COLLEGE STATION – With the NCAA Indoor Championships set to take place this Friday and Saturday on the Texas A&M campus, it will mark the third time the Aggies have served as host of the national track and field meet since 2009, the first year of Gilliam Indoor Stadium.
Each event contested at the NCAA Indoor will include the top 16 qualifiers, while relays feature the top 12 teams, from marks attained this season.
The elite fields gathered at Gilliam this weekend will include an American record holder as well as nine additional collegiate record holders from action in 2017. There are also 14 returning champions from 2016, seven each for the men and women.
“We’re glad the meet is here and we’re excited about hosting it,” said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. “We have a tremendous facility and an administration that is behind us. So, to bring a national championship here is an exciting time.”
Georgia’s Keturah Orji, who placed fourth in the Rio Olympics, broke the American and collegiate indoor record in winning the SEC triple jump two weeks ago with a mark of 46-11.75 (14.32). Orji is the defending NCAA Indoor triple jump champion and also has a pair of titles from the NCAA Outdoor meet.
Collegiate records set this indoor season on the women’s side include Oregon’s Hannah Cunliffe (7.07[A] in 60m), Sage Watson of Arizona (1:08.40 in 500m, will run 400m at NCAA), Texas A&M’s Jazmine Fray (2:00.69 in 800m), Kaela Edwards of Oklahoma State (2:40.79 in 1,000m, will contest mile), and Oregon’s distance medley relay (10:48.77).
Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry
Oregon’s Edward Cheserek returns as the defending NCAA Indoor champion in the 3,000m and 5,000m and also ran anchor leg on the Ducks winning distance medley relay in 2016. Cheserek, who recently broke the mile collegiate record with a 3:52.01 performance, has qualified in three individual events for this year’s encounter.
On the men’s side other collegiate records were established by UTEP’s Emmanuel Korir (1:14.97[A] in 600m, will race in 800m), Penn State’s Isaiah Harris (1:14.96 in 600m, will race in 800m), and Texas A&M’s 4×400 relay (3:02.52 and 3:02.39 on oversized track).
The Aggies have broken the collegiate record in the 4×400 relay three times since 2014 and have recorded the six fastest times in collegiate history on a banked 200m track and recently added the best time ever produced on an oversized track.
Heading into the NCAA Indoor meet, Texas A&M holds the collegiate (3:02.52, 2017), NCAA meet (3:02.86, 2015) and facility records (3:03.20, 2014) with three different marks from three different line-ups. This year’s Aggie relay crew will have an opportunity to unify all three records.
“I think we have a group that can run very fast,” noted Henry. “A lot of times, though, at the NCAA Championships winning the meet is more important than the time. It’s always that way. Indoors, with the running so tight, it just takes one or two bumps and you’re thrown off of what you’re really capable of running.
“There is some strategy involved here, we have to do some things right. If we do, then I think we have an opportunity to run real fast. We are the collegiate record holders, but I think we can run faster than our collegiate record.”
In addition to the record performances set this season by the NCAA Indoor entries, six current world indoor leaders highlight the national championship field. There are also nine U.S. leaders on the men’s side and six on the women’s side.
The group of world leaders includes Alabama’s Jereem Richards (20.34 oversized track in 200m), Tennessee’s Christian Coleman (20.46 on banked 200m), Fred Kerley of Texas A&M (45.02 in 400m, along with 44.94 on OT), Miami’s Shakima Wimbley (51.20 OT in women’s 400m), Oregon’s Edward Cheserek (3:52.01 mile), Texas A&M’s 4×400 relay (3:02.52, 3:02.39 OT), and Aggie women’s 4×400 (3:29.74).
The Aggies previously hosted the NCAA Indoor Championships in 2009 and 2011. A total of 18 Gilliam Indoor facility records remain from those two national championship encounters, 10 on the men’s side and eight women’s marks. Of 11 collegiate records established at Gilliam Indoor, five were attained during the two NCAA Championships the Aggies hosted.
Updated USTFCCCA rankings, which were based only on entries in the NCAA Indoor, have Texas A&M ranked fifth among the men and 10th amid the women.
The top 10 men’s squads include: 1. Florida, 2. Arkansas, 3. Oregon, 4. Georgia, 5. Texas A&M, 6. Alabama, 7. Virginia Tech, 8. Colorado State, 9. Colorado, and 10. Texas.
The top 10 women’s teams include: 1. Oregon, 2. Arkansas, 3. Georgia, 4. LSU, 5. Kentucky, 6. USC, 7. Alabama, 8. Mississippi, 9. Texas, and 10. Texas A&M.
The Aggie men have produced nine consecutive top 10 finishes at the national indoor meet with four top four finishes in that time span. The highest indoor finish has been second place on two occasions, tying for runner-up honors in 2010 and finishing second when Texas A&M hosted the meet in 2011.
On the women’s side the Aggies have nine top 15 finishes over the past 10 seasons, which includes a runner-up finish when Texas A&M hosted in 2009 along with fifth-place performances in 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014.
Current World Indoor Leaders
MEN
200: 20.46 Christian Coleman, Tennessee (20.34 OT, Jereem Richards, Alabama)
400: 45.02 Fred Kerley, Texas A&M (44.94 OT Kerley)
Mile: 3:52.01 Edward Cheserek, Oregon
4×400: 3:02.52 Texas A&M (3:02.39 OT Texas A&M)
WOMEN
400: 51.20 OT, Shakima Wimbley, Miami
4×400: 3:29.74, Texas A&M
NCAA Indoor – Returning 2016 Champions
MEN (7)
200: Christian Coleman, Tennessee
3000: Edward Cheserek, Oregon
5000: Edward Cheserek, Oregon
4×400: LSU
Distance Medley: Oregon
HJ: Trey Culver, Texas Tech
TJ: Clive Pullen, Arkansas
WOMEN (7)
60: Teahna Daniels, Texas
800: Raevyn Rogers, Oregon
Mile: Kaela Edwards, Oklahoma State
PV: Alexis Weeks, Arkansas
LJ: Quanesha Burks, Alabama
TJ: Keturah Orji, Georgia
Pent: Kendell Williams, Georgia
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics