HOUSTON – Texas A&M compiled 20 victories during the second day of the Houston Alumni Invitational, split evenly with 10 wins each for the men and women, as the Aggies swept the team titles in the scored meet.
With 259 points the Texas A&M men finished ahead of a six-team field with Houston runner-up at 184.5, followed by Rice (34), Lamar (26), Houston Baptist (25.5) and Tulane (8). The Aggie women produced 267 points to finish ahead of Houston (147), Rice (54), Houston Baptist (44), Tulane (34) and Lamar (25).
“It was a great day in the Yukon, that’s what it felt like here today,” quipped Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. “This was as cold as it has been in quite a while for us to have a competition. We still got some things done, so I’m proud of the group. The conditions were bad, but we got through this one.”
Amid a chilly day on which the temperature dropped from 62 to 54 degrees over the course of the meet, Texas A&M produced some stellar marks in the windy and wet conditions. Standout performances included Sammy Watson with a 2:03.94 victory in the 800m, Audie Wyatt clearing 18-0 ½ in the pole vault and Devin Dixon winning the 400m in 46.19.
“Big highlights for me were Sammy Watson in the 800, Audie Wyatt in the pole vault and Devin Dixon in the 400,” noted Henry. “All of those were tough to do in these conditions.”
Watson produced the second fastest time by a collegian this season behind a leading 2:03.92 from Miami’s Kayla Johnson. Waton’s effort makes her the No. 2 performer with the No. 5 performance on the Texas A&M all-time list.
Wyatt needed three attempts to clear his opening height of 16-10 ¾ (5.15), then passed to 17-6 ½ (5.35) where he needed only one attempt. Wyatt needed two attempts at 17-10 ½ (5.45) while he managed 18-0 ½ on one try. Raising the bar to 18-2 ½ (5.55), Wyatt had three misses.
“Today was more of a mental competition than anything,” said Wyatt. “You’re really competing against yourself and the weather was really cold and wet. Plus the winds weren’t really with us. Coach Brady said to have some fun and work on some things. That made me think about it more and I was able to make 18 feet on a short run.”
Dixon ran well in the 400 as he faced a field that included Houston’s Kahmari Montgomery, a former SEC 400m champion when he was at Missouri, as well as Tulane’s Raymond Kibet. After running on three relays at the Texas Relays a week ago, Dixon’s lone race resulted in a comfortable victory at 46.19. Kibet finished second in 46.59 while Montgomery was third at 47.10.
“I’m really happy with the time I produced in these conditions,” stated Dixon. “The wind when we reached the homestretch was very crazy. I tried pushing through it as best I could to win the race.
“Running an open 400 as my only race is basically my break. It’s good to have a break once in a while and come back refreshed and better.”
On the weekend, the Aggies swept men’s and women’s top honors in nine events, including the 4×100 and 4×400 relays.
Texas A&M started Saturday’s track session with winning times of 45.26 and 40.63 in the sprint relays as Houston was runner-up in each race with a 45.50 and 40.88. The Aggie women’s 4×100 crew included Diamond Spaulding, Julia Madubuike, Virginia Kerley and Jarra Owens. The men’s 4×100 squad consisted of Will Williams, Jace Comick, Seth Page and Bryce Deadmon.
Wrapping up the meet with the 4×400 relay, Texas A&M went 1-2 in each race. For the men a winning time of 3:11.01 was produced by the foursome of Bryce Deadmon, Colby Zamzow, Richard Rose and Ilolo Izu. A runner-up effort of 3:15.45 was generated by Austin Warren, Infinite Tucker, Dewitt Thomas and Tyler Hart.
In the women’s 4×400 a winning time of 3:42.21 came from the quartet of Virginia Kerley, Brenessa Thompson, Jazmine Fray and Diamond Spaulding. A runner-up time of 3:50.91 included Gabrielle McDonald, Lauren Lawless, Brittany Parker and Valarie Bradley.
Field event sweeps for the Aggies included the high jump with Tyra Gittens (5-5 | 1.65), who won a jump-off with teammate Kirby Matocha, and Garrett Cragin (6-8 | 2.03); the triple jump with Ciynamon Stevenson (41-6w | 12.65) and Tahar Triki (52-3 ¼ | 15.93), who moved to No. 14 on the Aggie all-time list; and discus with Serena Brown (167-8 | 51.11) and Gabriel Oladipo (179-10 | 54.82).
Texas A&M also claimed a pair of wins in the 3,000m steeplechase as Rachel Bernardo clocked 11:22.53 to move to No. 8 on the Aggie all-time list and Raymond Gonzales won the men’s race in 9:19.73 with teammate Sam Erickson runner-up at 9:34.98.
The other event sweep on the track came in the 400 as Glorilisha Carter won the women’s race with a 54.94.
After her effort in the 5,000m on Friday, Lauryn Barrientos was the top collegian finisher in the 1,500 with a 4:43.73. She was followed by teammates Nikki Keys (4:43.79), Ashton Hutcherson (4:44.13) and Ashley Driscoll (4:45.27). Taylor Clayton ran 3:55.57 as runner-up in the men’s 1,500 with Zephyr Seagraves placing third in 3:57.19.
McDonald ran 13.56 to win the 100m hurdles with Chinyere Njoku and Zharia Moore both clocking 13.77 to finish second and third. Kennedy Smith won the second section in 14.02 to place fifth overall.
In the 400m hurdles a career best time of 51.11 earned Infinite Tucker the victory comfortably over Quivell Jordan of Houston (52.16) with Aggie Tyler Hart taking third in 52.17.
Kyree Johnson won the 200 in a windy 21.43 (2.9 wind) as he raced against Houston’s John Lewis (21.80) and Cameron Burrell (21.91). Another Cougar, Daniel Ford, had a wind-legal 21.77 (0.4 wind) from the next section to place second overall. Williams finished third in the 100 with a 10.55 as Houston’s tandem of Burrell (10.49) and Lewis (10.54) claimed first and second.
Oladipo also finished second in the shot put with a 56-8 (17.27) effort. Celine Markert placed second in the women’s shot put with a toss of 48-2 ½ (14.69) and was third in the discus with a mark of 143-10 (43.84).
Other runner-up performances for Texas A&M included Tyler Guillory in the 110 hurdles (14.21w), Jean Jenkins in the 800 (2:10.71), Alex Riba in the 800 (2:10.71), Taryn Milton in the long jump (19-3 ¼ | 5.87), Josh Brown in the discus (171-0 | 52.13), Jacob Wooten in the pole vault (16-10 ¾ | 5.15) and Alstian Walker in the high jump (6-6 | 1.98).
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics