TUSCALOOSA – The SEC Track & Field Championships, hosted by the University of Alabama this weekend at the Sam Bailey Stadium, will feature a majority of the top teams in the nation as they contend for a conference team title.
Top-ranked Texas A&M men, who have held the No. 1 position for the past month, are followed by Florida (No. 2), LSU (No. 3), Arkansas (No. 4), Georgia (No. 6) and Alabama (No. 9). On the women’s side the No. 1 position is held by Kentucky, followed by Arkansas (No. 2), Florida (No. 6), LSU (No. 7), Texas A&M (No. 10), Georgia (No. 11) and Tennessee (No. 13).
“Every team coming into this championship is chasing a title,” said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. “Everybody in the SEC is competitive. That’s one thing you learn quickly about the Southeastern Conference. If you win the team title, it’s because you did everything right.
“The SEC Championships is the best track meet in the country, bar none. This is a team championship, which involves 30 people from each institution per team. We’re looking forward to it, I think both our teams feel good about themselves.”
The meet begins Thursday and concludes on Saturday. Live coverage of the meet is available online through SEC Network + on Friday (6:25 p.m.) and Saturday (2:55 p.m.), with a recap show airing Sunday at 2 p.m. on ESPN2. Live results are available online at http://primetimetiming.com/2016/SEC/.
Leading the Aggies are four returning individual champions in Aaliyah Brown (100m), Shamier Little (400m hurdles), Shelbi Vaughan (discus), and Ioannis Kyriazis (javelin). Texas A&M is also the defending champion in the men’s and women’s 4×100 relays.
Entering the meet as collegiate leaders in their events are Fred Kerley, with a 45.10 in the 400m, and Kyriazis, who has a best of 268-7 in the javelin.
Conference leaders for the Aggies include Chase Wolfle and Audie Wyatt, who share the Texas A&M school record with 18-6 ½ clearances in the pole vault, Latario Collie with a wind-aided mark of 54-10 ¼ in the triple jump, Little with a 55.14 in the 400m hurdles, Vaughan with a 199-3 toss in the discus and Maggie Malone with a 198-0 mark in the javelin.
Texas A&M men and women have produced top three finishes in each of the three SEC Outdoor Championships they have contested. The Aggie women claimed the team title in 2013, finished third in 2014 and placed second last year. After placing third in 2013 the Texas A&M men captured the 2014 title and finished in a tie for second last season.
Florida won the men’s title in 2015 while Arkansas and the Aggies tied for second place with LSU finishing fourth. On the women’s side Arkansas claimed a second consecutive title with Texas A&M runner-up ahead of Kentucky and LSU.
“The SEC is this way, you can go in with a really good team,” noted Henry. “But if you make two or three major mistakes and then you don’t have a really good team anymore. That can happen very quickly.”
Vaughan and Little have both won a pair of NCAA titles in their respective events. Vaughan has also claimed three consecutive SEC discus titles, setting conference meet records of 208-8 and 211-8 the past two seasons. Vaughan and Alabama’s Beth Mallory, who won three SEC discus titles from 2004 to 2006, are the only two throwers who have claimed three consecutive discus titles in the conference meet.
In Little’s freshman season she won the 400m title (51.06) and placed third in the 400m hurdles (56.01). She claimed the 400m hurdle title as a sophomore with a then school record performance of 54.68 seconds.
Dating back to 2007, the Aggie women have claimed nine consecutive 4×100 titles in conference meets, which includes six in the Big 12 and three in the SEC. Last season a winning time of 42.61 by Texas A&M broke the meet record of 42.80 set by LSU in 2008. Lead-off leg Jennifer Madu and anchor leg Brown return and the relay this season has included a trio of freshmen in Krystal Sparling, Diamond Spaulding and Brenessa Thompson.
Texas A&M relays have fared quite well in the SEC, holding conference meet records in three of the four events. In addition to the women’s 42.61 record in the 4×100, the Aggie men posted a record of 38.50 in the 4×100 and 3:01.19 in the 4×400 during the 2014 meet.
As runner-up in the triple jump a year ago Collie broke the conference record with a wind-legal mark of 56-4 ½ (17.18) in his series while his best effort was a windy 56-7 ¼ (17.25). Kryazis won the javelin title as a freshman as his final throw reached a distance of 257-3 (78.41) which bettered the defending champion, Kentucky’s Raymond Dykstra, final round effort of 254-8 (77.63).
Malone broke the Aggie school record in the javelin this spring with a 198-0 (60.36) effort and her undefeated season includes another pair of marks that surpassed 190 feet, 193-10 and 190-10. A fourth-place finisher in the SEC last year, Malone leads a Texas A&M crew of five throwers in the event, which includes younger sister Audrey Malone (171-7), Kristen Clark (164-11), who placed third a year ago, Madalaine Stulce (162-2) and Krystyn Bradley (160-7).
In addition to the conference leaders heading into the conference championships, the Aggies also have a group who rank second or third. This includes the men’s 4×100 (39.02) and 4×400 (3:02.96) units who are second to LSU’s times of 38.93 and 3:00.83. On the women’s side Texas A&M has posted times of 43.20 and 3:30.12, which both rank third in the SEC.
Robert Grant has run 49.73 in the 400m hurdles, which is second only to a 49.45 by Florida’s Eric Futch. Will Williams ranks third in the long jump with a mark of 25-9 ¼ (7.85).
In the 800m, a pair of school records were set by Hector Hernandez (1:46.29) and Jazmine Fray (2:03.25) this season and each ranks third in the SEC. In previous conference meets Hernandez finished fourth in 2013 and second in 2014.
Thursday’s action begins at 10:30 a.m. with the decathlon, followed by an 11 a.m. start for the heptathlon. Prelims on the track begin at 1 p.m. and include the 800m, 200m, and 400m hurdles. Finals in the hammer start at 4 p.m. for the women and 7 p.m. for the men. Running finals in the 10,000m will be held at 9:30 p.m. for the women and 10:10 p.m. for the men.
Last month Annie Kunz improved her heptathlon score to 5,904 points in winning the California Invitational, which qualified her for the Olympic Trials. Now she takes aim on the Texas A&M school record of 6,022 points held by her roommate, Jena Hemann.
Kunz ranks fourth among the SEC heading into the heptathlon. Arkansas has the top two scores with Taliyah Brooks (5,991) and Payton Stumbaugh (5,985) while Georgia’s Kendell Williams (5,957) is third. Joining Kunz in the multi-event is Shaina Burns, who ranks ninth in the conference with her score of 5,022 points.
Lindon Victor competes in the decathlon for the Aggies. The event is led by Georgia’s Kari Saluri with 8,108 points while Bulldog teammate Devon Williams ranks second with a 7,928 tally. Victor’s best score in the decathlon is 7,453 points from his seventh-place finish at the Pan Am Games last summer.
In leading the California Invitational decathlon through the first day with 4,092 points, Victor improved upon the 3,895 points he scored on the first day of the Pan Am Games. He didn’t finish the second day, though, after three fouls in the discus.
Competing in the women’s hammer for Texas A&M are Alison Ondrusek, who placed third last year, along with Carissa van Beek and Vaughan. Racing in the 10,000m finals for the Aggies are Karis Jochen, who finished fifth a year ago, and the tandem of Austin Wells, third in 2014, and Christian Farris on the men’s side.
Head coach Pat Henry
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics