46-10/14.27) at the Bobby Lane Invitational ... Runner-up in the javelin (160-2/48.81) at the Texas Relays ... Placed seventh in the shot put (46-1/14.04) at the John Jacobs Invitational ... Earned a second-place finish in the javelin at the John McDonnell Invitational with a throw of 158-7 (48.35) ... Took first in the javelin with a throw of 167-7 (51.07) at the Sooner Open ... Claimed a second-place finish in the javelin at the Arkansas Twilight with a regional qualifying mark of 152-11 (46.62) ... Threw 47-10 (14.57) in the shot put, earning a first-place finish at the Sooner Twilight ... Produced a sixth-place finish in the javelin (152-11/46.60) and a 13th-place finish an NCAA Regional qualifying mark (47-7.25/14.51) in the shot at the Big 12 Championships ... Competed in the javelin and shot put at the NCAA Midwest Regional, finishing 12th (153-11/46.91) and 16th (45-8.50/13.93), resepectively ... Earned an at-large bid and finished the season with a seventh-place finish in the javelin at the NCAA Championships, extending her own program record with a throw of 171-10 (52.39). 2007: (Indoor) Placed second in the pentathlon with 3,532 points at the J.D. Martin Invitational (Feb. 2-3) ... Total score was second best all-time by a Sooner ... Posted an event win in the shot put with a personal record toss of 45-7.00 (13.89) ... Finished seventh in the open shot put at 44-7.00 (13.59) ... Placed eighth (3,458) in the pentathlon at the Big 12 Indoor Championships (Feb. 23) ... Won the shot put and set a personal best (2:27.99) in the 800-meter run. (Outdoor) Redshirted. Summer 2006: Placed fourth in the javelin and ninth in the heptathlon at the USA Junior National Outdoor Championships in Indianapolis (June 22) ... Threw the javelin a personal best 149 feet, 4 inches (45.51 meters) ... Scored heptathlon event wins in the shot put with a 41-9.75 (12.74) throw and javelin with a 136-7 (41.64) ... Was the only athlete other than the champion to win two events ... Set a personal best in the 110-meter hurdles with a 15.84-second run ... Totaled 4,583 points. 2006: (Indoor) Placed ninth in the penthathlon at the Big 12 Championships (Feb. 24) with 3,385 points ... Ran a season best 800-meter run of 2:29.89 during the competition ... Posted a season best long jump of 16-5.00 (5.00 meters) at the Tyson Invitational (Feb. 10) ... Placed second in the pentathlon at the J.D. Martin Invitational (Feb. 3) with 3,356 points ... Established 9.58 in the 60-meter hurdles, 5-3.00 (1.60) in the high jump, 43-11.25 (13.39) in the weight throw and 44-1.50 (13.45) in the shot put ... Competed in high jump and shot put at the season-opening Arkansas Invitational (Jan. 13) ... Jumped 5-0.25 (1.53 meters) and established a new PR in the shot with a 42-5.50 (12.94 meters) throw. (Outdoor) Placed sixth in the heptathlon (4,737 points) and seventh in the javelin throw with a personal best of 147-5 (44.93) at the Big 12 Championships (May 12-14) ... Compiled a personal best score of 4,685 in the heptathlon at the Texas Relays (April 5-6) ... Placed 19th, but was one of only two freshmen in the field. High School: At Northern York (Pa.), grew from an average mid-distance runner as a freshman to a record-breaker as a senior ... Owns school records in the 300-meter hurdles, shot put, javelin, high jump and pole vault ... During her final season she earned eight medals in the postseason (four in district and four in state) and finished undefeated in dual meet events ... At the district championships, she earned gold in the shot put and pole vault and silver in the high jump and javelin ... Nagging injuries hindered her at the state meet; however, she placed fifth in the pole vault, sixth in the high jump, eighth in the shot put and fourth in the javelin ... Finish sixth overall in the pentathlon (3212) at the Nike Indoor Nationals including first in the shot put (38-11.5) ... Was 13th in the heptathlon (4327) at the USATF Junior Outdoor Track & Field Championships including a win in javelin (129-3) ... Placed second in javelin at the 2005 Penn Relays ... Named The Sentinel's 2005 Female Track Athlete of the Year and was runner-up for the outright Athlete of the Year ... Pulled double duty in the fall as a member of both the cross country and field hockey teams ... Coached by Al Houser, Cherie Ramsey, Dave Ramsey and Bill Witt.   
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