
By: Tyler Pounds, Athletics Communications
NEW ORLEANS – Texas A&M’s multi-athlete Tyra Gittens earned United States Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Athlete of the Week honors after her record-breaking performance at the Southeastern Conference Championships.
Gittens scored 23 points at the conference meet claiming the heptathlon title, finishing runner-up in the open high jump and fourth in the open long jump. She earned the Commissioner’s trophy as the highest point scorer in the meet. It is the third consecutive conference meet she finished as top point scorer, dating back to the 2020 SEC Indoor Championships.
Already the collegiate record holder in the pentathlon, Gittens became the third best performer in collegiate history in the heptathlon with a 6,418 point performance. After a slow start in the 100m hurdles at 13.47 (w/3.0), she bounced back clearing 6-4.75 (1.95m) which matched the sixth-best performer in collegiate history and tied the all-time collegiate heptathlon best.
She concluded day one with a personal best 3,920 points. Gittens opened day two with a long jump mark of 22-10 (6.96m), the fourth-best performer in collegiate history, regardless if it happened in the open or within the confines of the multi. She finished with an SEC meet record total of 6,418 points.
Gittens cleared 6-2.25 (1.89m) to finish second in the open high jump and leaped out to 21-6.25 (6.56m) to place fourth in the open long jump.
This is the first time that Gittens has been named National Athlete of the Week during the outdoor season. Gittens earned an indoor honor back on February 2.
What They Are Saying
USTFCCCA
“What can’t Tyra Gittens do? When you mix what Gittens did in the high jump and long jump, no woman in history had done that before in a heptathlon. Read that again – history, like world history.”
World Athletics
“The heptathlon at the SEC Championships also saw some superb jumps results, with Trinidad & Tobago’s Tyra Gittens recording 6-4.75 (1.95m) in the high jump and 22-10 (6.96m) in the long jump for the highest scoring jumps combination in women’s combined events history.”