AUSTIN – First day action in the NCAA West Preliminary rounds had seven Aggies advancing to the NCAA Championship field in Eugene, Oregon as they joined Texas A&M decathlete Lindon Victor.
The crew that the Aggies advanced to the NCAA Championship field included Ioannis Kyriazis and Sam Hardin in the men’s javelin, Madalaine Stulce and Audrey Malone in the women’s javelin, Alison Ondrusek in the women’s hammer, Austin Cook in the men’s hammer and Will Williams in the men’s long jump.
In races that advanced individuals to the second round of the NCAA West, Texas A&M did just as well. A total of 12 Aggies moved on in seven events.
The group included Alex Riba (1500), Robert Grant (400m Hurdles), Aaliyah Brown (100), Brenessa Thompson (100), Fred Kerley (400), Mylik Kerley (400), Richard Rose (400), Jaevin Reed (400), Briyahna Desrosiers (400), Kadecia Baird (400), Jazmine Fray (800), and Devin Dixon (800).
The first pair of Aggie qualifiers for the NCAA Championship weekend in Eugene from the NCAA West preliminary round competition came from the men’s javelin as Kyriazis and Hardin both advanced.
Kyriazis, the collegiate leader this season with a 288-9 (88.01), had one throw of 249-7 (76.09) amid a gusting wind that placed him second among the field of 48. The top mark in the competition was 249-11 (76.18) by Utah State’s Sindri Gudmundsson. Hardin placed sixth with a first round toss of 228-8 (69.70).
“It wasn’t a very good throw, but it advanced me to Eugene for a third consecutive year,” noted Kyriazis. “The conditions were pretty good, and I was just looking for one throw over 75 meters (246-0) to advance. I’ll finally get to use my full approach when we are in Eugene.”
Madalaine Stulce and Audrey Malone finished first and second in the women’s javelin. Stulce led the field of 48 with a throw of 172-5 (52.55) from the third round. That improved upon her opening round toss of 164-5 (50.11). Malone’s best measured 171-11 (52.40) and also came in the third round to improve upon her second round mark of 167-5 (51.03).
“Even though I finished in the lead, I still believe the competition is fierce this season,” said Stulce. “We still have a lot to work on. Audrey and I are going to pound out these next two weeks and train really hard.
“I want to use my experience of being at nationals last year and build on it. My goal this year is to score for the team. I believe Audrey and I can do it.”
Malone added: “Maddy is such a fierce competitor and I love competing against her. I feel we push each other so much. We didn’t do as well as we wanted to, but the goal is to come out and qualify. Top 12 is all we had to get. Now we want to score points at nationals for our team.”
Will Williams topped the men’s long jump field with a wind-aided leap of 26-6 ½ (8.09) on his first attempt. Runner-up to Williams was a windy 26-4 ¼ (8.03) by USC’s Eric Sloan. For Williams his marks ranks fourth best among collegians this season under all-conditions.
“My coaches were telling me coming in to this meet all it takes is one jump,” stated Williams, who placed second in the long jump at the NCAA Indoor in March. “I usually jump pretty well in this stadium, and I’m pretty consistent here.
“Walking over here that was the plan, to get the mark on the first jump. Everything felt good with the jump, the run was consistent and set things up well. I was just in the air gliding and knew it was far.”
In the women’s hammer a third round attempt of 205-8 (62.69) moved Alison Ondrusek into eighth place and she finished in ninth place to secure a trip to the NCAA Championships in Eugene. The mark by Ondrusek ranks as the No. 3 performance behind her school record of 208-0 (63.41).
“Coming into this meet I was ready to qualify with my first throw,” said Ondrusek. “When I had a sector foul on a distance that would probably have gotten me in, I had to really regroup and calm down. I had to trust my form and myself to get a mark that would get me in.
“I’m so excited to go to Eugene and compete for Texas A&M. It’s been a dream and I didn’t want my season to end today. I was able to extend my season and throw the hammer one more time.”
Austin Cook improved his school record in the men’s hammer to 214-8 (65.45) on his first throw. That effort, which bettered his previous career best of 212-6 (64.76), placed him third after two flights of the hammer. Waiting through the final flight of 16 throwers, Cook placed 10th overall. Finishing among the top 12 is all he needed to advance to the NCAA Championship field.
Texas A&M also has some close finishes where individuals just missed making the top 12.
Kristen Clark finished 13th in the women’s javelin as her throw of 155-11 (47.53) was two feet off the 157-11 (48.15) that placed Sydney Otto of Nebraska 12th in the competition. Shelby Poncik, the fourth Aggie thrower in the women’s javelin field, placed 21st with a toss of 150-10 (45.98).
A career best outdoor vault of 13-9 ¼ (4.20) by Emily Gunderson left her in a three-way tie for 14th place. Gunderson needed to clear the next height of 14-1 ¼ (4.30) to secure a top 12 position, since a lone miss at 13-5 ¼ (4.10) kept her out of a jump-off to contend for the final two qualifying spots.
A three-way tie for 11th place in the pole vault, which included a trio who had not registered a miss prior to 14-1 ¼, advanced Kathryn Tomczak of Air Force and UTA’s Helen Falda while Allison Jeffries of Boise State placed 13th.
A total of 10 vaulters cleared 14-1 ¼ to break the previous best in the NCAA West of 13-11 (4.24) that was shared by 11 from 2015 when Austin served as host of the NCAA West meet.
William Petersson finished 19th in the men’s javelin with a mark of 210-7 (64.19). Augusta Thomason and Sara Kathryn Stevens both cleared 12-11 ½ (3.95). Thomason tied for 32nd and Stevens tied for 36th. In the women’s hammer, Carissa van Beek placed 35th with a toss of 184-10 (56.35). Austin Wells ran 31:53.10 to place 40th in the 10,000m.
Amid first round races held on Thursday, Robert Grant eased along with a heat win in 50.60 for the 400m hurdles. Alex Riba placed sixth in his heat of the 1,500 in 3:50.80, which was the sixth fastest time among the first round.
Aaliyah Brown sped to an 11.05w (5.2 wind) with Brenessa Thompson clocking 11.19w (2.8 wind) in the women’s 100m. They both earned auto qualifiers to round two by placing second in their respective heats.
Texas A&M advanced all six runners they had entered in the 400m, three each for the men and women. Jaevin Reed (52.75) and Briyahna Desrosiers (53.08) were both runner-up in separate heats and automatic advancement. Kadecia Baird, meanwhile, snared the final time qualifier by 0.005 with a 54.14.
Richard Rose led the Aggie men in the 400m with a 45.89 as he placed third in his heat. Fred Kerley ran a comfortable 45.95 to win his heat while Mylik Kerley finished second in his heat with a 46.05.
SEC champions Jazmine Fray and Devin Dixon each advanced in the 800m. Fray claimed her women’s 800m heat in 2:07.22 while Dixon finished first in his men’s heat with a 1:50.54.
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics