LEXINGTON – A pair of Aggies were crowned as conference individual champions Saturday during the final day of the SEC Indoor Championships held at Nutter Field House while the A&M men claimed the 4×400 for the third consecutive year.
In addition Texas A&M produced six runner-up performances as the men and women both finished third in team scoring. The Aggie men totaled 87 points behind Florida (114) and Arkansas (89) while the A&M women had 81.9 points following Arkansas (130) and Florida (86).
“There are some highs and some lows for us today,” said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. “I’m disappointed with a number of people and situations today, but on the other hand I’m elated with some people with what they did. We can’t have those kinds of situations in a big meet, we all need to be prepared and on the same page. To be third here today with both groups was a great meet for us, there is no question about it.”
Following the Aggie men were Mississippi (62), LSU (53), Alabama (49), Tennessee (48), Georgia (46), Auburn (34), South Carolina (31), Missouri (27) and Kentucky (22). Finishing behind the A&M women were Kentucky (76), LSU (51), Georgia (50), Mississippi State (36.7), Alabama (34), Missouri (32), Tennessee (22), Auburn (21), Vanderbilt (18.2), Mississippi (14.2) and South Carolina (9).
Hillary Montgomery and Grace Fletcher took control of the women’s 5,000 meters early and pulled away from the field. As they maneuvered their way through lapped runners in the latter half of the race, Montgomery won in 16:16.00 with Fletcher runner-up at 16:22.48.
“It’s so incredible for us to come out here and represent Texas A&M like that,” said Montgomery. “It’s amazing. We’ve all worked incredible hard and I’m so happy it paid off. Having Grace right behind me encouraged me to keep going with that pace.”
Karis Jochen added a couple of points with a seventh-place effort of 16:39.72, which is No. 7 on the A&M all-time list. The Aggies totaled 20 points in the event.
“Those two ladies are exactly what we have to have,” noted Henry. “They went out and took the lead, created a gap and ran their own race. Nobody could run with them, it was a great effort.”
Shamier Little dominated the 400 field with a 51.37 winning time over a 52.00 by Florida’s Kyra Jefferson in her section and the 52.03 from Taylor Ellis-Watson of Arkansas in the first section. For an oversized track Little produced the 10th fastest time ever on the world all-time list and is the third fastest collegian and second fastest American ever.
“It’s exciting to run that fast, a PR is always a great thing,” said Little. “I didn’t think much about the time from the first section I just wanted to run my race and win. Kyra is a 200 specialist so I know getting to the break is going to be tough between us. I didn’t panic about being in lane six where I couldn’t see her.”
The marks ahead of her on the collegiate and U.S. list for oversized tracks include a 51.13 by Hazel-Ann Regis of LSU, who is from Grenada, as well as a 51.15 by Texas A&M’s Jessica Beard. Regis set her mark on the Nutter track in 2004 while Beard produced hers during the 2010 Big 12 meet in Ames, Iowa.
“Shamier is a talent,” said Henry. “If she comes to the meet and says this is what I’m going to do, then she could do whatever she wants to do. She is a big time talent.”
Little finished third in the SEC Indoor 400 as a freshman last season and also claimed third at the NCAA Indoor. Later she claimed the SEC Outdoor 400 title before rolling along to multiple titles in the 400 hurdles that included the NCAA, US Juniors and World Juniors.
In the men’s 4×400 the Aggie crew of Gregory Coleman, Shavez Hart, Deon Hickey and Bralon Taplin chased down the Gators on the final lap to claim a third consecutive SEC Indoor title in the event. In running 3:03.75 Texas A&M broke the facility record of 3:04.22 set by Florida earlier this season.
The Gators were runner-up in 3:04.28 with LSU third at 3:05.05 and Alabama fourth in 3:08.23.
“To run 3:03 with that group of guys without your best leg, we proved some things today and ran with a lot of heart,” stated Henry.
The additional runner-up efforts for the Aggies included Brea Garrett in the weight throw, Bralon Taplin in the 400, Shavez Hart in the 200, Latario Collie in the triple jump and the men’s distance medley relay.
Garrett finished second in the weight throw at the SEC for the third consecutive year. Her mark of 72-3.5 (22.03) only trailed a 73-8 (22.45) toss from Missouri’s Kearsten Peoples, the current collegiate leader.
Following Garrett was a trio of Aggie throwers who each set a personal best. Alison Ondrusek placed sixth with a 61-3.5 (18.68), which is No. 4 on the A&M all-time list, while Carissa van Beek finished eighth with a mark of 60-0.25 (18.29), moving her to No. 7 at A&M. Shelbi Vaughan was 11th with a 56-6.5 (17.23) that is No. 10 all-time with the Aggies.
Taplin challenged for the title in the 400 as he posted a 45.52 behind a 45.37 from Florida’s Najee Glass while LSU’s Vernon Norwood placed third in 45.68. In the 200, Hart won his section in 20.90 and finished second overall after a 20.69 was posted by LSU’s Aaron Ernest. A&M’s Devin Jenkins finished sixth overall with a 21.07 that placed third in the same heat with Hart.
Collie engaged in another triple jump tussle with Florida’s Marquise Dendy and placed second with a 54-4 (16.56). Dendy, who won his third SEC Indoor long jump on Friday, claimed his first SEC Indoor title in the triple jump with a leap of 55-8.5 (16.98). Dendy produced that mark in the third round right after Collie improved from 52-4 to 54-4.
More A&M points came in the event from Olibanji Asekun, who had an indoor best of 51-9.75 (15.79) to place sixth. Jeffrey Prothro just missed making the final three rounds as he placed 10th with a 50-8.25 (15.45).
The men’s distance medley relay posted a time of 9:46.00 to earn second place and register the No. 10 time at A&M. Running on the relay were Cameron Villarreal, Carlyle Roudette, Gaines Kinsey and Isaac Spencer. Mississippi won the race in 9:43.87 while Missouri finished third in 9:46.65. The Aggies were runner-up two years ago and finished third in this race last season.
Chase Wolfle equaled the school record in the pole vault to place third as he lead an Aggie 3-4-5 finish for 15 points. Wolfle cleared 18-0.5 (5.50) to join Greg West (1990) and Richard McDonald (1998) as record holders.
In last year’s SEC Indoor meet Wolfle had a best of 17-11 for third place. In repeating his bronze medal performance, he made it over 17-3 on a second attempt, cleared 17-9.25 on his first attempt and then needed all three attempts to get over 18-0.5. Three misses at 18-3.75 (5.58) left him in third place.
Andrew Irwin of Arkansas won the pole vault with a clearance of 18-3.75 while Tennessee’s Jake Blankenship finished runner-up with the same height as misses at an earlier height broke the tie.
Also setting personal best marks in the vault were a pair of A&M frosh in Audie Wyatt (17-6.25) and Carl Johansson (17-3) as they finished fourth and fifth. The 3-4-5 Aggie finish earned 15 team points. Wyatt moves to No. 7 and Johansson is now No. 9 on the A&M all-time list.
As defending champion, Kamaria Brown won her section of the 200 in 23.03. Then she watched as Jefferson of Florida (23.012) and Kentucky’s Dezerea Bryant (23.015) both run 23.02 in the next section to take first and second. Brown, who won the SEC title in a school record of 22.50 last year, settled for third place while teammate Aaliyah Brown ran 23.61 for sixth place.
Kamaria and Aaliyah teamed up for the first two legs on the 4×400 as A&M placed third in 3:32.90 behind Arkansas (3:30.79) and Kentucky (3:31.43) while finishing ahead of Florida (3:34.28). Also running on the relay for the Aggies were Ashton Purvis and Shamier Little.
Points were also scored by A. Brown in the 60 as she equaled her career best of 7.28 for fourth place and Jennifer Madu ran 7.33 for fifth place.
Hector Hernandez neared the career best he set in the prelims of the 800 to place fourth in the final with a 1:48.96. Villarreal finished seventh in the mile with a 4:05.50. Austin Wells improved his indoor best to 14:24.25 to place 13th in the 5,000 meters.
Lindon Victor scored 5,330 points to finish seventh in the heptathlon and move to No. 6 on the A&M all-time list. Daniel Martin placed 12th with a point total of 4,985 as he produced a 2:30.98 to win the 1,000m by seven and a half seconds.
Kara Erickson cleared 5-7.75 for seventh place in the high jump. Jena Hemann and Annie Kunz both cleared 5-5.75 to finish in a five-way tie for eighth place.
The past two years the women’s distance medley relay placed 10th in the SEC meet, but an 11:34.84 earned eighth place from the crew of Fletcher, Ebony Crear, Katie Willard and Montgomery. They ran the fourth fastest time in school history.