Among a baker’s dozen victories by the Aggies on Saturday during the Texas A&M Challenge, a pair of school records fell to Michael Preble in the 600 yards and Joey Roberts over 800 meters while Gerald Phiri matched his school record in the 60 meters.
The Big 12, led by 13 wins from the Aggies, swept both team titles with the combination of Texas A&M, Baylor and Nebraska in front of 2,203 fans at Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium.
In the men’s team scoring the Big 12 totaled 329 points to finish ahead of the Pac-10 (140), Conference USA (107.5) and SEC (81.5). For the women’s tally the Big 12 reached 297 points to better the Pac-10 (176), SEC (119) and Conference USA (60).
The Pac-10 schools included Arizona, Arizona State and USC. The SEC had Alabama women, Mississippi State and Tennessee. Comprising the Conference USA were Houston, Rice and UTEP.
“This is the last meet before conference, and we put a little bit of pressure on some people to do some things today,” noted A&M head coach Pat Henry. “We talked about taking a chance, and we also talked about consistency. We had some people do all three of those things today. That turned into a nice team performance.”
Preble won the 600 yards in 1:08.50 to better the previous school record of 1:09.18 set by Travis McAshan at the 2000 Big 12 meet. Preble’s previous best in the event was 1:09.62, which was set last January.
The collegiate record in the event is 1:08.26 set by Roddie Haley of Arkansas in 1987 and a hand-timed 1:08.2 by Michigan State’s Rob Cassleman in 1973.
Preble’s effort places him among the top five collegiate marks all-time in this event and equals 11th all-time among Americans. In addition to the school record Preble broke the meet record of 1:10.53 set in 2009 by Brandon Washington of Texas Tech and the Gilliam facility record of 1:08.51 set by Tevan Everett of Texas in 2009.
“We’ve been working hard at that distance, since I want to get points in that event at Big 12,” said Preble. “So I wanted to put a big mark out there to set it up for conference. Setting a record in the process was pretty cool.
“I like both the 400 and 800. The 600 falls in the middle of the work I do for those events, but it’s completely different race. It’s still a sprint compared to what I do in the 800. I like being in the middle distances, it’s a good fit for me.”
Later in the meet Preble anchored the Aggie 4 x 400 to a NCAA Division I leading time of 3:05.48 as he split 46.27.
Already the school record holder in the 800, Roberts won with a 1:49.15 that bettered his mark of 1:49.47 that he set in December. A strategic race found Roberts leading a 1-2-3 sweep of the event by the Big 12 as Nebraska’s Tommy Brinn (1:49.20) finished second with Baylor’s Gavyn Nero (1:49.72) third.
“We’re trying to have a balanced team all the time,” said Henry. “Now we’re starting to step it up. I’m extremely pleased with our half milers. We have some half milers who are going to be factors for us at conference.”
Another middle distance runner just missing a school record in the women’s 800 was Aliese Hyde. The Aggie frosh clocked an impressive 2:08.63 to win her section and place fourth overall in a talented field of 800 runners. Her time is No. 2 on the A&M all-time list, just trailing a 2:07.27 school record set by Angeles Pantoja in 2002.
For the second time this season and the fourth time during his Aggie career Phiri has recorded a 6.59. Phiri first ran the time during a home meet in January of 2009 and again in the prelims of the NCAA Indoor meet hosted by A&M in 2009. Then he repeated it this season as runner-up to Oklahoma’s Mookie Salaam (2011) in late January.
This time Phiri used the 6.59 to control the field and record a comfortable victory. Later in the meet Phiri doubled his pleasure by extending his winning streak in the 200 to four meets with a 20.95 effort.
Finishing behind Phiri in the 60 was teammate Prezel Hardy, Jr., who clocked 6.63 with Mississippi State’s D’Angelo Cherry third in 6.71.
In the 200 Phiri bettered Tavaris Tate of Mississippi State (20.99) and Baylor’s Whitney Prevost (21.07). Aggie Tran Howell placed fourth in 21.10 while Hardy improved his best in the 200 to 21.18 for eighth place.
Winners for the Aggies also included a combination of career best marks or those who just missed a personal best by a whisker.
Melvin Echard had his best indoor long jump in winning with a 25-1.25, which is No. 6 all-time at A&M. Ethan Doherty moved to No. 8 at A&M in the 1000 (2:27.88), while Will Barry lowered his PR in the mile by a couple of seconds with a gutsy 4:10.10 effort.
Jessica Beard claimed the 400 in 52.52, which is the 11th fastest time she has run indoors as an Aggie.
Bryan Miller blistered his section of the 400 in 46.48, just 0.01 off his career indoor best and claimed the top time over teammates Tabarie Henry (46.58) and Demetrius Pinder (46.74) who went 1-2 in the last section of the 400 and finished second and fourth overall.
Running the first three legs of the A&M 4 x 400 were Tran Howell (46.93), Demetrius Pinder (46.20) and Tabarie Henry (46.10). They enjoyed a challenge from Baylor’s quartet of Whitney Prevost (47.20), Marcus Boyd (45.79), James Gilreath (46.80) and Zwede Hewitt (46.14), who placed second in 3:05.92.
Jeneba Tarmoh cruised the 60 in 7.29 while Dominique Duncan out leaned two other sprinters to win the 200 with a career best of 23.14. Baylor’s Tiffany Townsend (2.153) and Arizona State’s Jasmine Chaney (23.160) were both timed in 23.16. Duncan also set a PR in the 60 with a 7.34 that was runner-up to Tarmoh.
Texas A&M closed out the meet with a pair of victories in the men’s distance medley relay and the 4 x 400 relay. The DRM posted a winning time of 10:01.03 with the foursome of Nathan Parker (3:02.93), Seth Mabry (48.60), Wes Caceras (1:58.82) and Kevin Burnett (4:10.69).