By: Tyler Pounds, Athletics Communications
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M men’s and women’s track & field teams fell to Texas, while four Aggies set NCAA-Leading marks, Saturday night at E.B. Cushing Stadium.
The women’s team lost, 102-100, and the men’s team was outscored, 105.5-96.5. Individually Devon Achane (200m), Deborah Acquah (long jump), Laila Owens (200m) and Charokee Young (400m) set NCAA-leading marks in their respective events.
Acquah won the women’s long jump with a world-leading mark at 22-7.25/6.89m (w/0.7). The jump ranks her No. 2 in Texas A&M history and makes her the seventh best collegian all-time. The senior bettered her Ghanaian national record.
Shortly after, Young won the 400m with a world-leading time of 50.00. The sophomore ranks No. 2 in Texas A&M history and became the fifth-fastest collegian all-time. The performance registered as the second-fastest in April in collegiate history.
Texas A&M swept the 200m as Achane won the men’s race at 20.20 (w/1.3) and Owens finished first on the women’s side at 22.57 (w/2.0). The sophomores cracked the Texas A&M all-time top 12 performer list becoming the fourth fastest male performer and sixth fastest female performer. Owens’ time currently ranks No. 3 in the world, while Achane is No. 10.
Achane’s 200m win marked his second victory on the day after running away from the field in the 100m at a time of 10.12 (w/2.2). The speedster started his day running as member of the 4x100m that finished second at 39.14, a Texas A&M season best.
The Maroon & White swept three other events, the 100m/110m hurdles, the 800m and the pole vault. Senior Kaylah Robinson won the women’s 100m hurdles at a wind-legal personal best time of 12.80 (w/1.7), making her the second fastest performer in school history. Junior Connor Schulman won the men’s 110m hurdles at 14.00 (w/0.9).
Dominating in the 800m, Senior Avi’ Tal Wilson-Perteete won the women’s race at 2:06.56, while freshman Sam Whitmarsh won the men’s race at 1:49.36. Freshman Bailey Goggans followed Wilson-Perteete in second at 2:06.69. The pair became the seventh and eighth fastest performers in school history. Sophomores Caden Norris and Allon Clay followed Whitmarsh earning second and third place finishes. Norris clocked a personal best time at 1:50.17 and Clay finished at 1:51.18.
Aggie duo Heather Abadie and Zach Davis swept the pole vault, Abadie claimed the women’s title and Davis won the men’s competition. Abadie, a freshman, cleared 13-4.5/4.08m, while Davis, a junior, cleared 16-8.75/5.10m.
Other individual event winners include Acquah in the triple jump (45-5/13.84m), sophomore Carter Bajoit in the men’s high jump (6-10.75/2.10m), sophomore Alessio Pirruccio in the men’s hammer (188-8/57.52m), freshman Lianna Davidson in the women’s javelin (176-4/53.74m) and senior Annie Fuller in the women’s 3000m (9:47.96). Davidson and Pirruccio each registered Aggie all-time top 12 marks in their respective events, Pirruccio No. 4 and Davidson No. 7.
The women’s 4x400m of Owens, Young, Tierra Robinson-Jones and Jaevin Reed defeated the Longhorns with a time of 3:31.92. Leading the men’s race, the Texas A&M “A” relay was bumped off course by the Longhorns resulting in an inability to finish the race.
Other notable performances include sophomore Cooper Cawthra and senior Gavin Hoffpauir becoming the second and sixth fastest performers in school history in the men’s 1500m at 3:43.63 and 3:44.15. Freshman Gemma Goddard and senior Brady Grant cracking the Aggie all-time top 12 in the 3000m steeplechase. Goddard became the sixth fastest female at 10:43.99 and Grant the 11th fastest male at 9:00.70. Senior Robinson-Jones clocked a personal best 400m time of 51.18 to become the seventh fastest Aggie all-time, while senior Deshae Wise registered a 400m hurdles time of 58.46 to become the ninth fastest performer. Sophomore Luke Barrett tossed the Hammer 168-4/51.32m to come in at No. 11 on the Texas A&M list.
Sophomore Lamara Distin finished under her personal best in the high jump at 6-4/1.93m to place second. Already the school record holder, the clearance registered as the third highest in Aggie history. Distin now owns two of the top three jumps and three of the top five clearances all-time.
Next Up
Texas A&M returns to action hosting the 44 Farms Team Invitational beginning April 8-9 at E.B. Cushing Stadium. Tickets can be purchased at 12thman.com/tracktickets.
Texas A&M Quotes
Head Coach Pat Henry
on the meet/importance of performances…
“It was a heck of a track meet and maybe one of the best dual meets I’ve ever been a part of, today was big time. My challenge as a coach was to try to put more points on the scoreboard than them, but the performances are most important right now than anything else we are doing. Winning a dual meet is important but not more important than performances.”
on Devon Achane…
“To run 10.12 in the 100m and 20.20 in the 200m, as well as a 39.14 relay is huge. I think Devon [Achane] is very talented young man and with good competition and races in front of him, he’s going to continue to get better.”
on other performances that stood out…
“I think Kaylah [Robinson] in the hurdles and in the 4x100m shows that she is just getting better and better. She ran her best in a legal wind at 12.80. Charokee [Young] ran 50.00 at 400m is the best time in the nation right now. Sam [Whitmarsh] running 1:49.36 in the 800m is just scratching the surface and I think this guy is going to be really good. He’s got Brandon [Miller] to run against on his own team but that is going to make him better. Laila [Owens] also had a huge day running 22.57, that’s a huge improvement for her. Also Deborah [Acquah] at 45’5″ in the triple jump and she long jumped at 22’7″ is just a huge day for her.”
Sophomore Devon Achane
on running three events…
“This week of training really prepared me to come out and run three races. It was the first time for me to run the 200m outdoors this year, so I was excited about running a personal best. The 100m is something that I’ve just always done and the 4x100m is a team event so I was just trying to do my part and help the team out. I’m just trying to stay focused in practice and keep getting better every day to be ready to come out and perform every weekend.”
For the most up-to-date information on Texas A&M Track & Field/Cross Country, follow the team on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@aggietfxc).