FAYETTEVILLE – Texas A&M freshman Donavan Brazier broke a 26-year-old meet record in winning the SEC 800 meters while Lindon Victor improved his Aggie school record and bettered a national record in the heptathlon as he placed third.
Those efforts highlighted the A&M men’s performance as they finished second in team scoring at the SEC Indoor Championships with 85.83 points. The Aggie women were sixth with 44 points.
Arkansas swept the team titles as the Razorback men scored 109 points and the women totaled 110. Finishing behind Arkansas and Texas A&M on the men’s side were Mississippi (80.5), Florida (64.33), Georgia (52), Alabama (49) and LSU (49). Following the Razorback women were LSU (67), Georgia (65), Florida (64), Tennessee (64), and Kentucky (48).
“We got beat by Arkansas on the men’s side and they beat us by 20 points,” noted Texas A&M head coachPat Henry. “We’re better than that and we’re just not getting it done. On the ladies side we knew our depth was an issue coming in, but we have to hit if we’re going to be up in the mix. We’ve got some issues right now that we have to overcome.”
Brazier won the 800 meters with a time of 1:46.08 as teammate Hector Hernandez placed third in a career best time of 1:46.32, improving the 1:46.79 previous best he set in the prelims. Florida’s Andres Arroyo split the Aggies at the finish line to claim second in 1:46.20.
“Donavan and Hector ran tremendous,” said Henry. “They ran with a lot of heart and emotion. Those two guys looked great. They’re doing some things that a lot of other people on our team are not doing right now.”
In breaking the SEC record of 1:46.28 set in 1990 by Florida’s Mark Everett, Brazier also produced the second fastest time on the U.S. junior list behind the record of 1:45.93 he set in January.
“I was going for the win,” stated Brazier. “That was my goal coming off the 1:45 I ran a month ago. So, I really knew I could do it. I knew once Hector and I made it to the final he would set up the perfect race for me, which he did.
“Going out that fast really helped me, because Arroyo was coming at me pretty fast in the final 100m. If Hector wasn’t in that race I probably wouldn’t have won. Realizing it was the SEC final caused us to go out a bit too fast. It worked out in the end.”
Hernandez led the field through the first two laps with splits of 24.92 and 25.81 (50.73) as Brazier followed at 25.09 and 25.87 (50.96). Then Brazier slid into first place bringing the field through 600m at 1:17.88 (off a 26.92) with Hernandez in second at 1:18.12 (27.39).
During the final lap Arroyo challenged from his third-place position and was ready to strike coming off the final turn. Hernandez served as a buffer for Brazier, making Arroyo go wide to pass the A&M pair. Arroyo closed well with a 27.84 final 200m and he managed to finish a step ahead of Hernandez (28.20) at the finish, but wasn’t able to catch Brazier (28.20).
“I’m really confident going into nationals,” added Brazier. “I think both of us will be able to qualify for the finals. If we run 50 again I think will be just fine.”
A time of 52.15 earned a silver medal for Shamier Little in the 400m final as Taylor Ellis-Watson of Arkansas claimed the victory in 51.84. Little recorded a season best time as she attempted to defend her 2015 SEC title. Finished behind the pair were South Carolina’s Briana Haith (52.34) and Tennessee’s Felecia Majors (52.49).
With a score of 5,776 points Lindon Victor placed third in the heptathlon as he improved his A&M school record and set the Grenada national record. Victor improved upon the Aggie school record of 5,646 he set two weeks ago and he bettered the Grenada record of 5,771 set by his brother Kurt Felix in 2012.
Victor’s second day started with 922 points from a career best of 8.24 in the 60 hurdles. He then added 702 points off a 14-1 ¼ pole vault. He capped his record effort with a 2:53.66 in the 1,000m for 728 points. Georgia’s Garrett Scantling won his third SEC title with 6,003 points as his teammate Kari Saluri placed second with 5,792 points.
“Any time you PR it’s a good thing, but I was honestly looking for a lot bigger score after the first day,” stated Victor. “I started off the second day great in the hurdles with a PR, but didn’t get as high as I wanted in the pole vault.
“Now I’m looking forward to nationals and competing with these guys again and try to score 6,000 points. I didn’t think I could score that high until now. So I want to put a really good score together.”
The Aggies scored 10 points in the heptathlon as Nathan Hite and Daniel Martin provided career best scores to place sixth and eighth. Hite’s tally of 5,446 ranks No. 5 at A&M while Martin’s 5,323 is No. 8 on the Aggie all-time list.
Martin closed out the heptathlon by winning the 1,000m race in 2:27.30 to score 1,020 points. It’s the second fastest time by a collegian in a multi-event 1,000m, trailing only a 2:23.63 by Curtis Beach of Duke. The time by Martin is also No. 12 on the A&M all-time list.
Katie Willard and Jazmine Fray combined to place third and fourth in the women’s 800m. Willard clocked 2:06.61 as Fray posted a 2:08.79. LSU’s Morgan Schuetz won the race in 2:05.68 just ahead of a 2:05.78 by Ariah Graham of Kentucky.
“My mindset this past month has been to place in the final,” said Willard. “It would have been nice to run 2:05 today to qualify for the NCAA meet, but based on where I was last year with injuries I’m really happy with how things went today.
“It’s always a help having Jazmine with me, either in a race or practice. She’s an amazing training partner and I’m so happy to have her push me and I’m glad that I get to push her as well.”
Latario Collie led a 10-point production in the triple jump for the Aggies as a final round leap of 53-3 moved him into third place. Lathone Collie, with a 52-4 in the fourth round, placed fifth while Jeffrey Prothro finished sixth with a career best of 52-1 ¾ from round two. Lathone moved to No. 10 on the A&M all-time list and Prothro’s mark is No. 11.
Jennifer Madu placed fourth in the 60m final with a 7.27 as Aaliyah Brown followed in seventh place at 7.39. It was the fourth year for Madu to race in the SEC 60m final, placing third (2013), fourth (2014), fifth (2015) and fourth (2016) for 20 points in the event.
As the lone freshman in the women’s 200m, Diamond Spaulding set another indoor best with a 23.19 that placed her fifth and left her at No. 10 on the A&M all-time list. Tennessee’s Felicia Brown won the race in 22.45, which broke the SEC record of 22.46 set in 2007 and left her just shy of the collegiate indoor record 22.40 set on this track during the 2008 NCAA Championships.
A fourth place finish in the men’s 4×400 relay had the Aggies clocking 3:09.04 with the foursome of Deon Hickey (47.92), Fred Kerley (46.57), Brazier (47.17) and Eric Age (47.38). Florida won the race in 3:04.02 over Tennessee’s 3:07.07 with Georgia third at 3:07.47.
Alex Riba posted a PR of 4:03.29 to finish sixth in the mile as Mississippi scored 28 points off a 1-2-3-5 finish. Riba ran a career best for the second consecutive race as he clocked 4:07.60 in the prelims to snare the final time qualifier to reach the final that included 10 runners. On the A&M all-time list Riba moved from 13th to No. 5 with his improved time.
The men’s distance medley relay finished sixth in 9:46.62, posting the No. 12 time on the Aggie all-time list. The quartet included Ryan Teel (2:59.90), Robert Grant (47.08), JaQwae Ellison (1:50.85) and Riba (4:08.79).
Career best marks in the weight throw placed Alison Ondrusek (62-8 ½) and Shelbi Vaughan (62-1 ¾) fifth and sixth while Carissa van Beek (59-5 ½) finished ninth. Ondrusek improved to No. 3 on the A&M all-time list while Vaughan moved to the No. 5 position.
Eric Age clocked 46.72 to place fourth in the first section of the 400m and was eighth overall. Annie Kunzcleared 5-8 in the high jump to finish 10th. Brittany Wooten tied for ninth in the pole vault as Sara Kathryn Stevens tied for 11th as both cleared 13-0 ¼.
In distance races Austin Wells finished 10th in the men’s 5,000 meters with a 14:17.19, which moves him to No. 6 on the Aggie all-time list. Karis Jochen finished 15th in the women’s 5,000m with a 17:06.49.
A time of 11:39.96 placed the women’s distance medley relay 10th as they ran the No. 7 time at A&M with a foursome of Arin Rice (3:30.10), Glorilisha Carter (56.18), Willard (2:10.12) and Laura Craig (5:03.56). The women’s 4×400 relay dropped the baton and didn’t finish.