By: Tyler Pounds, Athletics Communications
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – In front of nearly 1,300 fans, the Texas A&M men’s and women’s track & field teams wowed spectators winning ten events, including Tyra Gittens setting a school record in the heptathlon Saturday at E.B. Cushing Stadium to complete the two day invitational.
After finishing day one of the heptathlon with 3,869 points, Gittens continued to put on a show winning the heptathlon with a Texas A&M school record of 6,274 points. She bettered her previous school record by 200 points and currently leads the NCAA. Her point total makes her the seventh best performer in collegiate history.
The multi-athlete started the day scoring 1,062 points in the long jump at 21-10.75/6.67m (w/+3.6). Gittens opened the event with a wind-legal jump of 21-6/6.55m, which puts her as the No. 2 performer all-time in Aggie history. In round two she landed at 21-7.25/6.58m before soaring out to 21-10.75, both jumps exceeded the legal wind measurements of +2.0 to land on the all-time list.
Gittens followed by winning the javelin with a toss of 125-1/38.13m (631 points) and placed second in the 800m at 2:28.52 (712 points), finishing the day with a total of 6,274 points.
The Maroon & White continued to put on a show claiming multiple individual events and two relays. The men’s 4x100m relay of Ryan Martin, Lance Broome, Jace Comick and Emmanuel Yeboah blazed the track at a time of 39.91. Connor Schulman won the 110m hurdles with a wind-legal time of 14.00, breaking the previous facility record by .64 seconds.
Less than 10-minutes later, Syaira Richardson claimed the women’s 400m event title at a season best time of 52.42.
Texas A&M showed its dominance in the men’s 800m finishing five Aggies in the top six. Freshman Brandon Miller paced the way with a personal best and facility time of 1:48.25, his time is currently No. 2 in the Southeastern Conference. Senior Carlton Orange followed in second at a season best time of 1:48.40, while junior Moitalel Mpoke rounded out the top three at a time of 1:49.07.
Senior Devin Dixon finished fifth at 1:51.89, while freshman Caden Norris ran a personal best 1:51.91 to place sixth.
The women’s 4x400m finished the night off astonishing fans with a facility record time of 3:26.73. The Aggie quartet of Tierra Robinson-Jones, Syaira Richardson, Charokee Young and Athing Mu clocked the fourth fastest 4x400m time in Aggie history and the fastest all-time in a non-championship meet.
Lamara Distin highlighted the field events in day two by winning the women’s high jump at 6-0/1.83m, besting the facility record set the day before by teammate Gittens at 1.82m/5-11.5. It was the third time this season that Distin cleared 6-feet or higher.
Other notable performances in field events include Sean Clarke (pole vault) and Alessio Pirruccio (hammer throw) each recording Aggie all-time top-12 marks.
Clarke placed second in the pole vault at 17-9/5.41m, making him the eighth best performer in Aggie history. Pirruccio became the fifth best performer in the hammer throw with a toss of 185-8/56.60m.
Over the two-day competition, the Aggies recorded nearly 20 personal bests, won 10 events and set four Texas A&M all-time top-12 marks.
Up Next
Texas A&M travels to Waco to compete at the Michael Johnson Classic beginning Friday, April 16-17 at the Clyde Hart Track & Field Stadium.
Texas A&M Quotes
Head Coach Pat Henry
on Tyra Gittens:
“Tyra [Gittens] is the finest athlete that has been on this campus ever. She jumps 22-feet in the long jump, she high jumps 6-feet 4-inches and runs 13.14 in the hurdles, she is just an all-around great athlete. She set a new school record, leads the NCAA. It’s early in the year but she looks great.”
on the men’s 800m:
“You have a freshman that won the 800m tonight with a personal best 1:48.25. Brandon [Miller] is the kind of guy that if it would’ve taken 1:46, he would’ve won it. Moitalel [Mpoke] ran a personal best as well.”
on being able to host for the first time since April 27, 2019:
“I have been here 17 years and this is my third outdoor track meet to host at Texas A&M. It’s about building a culture for us right now. We lost that culture of people knowing you’re going to have a track meet, knowing it’s going to be good and having people show up and saying ‘I’m coming back’. It’s going to take some time. We have one of the best facilities in the United States and we just have to get people to understand what we’re doing, how we’re doing it and getting them in the door and I think they’ll come back.”