AUSTIN – Texas A&M’s battalion heading to Eugene for the NCAA Championships grew larger on the final day of the NCAA West Preliminary rounds at Myers Stadium on Saturday.
With six more entries advancing for the No. 1 men and five more for the No. 5 women, the Aggies will have a total of 30 athletes with 32 entries amid 23 events at Hayward Field. For the men that includes 18 entries by 18 athletes in 14 events while the women have 14 entries from 12 athletes in nine events.
“We did exactly what we wanted to try to do and a little bit more,” said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. “There were really a lot of great things to happen four our team here. It’ll be another competitive meet in two weeks.”
The Aggies were one of three schools in the NCAA West to advance all four relays to the NCAA Championships, with the other two schools being Arkansas and Baylor. From the NCAA East, three teams – Alabama, Florida and LSU – advanced all four relays as well.
Texas A&M registered a season best 38.78 in the 4×100 while in the 4×400 they lowered their world-leading time to 3:00.69, the fourth fastest time in school history.
Fred Kerley anchored the sprint relay to victory after legs by Will Williams, Jace Comick and Elijah Morrow. Texas A&M bettered Oregon (38.94) in their heat and had the second fastest time overall behind a 38.77 from Arkansas.
In the 4×400, the Aggies cruised to their fourth world-leading effort this sprint with the line-up of Richard Rose, Fred Kerley, Robert Grant (45.30) and Mylik Kerley (45.29). Runner-up to Texas A&M was USC (3:04.65), while the next fastest times over all belonged to Iowa (3:02.57), UTEP (3:03.15) and Baylor (3:03.33).
“We came here to qualify and we have a lot of people qualified,” said Mylik Kerley. “Even a couple of guys who some people wouldn’t have thought they could qualify. It’s good for all of us. We were going for under 3 minutes in the relay, but we didn’t get it today even though we ran another world-leading time.”
On the women’s side the Aggies clocked 43.23 in the sprint relay and 3:29.18 in the 4×400. In the 4×100, where Oregon and USC were disqualified, the Texas A&M women ran the leading time with a line-up of Brenessa Thompson, Jaevin Reed, Diamond Spaulding and Aaliyah Brown.
In the 4×400, the Aggie women finished second to Texas (3:28.30) in their heat and fourth overall with a crew of Bryahna Desrosiers (53.1), Kadecia Baird (52.0), Glorilisha Carter (52.41) and Jazmine Fray (51.66). USC (3:26.09) and Oregon (3:28.28) posted the top times.
Jeffrey Prothro triple jumped a career best of 53-0 ¾ (16.17), moving to No. 7 on the Aggie all-time list, and placed sixth in the NCAA West field to advance to Eugene. Opening with a 50-10 ¾ (15.51) mark, Prothro produced his best jump in round two. Then he finished with a 52-9 ½ (16.09).
“When I found out this meet would be in Austin, I was very excited and wanted to take advantage of the facility,” noted Prothro. “I’m very happy to move on. After finishing second at SEC I felt I had a target on my back since some other guys were not very happy. Coming out here I felt I had something to prove, so advancing is a great accomplishment for me.”
Later in the meet Garrett Cragin cleared 7-0 ½ (2.15), to finish in 10th place and advanced to Eugene as well. Clearing 7-0 ½ on his first attempt was vital for Cragin, who needed two attempts at 6-8 ¾ (2.05) and 6-10 ¾ (2.10).
When the bar went to 7-1 ¾ (2.18), six jumpers cleared and seven missed all three attempts. Cragin was among four jumpers who missed at 7-1 ¾, but had made 7-0 ½ on one attempt to secure a trip to the NCAA Championships.
“It’s huge how well we’ve been qualifying to Eugene this weekend,” said Cragin. “I knew I had to clear 7-0 ½ on one attempt to be in the mix after missing at the two previous heights.”
Alex Riba finished sixth in his heat of the 1,500m and advanced to the Championship field on time with a 3:48.89. He entered the meet with the 47th best time among the NCAA West.
“Riba has come into his own a little bit and he’s running a smart 1,500m,” noted Henry. “It’s nice to see that kind of thing happen when nobody thinks you can advance and all of sudden here you are.”
The trio of Brown, Spaulding and Thompson raced in adjacent lanes of their 200m heat and swept the top three places to earn auto qualifiers. Brown led the crew with a 22.60w, followed by Spaulding’s 22.65w with Thompson at 22.86w (2.4 wind).
“It felt like practice with all three of use in the same heat,” noted Thompson. “We were just trying to qualify.”
Brown added: “It’s was great for us to advance in the 100 yesterday and then come back and advance the 4×100 and in the 200 today. It was fun to race in the same heat of the 200, we know at practice we work hard against each other. So we came out here, raced and put it all together and made it.”
Spaulding moved to third leg on the 4×100 for the Aggies while Thompson moved to the opening leg.
“I just wanted to make sure I made it in an individual event since I didn’t last year,” said Spaulding. “Running third leg felt kind of natural, but I’ve never run third leg before. We proposed the switch of relay legs after the SEC meet, and the next day we were practicing handoffs with a new relay order.”
Morrow also advanced in the men’s 200 as he finished third for an automatic spot with a time of 20.41w (4.2 wind).
“I want to contribute to the team more than just a relay race this year,” stated Morrow. “I’m looking forward to being in the finals at nationals.”
Lajarvia Brown, competing in her first meet since early April, produced a career best of 42-10 ¾ (13.07) in the triple jump to place 14th, missing 12th place by a quarter of an inch. Brown moves to No. 10 on the Aggie all-time list.
Chinyere Njoku raced to a season best of 13.29w (2.4 wind) in the 100m hurdles to place sixth in her heat and 15th overall as she missed the last time qualifier by 0.09.
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics