AUSTIN – The final day of the 87th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays produced another pair of victories for the Aggies in front of a Saturday crowd of 20,159 spectators inside Mike A. Myers Stadium on a great day for track and field.
Over the four days of the relays meet attendance totaled 39,985 while Texas A&M accumulated seven victories on the weekend, matching the output they had last year.
“Overall we had a great Texas Relays,” said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. “We had a great day on Friday with five wins and added a couple more today. We set a school record in the 4×100 with a 38.30. In all my years of coaching I’ve never had a relay run that fast this early in the season. But we get out-leaned at the line by Florida.”
Texas A&M won the men’s 4×200 for the third consecutive year and fifth time since 2009. They clocked a world-leading 1:20.78 matching the winning time they ran a year ago. The Aggie foursome included Michael Bryan (20.2), Prezel Hardy, Jr. (20.1), Shavez Hart (19.9) and Carlyle Roudette (20.6).
Finishing behind A&M were Florida (1:21.35), LSU (1:22.87), Auburn (1:22.93), Arkansas (1:23.10) and Houston (1:23.74), who won the first section of the two-section final. The Aggies equaled the fifth fastest time on the A&M all-time list.
Wayne Davis II captured his first Texas Relays 110 hurdle title in his final collegiate season as he and Florida’s Eddie Lovett both stopped the clock at 13.45 with an aiding 2.1 wind. Taking the time to 1000ths of a second, Davis had the edge, 13.442 to 13.448. Third in the race was California’s Milan Ristic in 13.59 with Radford’s Vincent Wyatt fourth at 13.67.
“This is my first win ever at the Texas Relays,” noted Davis, who was injured and didn’t run at the meet last season and placed sixth as a sophomore. “I’m really happy about it, especially since I’m way ahead of where I was at this time last year. I feel blessed and I’m thankful.
“It really came down to focus. In the middle of the race I could tell I was losing focus, I started looking at Lovett. I know with 10 hurdles outdoors I have the room to make up ground I’ve lost. So I just looked forward straight in my lane to the finish. Leaning at the finish I stumbled, so I was just trying cross the line and stay up at the same time. I love the competition. It’s such a great feeling.”
Davis becomes the first Aggie to win the 110 hurdles at the Texas Relays since 2002. It’s the seventh A&M victory in the event at this meet since 1928. The meet record of 13.50 was first set by Wisconsin’s Wayne Roby in 1985 and matched in 2010 by Oklahoma’s Ronnie Ash. LSU’s Barrett Nugent recorded the fastest wind-aided victory at Texas Relays with a 13.19 in 2011.
A close finish in the women’s 4×200 had Texas winning with an edge over the Aggies, 1:31.58 to 1:31.82, while LSU placed third at 1:34.23. Running for A&M were Ashton Purvis, Shamier Little, Ibukun Mayungbe and Olivia Ekpone. They recorded the ninth fastest time on the Aggie all-time list.
“The ladies looked good, but bobbled a handoff in the 4×200,” noted Henry. “Otherwise I think we are a little better in that race. But it’s okay, since we’re running without Kamaria Brown at the moment.”
As the defending champions in the Clyde Littlefield 4×100 relay, the Texas A&M men were seeking just the fourth time in the history of the Texas Relays to complete a sweep of the 4×100 and 4×200. It was previously achieved in 1970, 1971 and 2013.
With a close finish between the Aggies and Florida, it was the Gators claiming a narrow victory in a meet record of 38.29 over the 38.30 for A&M, which broke the Aggies school record of 38.38. Florida broke the Texas Relays meet record of 38.30 set by Auburn in 2012 while A&M equaled the previous meet record.
The Aggie foursome included Prezel Hardy, Jr., Shavez Hart, Michael Bryan and Deon Lendore. They broke the A&M school record set in 2011 by the quartet of Tran Howell, Gerald Phiri, Demetrius Pinder and Hardy, Jr.
Florida moves to No. 3 on the all-time collegiate 4×100 list with the No. 4 performance while the Aggies equal the No. 4 time and No. 5 performance. Finishing behind the Gators and A&M were Baylor (39.09), Auburn (39.17), Louisiana Tech (39.66), California (40.31) and Texas (40.51). TCU did not finish while Cornell was disqualified.
The Aggie women’s 4×100 was unable to complete the first exchange as Aaliyah Brown and Ashton Purvis ran out of the zone. Winning the final was Florida in 43.60 over Texas (43.64) and Kentucky (44.12). The rest of the field included Houston (44.22), LSU (44.41), Kennesaw State (44.90), Baylor (45.37) and Clemson (45.76).
In the women’s Invitational 4×100 relay a team named Pretty Girls Run, consisting of three former A&M track athletes, won the race in a world-leading time of 43.51 over a 43.81 for Elite Performance.
Chelsea Hayes led off the relay while the trio of Aggies finished off the win with Porscha Lucas, Dominique Duncan and Jessica Beard. Another former A&M sprinter, Gabby Mayo, ran the third leg for Elite Performance.
Ameer Webb ran on the winning men’s relay team of Flynn’s Flyers, who won in 38.57 over a 38.17 by Japan. Later in the meet Webb won the Invitational 200 in a U.S. leading 20.38 (1.2 wind) over Wallace Spearmon’s 20.39.
The Aggie women finished third in the 4×400 relay with a time of 3:31.27 behind the winning time of 3:26.38 by Texas and a 3:27.62 for Florida. A&M’s foursome included Shamier Little (52.2), Ibukun Mayungbe (52.1), Aaliyah Brown (55.0) and Olivia Ekpone (52.0).
The rest of the University Invitational 4×400 field included Arkansas (3:32.71), Texas Tech (3:32.86), Kentucky (3:32.92), Baylor (3:35.88), Clemson (3:36.42) and LSU (3:36.83).
The men’s Cleburne Price Jr. 4×400 had set up another thrilling showdown involving Texas A&M, Florida and LSU, but Deon Lendore started to slow on the backstretch of his anchor leg and then stopped with 120m left in the race. The three previous legs for the Aggies included Gregory Coleman (46.7), Carlyle Roudette (44.7) and Shavez Hart (45.6).
A 3:01.26 earned the win for the Gators over a 3:02.81 by LSU. The rest of the field included Cornell (3:07.98), Notre Dame (3:08.60) and Texas (3:08.95). Other squads not finishing included Baylor and Texas Tech.
In the 100 meter finals the Aggie women finished 3-6-7 with the trio of Aaliyah Brown (11.20w), Ashton Purvis (11.44w) and Ashley Collier (11.47w). Winning the race was Morolake Akinosun of Texas in 11.10w with Kentucky’s Dezerea Bryant second in 11.13w.
Jennifer Madu ran in the women’s Invitational 100 and placed fourth with an 11.41w while Porscha Lucas finished runner-up with an 11.25w.
Prezel Hardy, Jr. placed sixth in the men’s 100 with a 10.24. The race was claimed by Baylor freshman Trayvon Bromell who equaled the world junior record with a 10.01 (1.5 wind). Clemson’s tandem of Reggie Lewis (10.15) and Tevin Hester (10.16) placed second and third with Southern’s Devin Jenkins (10.19) and Florida’s Antwan Wright (10.20) placing fourth and fifth.
Three fouls knocked Dalton Rowan out of the discus, which was won by Jamaican Fedrick Dacres at 219-0 (66.75) with collegiate record holder Julian Wruck of UCLA placing second at 213-3 (65.01).
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics