Aggie Danyel White breaks meet record in 200m at Charlie Thomas Invitational

(Source: Texas A&M Athletics)
(Source: Texas A&M Athletics)
(Source: Texas A&M Athletics)

COLLEGE STATION – A rally by the Aggie women, which included 26 points in the 200m, enabled Texas A&M to sweep the team titles at the Charlie Thomas Invitational in front of 2,309 fans at Gillam Indoor. The Aggies were powered by half a dozen event victories along with eight runner-up performances.

The Texas A&M men scored 151 points to better the field that included UCLA (83.5), South Plains (72), Baylor (69), and Houston (62.5). The Aggie women totaled 138 points to finish ahead of Baylor (123), Clemson (97), Rice (83) and UCLA (79).

“Our groups lined up and did a good job,” stated Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. “We have some depth and it shows in this kind of meet. This is a good field of people. Any time you have teams like UCLA, Clemson and Baylor it’s going to be a good meet. We put pressure on people and gained a lot of ground, it makes them get out and get after it.”

Danyel White improved her world junior leading time in the 200m to 23.14 seconds as she bettered the meet record of 23.18 set by Jessica Beard in 2011. White led a 1-2-4-6 finish by Texas A&M to generate 26 points. That moved the Aggies from third place into first place near the end of the meet.

White later ran the third leg of the 4×400 and moved Texas A&M into the lead with her 53.25 split. The Aggies won the race in 3:33.54 over Baylor’s 3:33.63. The time by the Aggies ranks as the seventh fastest school this season and is fourth fastest in the SEC.

“I really wanted to stay focused,” said White. “It’s hard sometimes as a freshman, and the other girls are dropping mad times. It was really fun to run the relay and especially since it was neck and neck. Coming into college I was really excited to walk into a challenge. As long as coach is happy, I’m happy.”

Running on the relay with White were Jaevin Reed (53.82) and Briyahna Desrosiers (53.55). Kadecia Baird anchored the relay in 52.92 as she withstood the challenge from Bear anchor Letcia De Souza (51.78), who had won the 400m earlier in the meet in 52.93.

Victories for the Texas A&M men included Devin Dixon (1:48.76) in the 800m, Cameron Villarreal (4:04.58) in the mile, Garrett Cragin (6-11) in the high jump and Austin Cook (63-11.5) in the weight throw.

Dixon, a freshman who ran on the collegiate record 4×400 relay last weekend, claimed the 800m in 1:48.76 over the 1:49.39 by John Lewis of Clemson. Dixon, who moved to No. 8 on the Texas A&M all-time list, led a 24-point haul by the Aggies as teammates finished 3-4-6 behind him.

“It was a good race,” stated Dixon. “My first PR of the season. I knew I could run a little bit better. It was unique and fun to have Donavan Brazier as a rabbit for 600. My thought was just to stick with him the whole way.

“It’s very encouraging to have someone like him helping me. I need to learn to maintain my speed. It felt humbling to be back in an individual race, to run it how I wanted to.”

The Texas A&M crew in the race included JaQwae Ellilson (1:49.42, No. 9 A&M), Efrain Hernandez (1:49.98) and Gaines Kinsey (1:51.93).

Villarreal trailed teammate and race rabbit Alex Riba through the first four laps of the race mile and maintained his lead on the rest of the field throughout the remainder the race. While thoughts of a sub-four minute mile were entertained by Villarreal, his body began to tighten over the final meters.

Falling to the track as soon as the finished the race, Villarreal posted a winning time of 4:04.60 as UCLA’s Daniel De La Torre finished second in 4:08.93 and Clemson’s Mpho Makofane placed third in 4:08.99.

“The time wasn’t exactly what I was going for today,” said Villarreal. “We were trying to go sub-4 to get an NCAA standard. I came through 1,200m feeling pretty good, and at 1,400m started to feel tied up. At 1,500m everything hit me.

“I really felt everything tying up and realized it wouldn’t end up very pretty. Obviously, my feet left me a little at the end when I finished. I was really thankful that Alex Riba rabbited for me.”

Cragin nearly matched his career best of 6-11.75 in winning the high jump with a clearance of 6-11 (2.11). Gragin attempted 7-0.25 (2.14), nearly getting the clearance on his second attempt.

Cook bettered the field in the weight throw by over two feet with his winning mark of 63-11.5 (19.49), which was his fourth victory at home this season.

Runner-up performances included Nathan Hite in the heptathlon, where his score of 5,448 points moves him to No. 5 on the Aggie all-time list. Will Williams sprinted to a time of 6.78 in the 60m and Elijah Morrow clocked 21.18 in the 200m.

Audie Wyatt cleared 17-1.5 (5.22) as runner-up in the pole vault while teammate Jacob Wooten placed third with the same height. Cincinnati’s Adrian Valles broke the meet record with a winning height of 18-3.25 (5.57).

For the Aggie women other runner-up efforts included Amber Ivy (7.34) in the 60m, Miah Nelson (2:10.78, No. 8 A&M) in the 800m and Kara Erickson (5-7.75) in the high jump.

Emily Gunderson finished third in the pole vault, clearing 13-2.25, as teammates Augusta Thomason and Sara Kathryn Stevenson tied for fourth place at 12-2.5. In the women’s weight throw the Aggie tandem of Alison Ondrusek (61-11.75) and Carissa van Beek (60-8.75) placed third and fourth.

Laura Craig ran 9:57.62 for fourth place in the 3,000m as teammates finished 6-7-9 with the trio of Shelby McNeel (10:02.61), Lauryn Barrientos (10:02.61) and Ashton Hutcherson (10:03.22). Eli Canal ran 8:35.16 for seventh in the men’s 3,000m.

More News