As the No. 2 Texas A&M women pulled away from No. 3 LSU for a 91-67 victory, the No. 3 Aggie men were tied with No. 2 LSU at 55 and 66 before claiming an 84-75 team win in front of 2,054 fans at Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium.
“It’s important for this group to know they are a national caliber team as well as a very good dual meet team,” Texas A&M coach Pat Henry said. “We always try to have a balanced track team.”
Jessica Beard and Gerald Phiri supplied sprint doubles to the Aggie effort. First in the 400, Beard’s signature event, the Aggie senior cruised to a 52.97 victory with freshman teammate Ibukun Mayungbe (54.54) in tow for second as Andrea Sutherland (54.67) competed an A&M sweep of the top three spots.
Beard then defeated an elite pair of sprinters in the 200 meters as she ran a career best of 22.95 seconds to better the 22.98 posted by A&M’s Jeneba Tarmoh (22.975) and LSU’s Samoy Hackett (22.980).
Beard established the collegiate leading marks in both the 200 and 400, moving to No. 3 on the Aggie all-time list in the one-lap race. Tarmoh, who ran 7.27 as runner-up in the 60, also set an indoor best in the 200.
“I felt like I had a lot left in my 400, I could have done more in the way I executed that race,” noted Beard. “I’m very pleased with my 200, though. That is my PR indoor or outdoor.
“The 200 shows that my 400 can be even better. I knew Hackett and Tarmoh were going to be fierce competitors in the 200. That helps my confidence in the shorter sprint race since I know they have a better start than I do in the 200 from experience.”
Phiri claimed the 60 in 6.63 with freshman teammate Prezel Hardy, Jr. runner-up in a personal best 6.67 as LSU’s Horatio Williams, the collegiate leader at 6.61, false started and was disqualified.
Phiri faced Williams again in the 200 and set a career best of 20.80. Williams placed second in 20.86 as A&M’s Tran Howell used a personal best of 21.05 to finish third.
“It’s exciting to win this dual meet and remain undefeated in the dual meets we’ve hosted here,” Phiri stated. “LSU is a great school and a great program. When you can go head-to-head with another quality program it’s amazing.
“Hopefully, we’ve kind of proven that LSU can be beaten. Things didn’t go so well against them in the Cotton Bowl, but LSU went down today.”
Aly Daily locked up the women’s team victory when she won the pole vault with a career best clearance of 12 feet, 11 inches. Teammate Emily Grant placed second with an 11-1 best and the eight points from the Aggie pair pushed A&M past the winning tally of 80 points needed for the team win. With two relay events remaining the Aggies led LSU 83-59.
“Besides clearing that height it felt awesome to be a contributor to the team,” Daily said. “I was a relaxed competition being in a dual meet. It almost felt weird how relaxed it felt. But once we moved up some heights it became competitive.
“Training has been going very well for me. I wanted to stay consistent today, especially after clearing 12-6. Then 12-11 felt great. I didn’t know what the next bar was going to be until they announced it would break the school record.
Daily’s mark makes her the No. 2 performer with the No. 4 performance all-time at Texas A&M while Grant moved to No. 8 on the list. Daily then had three attempts at breaking the school record 13-3.75 (4.06) set by Erican Boren in 2002 with a trio of misses at 13-4.25 (4.07).
An early blitz of points for the Aggie women included Natasha Ruddock returning to action on the track following an injury last May. She won the 60 hurdles in 8.29 ahead of teammate Gabby Mayo, who was second in 8.35.
“I was excited about coming back in my first race since having surgery in mid June,” noted Ruddock. “I was nervous, but I knew I had to go out there and give it my best.
“I couldn’t wait to get back on the track. I mid October I felt I was ready to go again after going through my rehap work. I’m very pleased with the time. Last year, when I was healthy, I ran 8.40 at this time. Now, not even 100 percent, I ran 8.29. So, I’m way ahead of schedule right now.”
The Aggie men won every track event except the 60 hurdles while the Tigers won each field event except the high jump.
Nugent Barrett clocked 7.75 in the 60 hurdles for LSU’s lone track win as A&M’s Wayne Davis II set his best mark as an Aggie (7.84) in second place.
Tied at 55 after the men’s shot put and long jump were scored, LSU pulled ahead after sweeping the pole vault, which was won by the Tiger’s Josh Dominiguez (16-8.75).
An Aggie 1-2 finish in the 5000, won by A&M’s Kevin Burnett (14:36.35) with Will Barry (14:44.35) second, created another tie, this time at 66 points with three events remaining.
Sweeping the high jump pushed the Aggies back in front as Cameron Alexander cleared a best of 6-11 for the win, the only field event claimed by Texas A&M on the men’s side.
Two relay victories followed for A&M as the distance medley relay posted a 10:14.42 victory, and the 4 x 400 lowered its world and collegiate leading time to 3:06.16.
The eight points from the high jump and 10 more from both relays locked up the dual meet victory for the Aggies, who claimed their third annual victory since first hosting an indoor dual in 2009.
The 4 x 400 crew consisted of Tran Howell (46.93), Tabarie Henry (46.18), Bryan Miller (46.58) and Michael Preble (46.48). They posted the fourth fastest time on the A&M all-time indoor list, improving the 3:06.49 they recorded last weekend.
Preble also took top honors in the 800 where is personal best of 1:50.14 moved to No. 4 on the Aggie all-time list as he bettered A&M school record holder Joey Roberts (1:50.41) while Oscar Ramirez finished third (1:51.58). Miller clocked 46.92 in the 400 as runner-up to teammate Demetrius Pinder, who won in 46.87.
Running on the Aggie distance medley relay were Wes Caceras (3:09.98), Seth Mabry (49.33), Sam Mutschler (1:52.44) and C.J. Brown (4:22.68).
Mile victories by the Aggies started the meet as Haley Parsons clocked 4:58.46 and Ethan Doherty won with a 4:13.51. Distance wins also included Katherine Devlin in the 5,000 as her 16:50.37 moves to No. 3 on the all-time list while Natosha Rogers was runner-up in 17:00.18, No. 7 all-time.
The women’s distance medley relay win in 11:59.18, No. 8 all-time at A&M, with a foursome that included Erica Parker (3:34.29), Brittany Machacek (56.40), Aliese Hyde (2:18.09) and Parsons (5:10.40). In the 4 x 400 LSU bettered the Aggies, 3:37.49 to 3:39.02.
Newcomer Lisa Steinkamp won the long jump in her debut with the Aggies as a 19-7 topped the field. In the shot put Jennifer Edwards claimed first with a toss of 46-7.75 while Nick Cook finished second in the men’s shot with a 51-11.