LOS ANGELES – A school record victory by Jazmine Fray highlighted Texas A&M’s sweep of team titles at UCLA’s Jim Bush Collegiate Invitational on Saturday at Drake Stadium. The Aggie women scored 148 points to hold off the challenge by Alabama (135) while the Texas A&M men dominated with 179 points over runner-up UCLA (100).
“Across the board we had 15 victories and that is encouraging,” said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. “That’s the kind of the emphasis we had in this meet, we want people to win events and have great performances, but I’m also concerned about who is second, third and fourth.
“The way you win a SEC or NCAA championship is having people step up and do their best. That’s the challenge this time of the year. We want them to be part of a team.”
Fray won the 800m in 2:01.43 as she improved her Aggie record of 2:03.25 from last season. Indoors, Fray established a collegiate record of 2:00.69 in February.
With an opening 200m of 27.4, Fray pulled away from the field early as she split 58.30 at 400m. In crossing the line in 2:01.43, Fray bettered runner-up Lilian Koech of UTEP (2:05.86) by four-plus seconds. The effort by Fray is the second fastest time by a collegian this season and among the top 10 in the world for 2017.
“I want to keep progressing as we go along during the outdoor season,” said Fray. “That’s what I’m excited about. I definitely wanted to go out at my own pace. I like to lead a race and go out at my own tempo.
“I executed the plan and I was happy with the result. I wanted to go out in 28 and come back in 29, so that’s why I hit the 58 at 400m. Then I went into the 600 at 1:29 and finished well.”
Henry added: “Her last couple of races were a little bit different for her. I think she settled in during those races and thought she would run away from people. I think she proved to herself that’s she has to go out and set her own race. If someone wants to run with her, they’re going to have to come after her.”
In team scoring the Aggie men generated eight victories on the way to 179 points. Following were UCLA (100), Alabama (97), Arizona State (66) and UTEP (48). Texas A&M women totaled seven victories in scoring 148 points. Alabama (135) led the chase ahead of UCLA (88), UTEP (87) and Arizona State (61).
Mylik Kerley led an impressive 1-2-3-5 showing in the 400m as he ran a career best 45.48 for the victory. Kerley, who had a previous outdoor best of 45.98 from 2016 and an indoor best of 45.68 from this season, was followed by teammates Robert Grant, who clocked a best of 46.09, Richard Rose (46.35) and Deon Hickey (47.25).
“We all performed well in the 400m today,” noted Mylik Kerley. “At this point of the season, as we progress into the bigger meets, this was good for our confidence. Having a full week of practice and getting back into the groove of the 400m outdoors was good for me.”
Fred Kerley dominated the 200m field in registering a career best of 20.45 (0.0 wind). Alabama’s Steven Gayle (20.77) was runner-up as A&M teammate Elijah Morrow claimed third in 20.85. Kerley, who had a windy 20.27 earlier this season, bettered his wind-legal best of 20.61 from last year.
Action on the track started with a sweep of the 4×100 by the Aggies as the women posted a 43.44 while the men clocked 39.49. Texas A&M closed the meet by claiming both 4×400 races with the women posting a time of 3:32.88 and the men won with a 3:03.90.
In the sprint relay the Texas A&M women ran with a line-up of Jaevin Reed, Danyel White, Brenessa Thompson and Aaliyah Brown. Finishing behind the Aggies were Alabama (43.56) and UCLA (45.00). The Texas A&M men’s sprint relay line-up included Will Williams, Elijah Morrow, Seth Page and Fred Kerley. UCLA (40.10) was runner-up to the Aggies followed by Alabama (40.64) and UTEP (40.74).
Claiming the women’s 4×400 in 3:32.88 over a 3:33.31 by Alabama, the Texas A&M squad included Glorilisha Carter (54.7), Briyahna Desrosiers (52.7), Kadecia Baird (52.9) and Jaevin Reed (52.6). A second Aggie crew ran 3:42.18 for fourth place.
A foursome of Robert Grant (46.3), Devin Dixon (46.27), Richard Rose (45.4) and Ilolo Izu (45.9) produced the 3:03.90 by the Aggie men as they defeated UTEP’s 3:06.35 and Alabama (3:13.21). A second Texas A&M squad ran 3:10.73.
Desrosiers won the women’s 400m in a career best 52.28, moving to No. 8 on the Aggie all-time list, with Baird in fourth place at 53.76. Desrosiers defeated Alabama’s Domonique Williams (52.41) and UTEP’s Florence Uwakwe (53.45). Brenessa Thompson raced to a 23.09 (-0.1 wind) victory in the 200m with Reed placing fourth in 23.65.
Early morning competition had Alison Ondrusek winning the women’s hammer with a toss of 197-11 (60.33), which is the No. 7 performance on the Aggie all-time list. Teammate Carissa van Beek finished fourth at 183-0 (55.78). In the men’s hammer Austin Cook placed fifth with a mark of 199-3 (60.74).
Texas A&M claimed the top four places in the women’s javelin for 28 points. Shelby Poncik led the crew with a winning throw of 162-9. Kristen Clark finished as runner-up with a 157-7 as Audrey Malone (156-9) and Madalaine Stulce (155-3) were third and fourth.
Sam Hardin threw a career best of 238-6 (72.71) to capture the men’s javelin, improving his No. 8 mark on the Aggie all-time list. William Petersson (219-9) and Lindon Victor (216-2) placed fifth and sixth.
Other field event victories for the Aggies included Will Williams in the long jump (25-0 ¾), Jeffrey Prothro in the triple jump (52-0 ¾) and Garrett Gragin in the high jump with a 7-1 (2.16) clearance and close attempts at 7-3 (2.21).
Audie Wyatt finished second in the pole vault, clearing 17-7 and missing at 18-1, with Jacob Wooten (16-7) in third place for Texas A&M. Arizona State’s Garrett Starkey (17-7) claimed the victory based on misses versus Wyatt. Starkey managed 17-7 on one attempt while Wyatt needed three.
Serena Brown finished third in the discus with a 163-2 (49.74) and in the shot put she produced a best of 45-10 ¼ (13.98) in placing sixth.
Jeff Barlett also placed third in the men’s discus with a throw of 187-6 (57.15) to finish behind Alabama’s tandem of Kord Ferguson (198-5) and Daniel Haugh (189-10). Bartlett also had a mark of 56-11 ¼ (17.36) to finish fifth in the shot put.
In addition to the javelin, Victor placed eighth in the shot put (50-6 ½) and seventh in the discus (170-5). Scoring his performances would have produced 2,553 points in those three events during a decathlon. Victor’s best score in the three throwing events from the multi is 2,675.
As the women’s team score became tighter towards the end of the meet a 2-3 finish in the 1,500 from Arin Rice (4:29.23) and Hannah Campbell (4:29.81) provided some key points for the Aggies. Rice moved to No. 9 on the Aggie all-time list with Campbell at No. 11.
The men’s 1,500m had a strong showing for Texas A&M as well with Alex Riba leading a 2-3-4-5 effort as he ran 3:47.99 and challenged UTEP’s Michael Saruni (3:47.73) to the finish line. Behind Riba were teammates Cameron Villarreal (3:49.60), Jon Bishop (3:50.60) and Taylor Clayton (3:53.49).
Ilolo Izu ran 51.67 as runner-up in the 400m hurdles while Lauren Lawless produced a best of 59.61 for third in the women’s 400m hurdles. Runner-up efforts also included Audie Wyatt in the pole vault (17-5) and Ciynamon Stevenson in the triple jump (41-10 ¾).
Jace Comick finished second in the 100 (10.67) while Infinite Tucker raced to third-place finishes in the 110m hurdles (14.37) and 400m hurdles (54.37). Devin Dixon (1:50.87) and Gaines Kinsey (1:51.46) placed third and fifth in the 800m.
Racing at Mt. SAC in the distance races on Thursday and Friday created some revisions to the Texas A&M all-time list. Ashton Hutcherson ran 10:41.67 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase while Hannah Campbell followed in 11:01.36. They moved to No. 3 and No. 5 positions on the Aggie all-time list.
Alex Riba moved to No. 6 on the 5,000m list with a 13:59.06 and Austin Wells is now No. 7 in the 10,000 with his 29:35.93.