Credit to Matthew McGinnis | Student Assistant, Athletics Communications – 12thman.com
TUCSON, Ariz. – Heather Abadie claimed victory as a group of the Texas A&M men’s and women’s track & field teams competed at the Desert Heat Classic at Roy P. Drachman Stadium on Saturday night.
Heather Abadie highlighted the Aggies, winning the women’s pole vault competition with a clearance over 13-11.75/4.25m, the No. 5 performance in school history. Abadie now holds the top five marks in school history, as well as six of the top seven. The victory is her fifth pole vault win of the outdoor season. Ava Riche was just a half inch from her collegiate best, placing eighth at 12-9.5/3.90m.
In the men’s pole vault, Jack Mann III earned the victory with a clearance of XXXXX. Mann entered the competition at 17-1.5/5.22m to claim the victory after the rest of the field failed to clear the height. Mann’s winning mark equals the No. 10 pole vault performer mark in Texas A&M history.
Katelyn Fairchild led the women’s javelin field from her first throw, then improved her mark on the last throw of the competition, tossing a personal best 183-7/55.97m. The throw improves her Texas A&M No. 6 all-time performer mark, topping her previous season best of 181-9/55.39m from the Florida Relays. Lianna Davidson joined Fairchild on the podium, throwing 173-1/52.76m for third place.
G’Auna Edwards placed fourth in the women’s long jump, soaring to a leap of 20-6.5/6.26m. Returning from injury at the LSU Alumni Gold meet, Edwards improved her season best by almost six inches. Joniar Thomas leapt 20-3.5/6.18m, her second best of the season, for a fifth-place finish.
In the women’s 800m, Mikenna Robinson finished in eighth, clocking 2:09.23, just under a second off her personal best time of 2:08.24 from the Victor Lopez Classic.
Alessio Pirruccio finished 10th overall in the men’s hammer throw with a toss of 175-11/53.62m. The finish marks his fifth top-10 placement this season.
Placing ninth in the men’s long jump, Blake Harris recorded a mark of 23-5.5/7.15m, his second-best collegiate jump since the start of the indoor season.
To end the day, the men’s 4x400m squad finished with a time of 3:11.82. The team composed of Sam Presnal, Christian Rosales, Blake Harris and Cutler Zamzow finished second in their heat to end seventh overall.
Next Up
The Texas A&M men’s and women’s track & field teams have a bye week next week before traveling to Bernie Moore Track Stadium in Baton Rouge to compete at the SEC Outdoor Championship meet on May 11-13.