COLLEGE STATION – Texas A&M sprinter Jeneba Tarmoh placed second in the women’s 200 with a career best equaling time of 22.88 seconds. Meanwhile, the Aggie men led the field in qualifying for tomorrow’s finals from Friday’s prelim races before a crowd of 4,483 fans at Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium.
Tarmoh won her section, but couldn’t better the 22.85 posted by LSU’s Kimberlyn Duncan in the other section of the 200. A&M’s Dominique Duncan finished fifth in 23.03 after she placed third in the section claimed by LSU’s Duncan.
The 12 points from Tarmoh and Duncan have the Aggies in fifth place behind Oregon (26), Texas (23), LSU (19) and Tennessee (16) through seven finals.
In qualifying races for the women A&M has very solid performances from Jessica Beard and Gabby Mayo.
Beard lowered her school record to 51.64 in leading the qualifying of the 400 as she recorded the ninth-fastest time by an American collegian indoors. Beard was the only runner to post a sub 52-second time as has been the case coming into the meet.
“I felt great, it didn’t feel like my PR,” noted Beard. “I’m anxious and just ready to see what I have for tomorrow.”
Mayo proved prognosticators wrong in the 60 hurdles as she sped to a season best of 8.09 to win her heat and place third among the eight qualifiers for Saturday’s final. Mayo, who holds the school record at 8.05, lowered her season best from an 8.15.
“I’ve never just had a week of just practicing the hurdles, so I think that helped a lot,” Mayo said. “My approach was the thing we worked on the most, so once I got that down pact the rest was just easy.”
Texas A&M men didn’t factor in the finals on the first day of the NCAA Indoor, but did lead the qualifying from Friday’s prelim races with five entrants to the finals of the 60, 400, 800 and 60 hurdles. Next best was Florida with three.
Brigham Young and Florida State leads the men’s scoring through six events as they each totaled 24 points. BYU capped the evening running events with a victory in the distance medley relay. Florida State’s Ngonidzashe Makusha won the long jump, the final field event of the night.
While leading the qualifying with its five entrants, the Aggie men experienced some highs and lows.
A high came from Michael Preble breaking the school record in the 800 heats with a 1:47.88 runner-up effort to Alabama’s Fred Samoei (1:47.80). But a heart-breaking moment for Joey Roberts was experienced when he was disqualified from the event for a false start, which is very rare in the 800.
“We were both trying to make it back into finals,” said Preble, who ran a faster time of 1:47.27 on the oversized, 300-meter track at Iowa State last weekend. “I managed to have a good race and make it back for tomorrow. So I’ll try to make it happen then. I’m just going out and trying to win it, just trying to get as many points as I can for the team.
“It’s awesome running on our home track. You can hear everyone cheering for you and everything like that. It’s awesome to have fans supporting you and having your back.”
In the men’s 60 Gerald Phiri nearly matched his school record for the fifth time, as his 6.60 placed him third in his heat and sixth fastest among the finalist. Meanwhile, Prezel Hardy, Jr. finished second in his heat, but a 6.67 ranked 10th overall and kept the frosh out of the final.
Phiri later ran the 200 prelims, where he was stationed in lane three of the opening heat. A third place effort in the heat of 21.19 ranked 12th overall.
Dimitrius Pinder posted the second fastest mark in the 400 as his 45.97 only trailed the 45.82 by Florida’s Tony McQuay as they ran in the same heat.
“This race set me up pretty good for the final and it made me believe more in myself,” Pinder stated.
Tabarie Henry joined teammate Pinder in the final with a 46.57 heat winning time. Not as fortunate was Bryan Miller, who ran 46.70 for fourth place in the heat and 10th overall.
Wayne Davis II supplied the Aggies with a solid start on the day when he advanced to the finals of the 60 hurdles, posting a 7.77 and claimed the eighth and final position in the final.
Davis and Mayo both went to the same high school, Southeast, in Raleigh, North Carolina, and will represent the Aggies in their respective 60 hurdle finals.
“North Carolina to the fullest,” Mayo said. “I’m just happy I made it through the race on my two feet. I’m happy I made it into the final. Hopefully, I can go win this thing tomorrow.”