COLLEGE STATION – A pair of Aggie school records were broken Saturday as the SEC tandem of Texas A&M and Tennessee swept the team scoring against the Big 12 and Pac-12 in front of 1,621 fans at Gilliam Indoor Stadium.
In the men’s scoring the SEC totaled 317 points to finish well ahead of the Big 12 (137) and Pac-12 (75). The SEC women racked up 324 points to defeat the Pac-12 (152) and Big 12 (136). TCU and Texas Tech represented the Big 12 while Arizona State and USC were the duo for the Pac-12.
Both A&M school record performances came in runner-up performances as Henry Lelei lowered his mile record to 4:00.41 in chasing Texas Tech’s Kennedy Kithuka, the NCAA cross country champion last fall, who set a Red Raider school record with a 3:59.53 winning mark.
Arizona State’s Nick Happe placed third in 4:00.67 to also better the previous meet record of 4:03.49 set by Oregon’s Mac Fleet in 2010. Aggie C.J. Brown finished fifth with a 4:07.73.
With her 64 foot, 7 inch (19.68) effort Brea Garrett added a foot in distance to the 13-year-old Aggie weight throw record. She topped Meshelle Trotter’s school record mark of 63-6 (19.35) from 2000. Arizona State’s Chelsea Cassula won the event with a meet record toss of 65-7.5 (20.00).
Texas A&M totaled 12 victories during the second day of the Mondo Challenge, which included a trio of 1-2-3 sweeps by the Aggies.
In the women’s 60 meters, Ashley Collier sped to a 7.29 win with Jennifer Madu (7.34) and Ashton Purvis (7.52) in tow for second and third place. Purvis later won the 200 in 23.28 with Madu in third at 23.86.
The men’s 800 had Hector Hernandez claiming the title in the final stages of the race for a 1:51.17 edge over teammates Cameron Thornton (1:51.74) and James Bonn (1:51.82).
Then in the men’s 200, Ameer Webb contested his first race of the season and won with a 21.12 over teammates Michael Bryan (21.19) and Aldrich Bailey, Jr. (21.20).
Teamwork produced a pair of 4 x 400 relay victories for the Aggies. The women rolled to a 3:36.15 win over Arizona State (3:36.67) and Texas Tech (3:37.92). The Aggie foursome included Ibukun Mayungbe (54.5), Olivia Ekpone (53.7), Kamaria Brown (53.5) and Kanika Beckles (54.4).
The A&M men eased to a 3:06.61 victory over TCU (3:10.77), Texas Tech (3:11.09) and Arizona State (3:11.23). The Aggie crew included Bralon Taplin (47.1), Deon Lendore (45.9), Aldrich Bailey, Jr. (47.2) and Carlyle Roudette (46.4).
Earlier in the meet Roudette set a career best of 47.27 in winning the 400 with teammate Ricky Babineaux runner-up in 47.40. Wayne Davis II was a tenth off the meet record he equaled last season in claiming the 60 hurdles with a time of 7.88 seconds.
While another school record eluded Casey Strong in the men’s weight throw, he captured another win and produced the second best throw ever at A&M with a winning toss of 64-9.5 (19.74). Teammate Ben Skrla continued his improvement in the event with a career best 59-0.25 (17.99), No. 4 on the Aggie all-time list.
Other A&M wins included Jonthan Turner in the long jump (23-2.5) and Dave Brown in the triple jump (49-6.25). Chelsea Utley led a 1-2 finish for the Aggie women in the high jump as she cleared 5-8 while Sierra Patrick finished second with a 5-6.5 clearance.
Notable runner-up efforts included a 41-11.25 mark in the triple jump by LaQue Moen-Davis while Dominique’ Flemings ran 8.43 in the 60 hurdles and Kamaria Brown clocked 54.04 in the 400.
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics