LAWRENCE, Kansas – Texas A&M completed its track and field battalion with seven more individual entries and all four relays advancing to Hayward Field on the final day of action in the NCAA West Preliminary rounds at Rock Chalk Park on Saturday.
The Aggies will have a total of 33 entries, 17 for the No. 1 men’s team and 16 for the No. 5 women’s squad, in challenging for national team titles in Eugene. Texas A&M’s tally includes 31 athletes, 17 men in 11 events and 14 women in 10 events, competing on the national championship weekend, which will be held from June 8-11.
“I’ve been to some tough competitions and this one was extremely difficult with the weather delays and adjusted schedule,” said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. “That’s why I’m so pleased with this team. To advance the people we did and for them to compete the way they did, we just did a really good job.”
Texas A&M added a fourth event where they advanced three individuals. It was the men’s triple jump with the trio of Latario Collie (53-8 ½|16.37), Jeffrey Prothro (52-4 ½w|15.96) and Lathone Collie (52-2|15.90) as they finished second, ninth and 10th. Prothro moved up from his seed of 19th entering the event. A 53-11 (16.43) from Arizona State’s Tim White led the field.
A pair of Aggies advanced in the discus. Two-time defending champion Shelbi Vaughan secured her advancement with a toss of 182-0 (55.47) to finish seventh among the women’s field while Jeff Bartlett produced a career best 190-10 (58.16) to place sixth in the men’s field and move to No. 9 on the Texas A&M all-time list.
“A guy like Jeff keeps getting a little bit better with each competition,” noted Henry. “To throw 190-10 today was a huge throw for him. I think he’ll throw even better the next time he gets in the ring.
“Shelbi’s conditions were so tough that nobody threw really well. I know she was disappointed with what happened with the delay from Friday to Saturday. But this meet was about advancing and finishing in the top 12. Some performances suffered from time to time this weekend, but we did the things we needed to do.”
With the third flight of the women’s discus rescheduled for 9 a.m. on Saturday, Vaughan opened with a 182-0 toss and then followed with a pair of fouls. It was tough going for most of the field, evidence by current collegiate leader Kelsey Card of Wisconsin needing a third round throw of 176-3 (53.72) to place 10th among the top 12 advancing.
Bartlett opened with a throw of 179-5 (54.70) and hit 176-1 (53.67) in the second round. Then he unleashed his 190-10 to move from 12th to fifth place and then settled at sixth after the round was completed. His previous mark of 179-5 would have ended up 20th overall
The Aggies advanced both 4×100 relays with the women winning their heat in 43.74 while the men were runner-up in 39.60. In the 4×400 relays both crews were heat winners with the men clocking 3:04.55 while the women ran 3:29.14, the No. 8 performer on the Texas A&M all-time list.
In the women’s sprint relay the foursome of Jennifer Madu, Diamond Spaulding, Brenessa Thompson and Aaliyah Brown produced the fastest time among the 12 schools moving on to Eugene. Oregon had the second best time of 43.75 and were followed by USC (44.14), San Diego State (44.43), Arkansas (44.58) and Iowa (44.59).
With a foursome of Will Williams, Elijah Morrow, Robert Grant and Fred Kerley, the Aggie men finished second to TCU (39.50) and had the fifth best time overall. Houston led the field with a 39.14 over Arizona State (39.32), Arkansas (39.45), TCU, Texas A&M and Texas (39.62).
The women’s 4×400 had some searing times. First USC ran an unopposed 3:26.73, the No. 9 time by a school, over Iowa (3:30.97) and Kansas State (3:32.16)
Then the second heat came down to the anchor legs of Arkansas and Texas with Razorback Taylor Ellis-Watson splitting 50.04 to hold off Longhorn Courtney Okolo, who split 49.86. Arkansas won the heat in a world-leading 3:25.48 over a 3:25.59 for Texas with Arizona (3:32.53) third. The Razorbacks produced the No. 4 time by a school with the seventh fastest performance.
In the final section Texas A&M held off the challenge from Oregon and Stanford with a 50.71 anchor leg by Shamier Little to produce its 3:29.14. The Ducks were second in 3:29.74 with the Cardinal third at 3:31.13. Running the first three legs for the Aggies were Briyahna Desrosiers (51.3), Jarra Owens (53.7) and Jazmine Fray (53.42).
Texas A&M men controlled their section of the 4×400 as the foursome of Deon Hickey (47.4), Fred Kerley (45.0), Donavan Brazier (46.54) and Robert Grant (45.56) established an early lead as they cruised to a 3:04.55 to better Arkansas (3:05.62) and BYU (3:05.79)
Other 4×400 sections winners included SFA (3:03.56) over Baylor (3:04.40) and Nebraska (3:04.40) along with Utah State (3:04.48) finishing ahead of Texas Tech (3:04.87) and Arizona (3:05.44)
After 4×100 relay duty in the morning, the tandem of Thompson and Brown advanced on time in the 200m while Spaulding just missed by 0.05 of a second.
Thompson clocked a career best of 22.99 (1.2 wind) for third in her heat as she moved to No. 11 on the Texas A&M all-time list and improved her Guyana national record from the 23.19 she recorded during the SEC Championships.
Brown posted a 23.12 (-0.6 wind) as runner-up to Morolake Akinosun of Texas (22.81) while Spaulding finished third in the race with a 23.27. The cutoff for advancement was a 23.22.
In the men’s 200, Morrow ran 20.91 (0.0 wind) as runner-up, but didn’t advance on time. He finished 19th overall among the field of 48.
Bartlett also contested the shot put after the discus and his mark of 56-8 ½ (17.28) placed 35th. Alex Riba ran 3:49.61 to place eighth in the first heat of the 1,500m and he finished 36th overall. A mark of 39-10 by Anriel Howard in the women’s triple jump placed her 38th.
NCAA Championships – Aggies advancing to Eugene (Saturday additions in bold)
MEN (17 athletes, 11 events, 17 entries)
400m: Fred Kerley
800m: Donavan Brazier, Hector Hernandez
400m Hurdles: Robert Grant
4×100: Texas A&M (Will Williams, Elijah Morrow, Robert Grant, Fred Kerley)
4×400: Texas A&M (Deon Hickey, Fred Kerley, Donavan Brazier, Robert Grant)
Pole Vault: Chase Wolfle, Carl Johansson, Jacob Wooten
Long Jump: Will Williams
Triple Jump: Latario Collie, Jeffrey Prothro, Lathone Collie
Discus: Jeff Bartlett
Javelin: Ioannis Kyriazis, Sam Hardin
Decathlon: Lindon Victor
WOMEN (14 athletes, 10 events, 16 entries)
100m: Brenessa Thompson, Jennifer Madu, Aaliyah Brown
200m: Brenessa Thompson, Aaliyah Brown
400m: Briyahna Desrosiers
800m: Katie Willard, Jazmine Fray
400m Hurdles: Shamier Little
4×100: Texas A&M (Jennifer Madu, Diamond Spaulding, Brenessa Thompson, Aaliyah Brown)
4×400: Texas A&M (Briyahna Desrosiers, Jarra Owens, Jazmine Fray, Shamier Little)
Discus: Shelbi Vaughan
Javelin: Maggie Malone, Audrey Malone, Madalaine Stulce
Heptathlon: Annie Kunz
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics