COLLEGE STATION – Texas A&M hosts the Charlie Thomas Invitational this weekend, which includes multi-event competition starting on Friday afternoon. Teams competing at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium include Baylor, Cincinnati, Clemson, Houston, Rice, South Plains, TCU and UCLA.
National team computer rankings among the teams competing here this weekend include No. 5 Texas A&M and No. 25 Houston among the men as well as No. 10 Baylor on the women’s side. In dual meet rankings compiled by Track & Field News magazine, the Aggie women are No. 1 with the men No. 2.
Friday’s schedule starts with the men’s heptathlon at 2:30 p.m. with the women’s pentathlon beginning at 3:30 p.m. The evening session, with distance medley relay and 5,000m races, will start at 6:30 p.m.
On Saturday the men’s heptathlon resumes at 10:30 a.m. while field events and running prelims begin at 12:30 p.m. There will be a recognition of Aggie seniors at 1:20 p.m. followed by the start of the finals at 2 p.m.
“We come off a competitive meet at Arkansas and this one will be similar with eight good teams involved,” noted Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. “We are looking forward to this meet. We have three freshman who are all on the verge of being very good – Amber Ivy, Devin Dixon and Jon Bishop. I’m pleased with how they have performed so far.”
Ivy leads a crew of Aggie sprinters in the 60m, where her time of 7.31 ranks as the second fastest freshman this season and is equal to the 14th best time among collegians. Last weekend Dixon ran a best of 1:49.66 in the 800m before supplying a third leg carry on the collegiate record 4×400 relay. Bishop has run the mile in 4:11.45 to claim a win at the Texas A&M Team Invitational.
Texas A&M teammates Nathan Hite, Landon Malouf and Rodney Ripley will compete in the heptathlon. The main challenger includes Scott Filip of Rice, who placed 10th in the decathlon at the NCAA Championships last season and won the Conference USA heptathlon in 2015 with 5,785 points.
Annie Kunz, the Texas A&M school record holder in the pentathlon (4,363) and heptathlon (6,038), will compete in her first multi since the summer when she placed ninth in the NCAA Championships and eighth in the Olympic Trials.
Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry
Aggie alums scheduled to compete in Olympic development events during the Charlie Thomas Invitational include Ricky Babineaux, Kanika Beckles, Lathone Collie, Olivia Ekpone, Hector Hernandez, Jennifer Madu, and Carlyle Roudette.
In form Audie Wyatt has won his past two pole vault outings, clearing heights of 17-10.5 and 17-7, while Emily Gunderson has set career best heights in her last pole vault meets, scaling over 13-8.25 and 13-8.5.
Freshman Ashley Driscoll races in the 5,000m race on Friday for the Aggies along with teammates Kelsey Persyn, Devin Norton, Kaitlin Tanner and Olivia Arriaza. The men’s 5,000m will include the crew of Austin Wells, Christian Farris and Julian Castellano.
After improving her 800m indoor career best to 2:05.04, Katie Willard races over the mile distance for the third time this indoor season. She will challenge Clemson’s Ersula Farrow and Baylor’s Maggie Montoya. Alex Riba races in his first mile this indoor season, joining Bishop and Cameron Villarreal in the men’s race.
Joining Dixon in the men’s 800 are Aggies Gaines Kinsey, Efrain Hernandez and JaQwae Ellison. In the women’s 800, Arin Rice drops down in distance after clocking a 4:50.75 last weekend as she joins Brittany Parker and Miah Nelson.
Danyel White, the current world junior leader at 200m, races against Baylor’s Taylor Bennett, who placed fifth in the 200m at the World Juniors. Elijah Morrow is the top Aggie entrant in the men’s 200.
The women’s 400m will have an interesting matchup with Texas A&M’s Briyahna Desrosiers racing against Clemson’s Olivia James and Baylor’s Leticia De Souza, who lost her victory at Gilliam a few weeks ago with a disqualification.
Aggie throwers are among the top seeds in the weight throw this weekend as Texas A&M record holder Austin Cook faces the Rice tandem of Austin Riddle and Uche Ugwunze. In the women’s weight throw the Aggie pair of Alison Ondrusek and Carissa van Beek challenge the top entrant Annette Echikunwoke of Cincinnati.
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics