FINAL TEAM SCORES
Men: 1. Texas A&M 141; 2. Texas 137; 3. Baylor 97; 4. Stephen F. Austin 67.5; 5. UTSA 65.5; 6. UT Arlington 46; 7. Texas State 36; 8. Abilene Christian 9.
Women: 1. Texas A&M 168.5; 2. Baylor 128; 3. Texas 113; 4. Texas State 64; 5. UTSA 39.5; 6. Stephen F. Austin 28; 7. Abilene Christian 27; 8. UT Arlington 26.
COLLEGE STATION – In sweeping the titles at the Texas A&M Team Invitational in front of 2,091 fans on Saturday, the Aggie men defeated Texas by four points, 141 to 137, while the Aggie women dominated with 168.5 points over Baylor (128) and Texas (113) at the Gilliam Indoor Stadium.
Heading into this weekend the preseason USTFCCCA national team computer rankings had Texas women ranked No. 5 with the men No. 7 while Baylor women were No. 13 and men No. 27. The Texas A&M men ranked No. 11 while the Aggie women were No. 35.
“For the first meet of this year I’m pleased with the efforts and the things we were able to accomplish,” said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. “Plus it ended up being a great track meet on top of that.
“Team scores are really important to us and winning is important to us. But more important, sometimes, are the performances at this time of the year. I was pleased with our young people today, we had some young talent that really performed well.”
The men’s team score was tied at 131 each between Texas A&M and the Longhorns heading into the final event, the 4×400 relay. It had reached that deadlock after Aggie senior Jeff Bartlett heaved the winning shot put mark on his sixth and final attempt.
Bartlett’s effort of 57-5.5 (17.51), his career best indoors and equal to his outdoor best, bettered the previous leading mark of 57-2.75 by less than three inches as he moved from third to first place, which is a difference of four points.
In the deciding race for the team title the Aggies were in control of the 4×400 relay from the start as Robert Grant (47.40) and Mylik Kerley (45.78) established a split of 1:33.18 halfway through the race to lead Baylor (1:33.87) and Texas (1:35.50).
Richard Rose (46.08) maintained the edge for Texas A&M on the third leg while Fred Kerley (46.17) closed out the victory. Baylor finished second in 3:07.71 with Texas third at 3:11.93.
The Aggies bettered the meet record of 3:05.68 set in 2014 by the Texas A&M foursome of Shavez Hart, Aldrich Bailey, Deon Lendore and Carlyle Roudette. The current world-leading time of 3:05.41 is No. 7 on the Texas A&M all-time list and the No. 10 performance.
Kerley also won his second 200m race of the indoor season, posting a winning time of 20.87.
With 43 points from a combination of the 60 and 200 meters, the Aggie women scored 19 points in the shorter race with a 2-3-4 finish and then produced 24 in the 200 off a 1-2-3 sweep.
Teahna Daniels of Texas, the defending NCAA 60m champion and a winner here last season in a meet record of 7.26, won again with a time of 7.36. Then the trio of Amber Ivy (7.41), Aaliyah Brown (7.44) and Brenessa Thompson (7.48) claimed the next three places.
Danyel White led the Texas A&M sweep of the 200 with a 23.46 winning performance. She was followed by Diamond Spaulding (23.48), and Brown (23.58) while Ivy (23.65) placed a non-scoring fourth.
Jazmine Fray threatened another school record as she claimed the mile in a career best time of 4:44.87, taking down the meet record of 4:50.06 set by Natosha Rogers in 2012 and equaled by Baylor’s Maggie Montoya in 2016.
In her last race, in December, Fray broke the school record in the 1,000m. The school record she challenged in the mile is a 4:43.98 set by Hillary Montgomery in 2015.
After an early lead by Fray, Montoya took over the front position until Fray reclaimed the lead with a lap remaining. Fray withstood a late challenge from Mary Beth Hamilton of Texas, who finished second in 4:45.20, with Montoya clocking 4:45.88 in third place and Baylor’s Anna West in fourth at 4:49.98. All four bettered the previous meet record.
“I just wanted to try the mile out, just to see how well I could do,” noted Fray. “So, racing in the event for the first time and coming within a second of the school record was a really good day for me.
“Honestly, I don’t know any milers, so I didn’t know anyone in the field. I just wanted to do my normal race strategy. I went out in the lead and tried to pace it the best I could. Then Montoya was in front of me for the following three laps and I just wanted to stay with her. On the last lap I just did the best I could and started sprinting.”
Katie Willard finished fifth in 4:51.73, just 0.3 of a second off her career best set in December, while Katie Watson finished ninth with a career best of 4:54.54. Another pair of Aggies clipped five minutes for the first time as they went 1-2 in the first section of the mile. Haley Deakins won the race in 4:59.66 with Hannah Campbell runner-up in 4:59.88.
In the men’s mile it was freshman Jon Bishop securing the victory in 4:11.45, just off the meet record of 4:10.59 set by Oklahoma State’s Joshua Thompson a year ago. Bishop’s first mile as an Aggie had him using a strong kick in defeating Logan Emery of Texas (4:11.80) and UT Arlington’s Grant Copeland (4:12.55).
“I was really happy with the race since it was my first mile indoors,” said Bishop. “To come out with a PR and a win is really special to me. The atmosphere was different, with a lot of energy in the stadium, so that helped with my performance.
“I’ve been working hard with our training and it’s nice to see I can kick like that to win the race. Once you decide in your mind that you’re going to go for it, and you only have a lap to go, it feels good when you get the victory.”
Taylor Clayton won the first section of the men’s mile in 4:14.53 and that placed him fourth overall amid a field of 24 runners. Austin Wells finished eighth overall in 4:16.68.
Another Aggie frosh with a big performance was Jaevin Reed, who ran 53.80 to win the women’s 400m. That time is currently the world junior leader for the 2017 and No. 11 on the Texas A&M all-time list.
Baylor’s Leticia De Souza ran 52.68 in the same section as Reed, but was disqualified for breaking in to early on the first lap. Finishing behind Reed were another pair of Baylor Bears in Kiana Hawn (54.41) and Victoria Powell (55.11).
“I was really excited, because in high school my indoor best was 55 seconds,” noted Reed. “I was really shocked and excited, plus thankful that my hard work during the fall has paid off. I still have things to work on, particularly with my tactics in the race. I think I can improve a lot more from here.”
Austin Cook delivered another win in the weight throw after his Friday victory. A toss of 66-6 (20.27) topped the field while teammate Grady Young finished fifth with a mark of 57-1 (17.40) that moved him to No. 7 on the Texas A&M all-time list.
With a third-place finish Celine Markert became just the third Aggie female to surpass 50 feet in the shot put indoors as her attempt measured 50-7.5 (15.43), moving the sophomore to No. 3 on the Texas A&M all-time list. Markert’s best indoor effort a year ago was 44-11 and in December she improved to 47-2.5, and now has added another three-plus feet improvement.
The women’s weight throw had Alison Ondrusek (61-7.5) and Carissa van Beek (58-4.5) placing second and third for 14 Aggie points. Runner-up performances also included Garrett Cragin (6-9.75) in the high jump and Audie Wyatt (17-5.5) in the pole vault.
The women’s 4×400 unit finished second with a time of 3:34.90 behind Baylor’s 3:34.00. The Aggie foursome included Reed (54.30), Kadecia Baird (54.41), Fray (53.56) and Briyahna Desrosiers (52.64). The Bears anchored with De Souza, who split 51.83 for the win.
“Jazmine’s split on the relay after running the mile, what she did today, I’ve never seen happen before,” stated Henry. “I’ve never seen a miler run 4:44 to win the mile, then come back and be part of the mile relay and split 53. I’ve never seen that kind of athlete, she’s a special talent.”
Placing third in the meet were Kara Erickson (high jump 5-6.5) and Glorilisha Carter (long jump 18-2.25). Infinite Tucker (8.11) and Landon Malouf (8.14) finished third and fourth in the men’s 60m hurdles.
Brittany Parker (2:11.70) and Arin Rice (2:12.16) both moved into the Aggie top 10 for the 800m as they placed fourth and fifth, respectively. Parker is No. 8 and Rice is No. 10 on the all-time list.
Over 3,000m the distance crew produced impressive effort as Kelsie Warren (9:57.66) and Laura Craig (9:59.42) placed fourth and sixth. In the men’s race it was Jacob Perry (8:23.61) and Christian Farris (8:25.58) finishing fourth and fifth.
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics