EUGENE – A pair of Aggie freshmen scored the first points for the Texas A&M men on the initial day of the NCAA Championship held at Hayward Field in front of 9,267 fans. Pole vaulter Audie Wyatt and javelin thrower Ioannis Kyriazis had successful debuts in the national championship meet as they finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
In placing fourth for five team points Wyatt became the first Aggie freshman to score in the NCAA pole vault when he set a career best of 18-0 ½ (5.50). The mark moved him to No. 5 on the A&M all-time list with an equal No. 9 performance. Wyatt, a native of Huntsville, also shares the No. 2 position on the 2015 world junior list.
“The competition was great and as people have been saying this has been the year of the vault,” said Wyatt. “Everybody is doing real well out there and the competition was tough. I felt a bit awkward at first, but slowly got my stuff together. I got my head right, got my run down and hit my marks. Then I just went up.”
Chase Wolfle placed ninth, based on misses, with a clearance of 17-8 ½ (5.40) after tying for fifth place a year ago at 18-0 ½. Places sixth through eighth all finished at 17-8 ½.
A shaky start had Wyatt needing three attempts to get over the opening height of 16-10 ¾ (5.15). Then he navigated through 17-4 ½ (5.30) and 17-8 ½ (5.40) on second attempts. With nine vaulters still in the field at 18-0 ½ (5.50), Wyatt improved his position with a first try clearance.
“That was probably the most stressful thing in my life,” Wyatt said of his third attempt at opening height. “The only thing going through my head was I can’t do this here on this stage. I prayed probably seven times during the event.”
The next height of 18-2 ½ (5.55) had five remaining from the original 24 entrants. Eventual winner Shawn Barber of Akron passed as did Cincinnati’s Adrian Valles, the only other freshman left. Wyatt missed three times to place fourth while Stanford’s Dylan Duvio missed twice and passed to the next height for his remaining attempt. The only vaulter to clear 18-2 ½ was Pauls Pujats of Memphis.
“When I got into the final eight I thought this is insane,” noted Wyatt. “Now it’s time to relax, I don’t have to worry about anything. I can score points now. It has been a great year for me.”
Barber made 18-4 ½ (5.60) to lock up the title while misses by the other three vaulters sorted out the finishing order. Pujats placed second with Duviou third and Valles finished fifth behind Wyatt.
Kyriazis became just the second A&M frosh to score in the NCAA javelin, joining the fifth-place effort of of Sam Humphreys (230-8) in 2012. The Athens native also became the fourth Aggie to place fifth in the national championships, joining current Texas A&M assistant coach Juan De La Garza (1983), Luke Marrs (2003) and Humphreys.
Stationed in seventh place following the prelim throws in the javelin with a best of 233-3 (73.13), Kyriazis improved to fifth place with a fourth round improvement to 239-1 (72.89). In the final round another improvement had Kyriazis reaching 239-11 (73.13), but he remained in fifth place.
Oregon’s Sam Crouser defended his title with a 259-9 (79.19) winning effort. John Ampomah (253-0 | 77.13) of Middle Tennessee State placed second while Curtis Thompson (247-5 | 75.42) of Mississippi State finished third. Kentucky’s Raymond Dykstra, the 2014 NCAA runner-up, took fourth with a 245-9 (74.90). Aggie Devin Bogert placed 14th with a best of 222-11 (67.94).
In the heptathlon Jena Hemann’s day opened with a 14.27 in the 100 hurdles for 941 points as she was just off her best clocking of 14.25 in the heptathlon from the SEC meet this season. A high jump clearance of 5-7 ¾ (1.72) placed Hemann fifth in the field and the 879 points moved her into 17th place with a two-event score of 1,820 points.
In the shot put a mark of 42-9 (13.03) scored Hemann 729 points and improved her overall standing to 11th with 2,549 points. Wrapping up the first day of the heptathlon with the 200 meters, Hemann posted a time of 24.81 (2.1 wind) for 904 points.
Through four events of the heptathlon Hemann’s score of 3,453 points ranks 10th in the field of 24. It’s her second best score through the first day, trailing only a 3,510 she accumulated at the Texas Relays this season on the way to scoring a career best of 6,002 points.
In the past two NCAA Championships, Hemann was 19th with 3,164 points last season and 14th with 3,334 points in 2013 following the first day of the multi.
Semifinal races on Wednesday advanced Deon Lendore in the 400 and Gregory Coleman in the 400 hurdles as well as the 4×100 and 4×400 crew to Friday’s finals.
Lendore won his heat of the 400 in 45.43 and posted the second best time in the semifinal behind a 45.42 by Vernon Norwood of LSU while Oregon’s Marcus Chambers also clocked 45.43 as runner-up to Norwood.
Aggie teammate Bralon Taplin was running well in the first half of the race in the adjacent lane to Lendore, but faded in the final 15m to place fourth in 46.52. DJ Zahn (45.87) of Illinois finished second to Lendore.
Coleman posted a season best time of 49.70 in the 400 hurdles to finish third and advance to the final on time. Defending NCAA champion Michael Stigler of Kansas won the heat in 48.88 while David Kendziera of Illinois ran 49.64 as runner-up. Coleman just missed his career best of 49.60 as he produced the No. 7 performance on the A&M all-time list.
Running events opened with the 4×100 relay and the Aggie foursome of Devin Jenkins, Shavez Hart, Elijah Morrow and Lendore claimed their heat in 39.11 over a 39.39 by Illinois. A yellow flag was raised on the final exchange of A&M’s heat, and Houston was disqualified.
Texas A&M posted the sixth best time of the eight team advancing to the final. TCU led the field with a 38.65 collegiate leading effort followed by Arkansas (38.78), Florida (38.91), LSU (38.92), and USC (39.09). Also making the final were Alabama (39.23) and Illinois.
The Aggies were in fourth place for a majority of the 4×400 as Coleman (47.6), Deon Hickey (46.0) and Hector Hernandez (46.56) handled the first three legs. Lendore took over the lead with 150m left in the race and split 45.02 as A&M won the heat in 3:05.21 over Illinois (3:05.63) and Georgia (3:06.42).
Florida led the field advancing to the final with a 3:04.11 followed by LSU (3:04.73), BYU (3:04.94), Mississippi State (3:05.15) and the Aggies. Others moving on were Arkansas (3:05.37), Illinois and Ohio State (3:05.73).
Hart placed seventh in the 100 and fourth in the 200 semifinal heats, recording times of 10.24 and 20.32, but didn’t advance on time in either event. Josh Hernandez ran 1:49.61 to finish sixth in his heat of the 800.
Thursday’s action includes the continuation of the heptathlon for Hemann while finals are on deck for three women’s events: javelin, shot put and 10,000 meters. Other Aggie women in action include semifinal rounds in the 100, 400 hurdles, 200 and both relays.
The Aggies have a pair of throwers in the javelin with Maggie Malone and Kristen Clark. Malone placed fourth a year ago while with Nebraska while freshman Clark makes her NCAA debut. Brea Garrett, who advanced to the national meet in the hammer last year, contests the shot put in her final meet as an Aggie.
Hillary Montgomery, who earned an All-America honor during the cross country season, aims for team points in the 10,000 meters amid a field of 24 runners.
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics