News release from Texas A&M Athletics:
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION – The Texas A&M men’s distance medley relay team’s title highlighted the Aggies’ four-medal haul on the opening day of the SEC Indoor Championships Thursday at the R.A. ‘Murray’ Fasken ’38 Indoor Track & Field facility.
The Aggie men captured three medals on the opening day of the conference championships, courtesy of the men’s DMR, Jack Mann III in the pole vault and Khybah Dawson in the long jump, propelling themselves to the top of the team standings after the opening day’s action with 30.5 points. On the women’s side they sit fourth with 13 points behind Sofia Yakushina’s silver in the pentathlon.
Claiming the first SEC title for the Maroon & White was the men’s DMR quartet consisting of Luca Santorum, Cutler Zamzow, Caden Norris and Cooper Cawthra. The group led from the first handoff thanks to a 2:52.38 split from Santoro. Zamzow and Norris maintained the leads thanks to 45.24 and 1:47.72 splits, respectively. Bringing it home was Cawthra after a tactical final leg, a final-lap kick secured the gold with a time of 9:23.92 which broke both the facility and meet records. On the women’s side of the event, the group of Elise Smoot, Kennedy Wade, Avery Perkins and Debora Cherono crossed the line in 11:11.52 which was good for fifth in the race and No. 3 in A&M history.
Yakushina claimed the Aggies’ first medal of the championships, as she secured silver in the women’s pentathlon. The freshman logged five personal bests on the day and racked up 4,556 points which pushed her up a spot on the A&M all-time performers list to No. 2. Her day started on the track with the 60m hurdles, where she crossed the line in 8.39 to finish second in the event. She followed that up with fourth in the high jump (1.78m/5-10), fourth in the shot put (12.11m/39-8.75), first in the long jump with a leap of 6.42m/21-0.75 which landed her fourth on the all-time list and finally first in the 800m with a time of 2:13.59.
Adding a second silver medal to the Aggies’ tally was Mann in the pole vault, as the junior secured his fifth-straight conference pole vault medal. He went four-for-four in his opening bars, ending with a clearance of 5.35m/17-6.5 to ensure his medal-winning performance. Ryley Klefstad also added points to the team’s total in the pole vault, tying for fifth with a mark of 5.20m/17-0.75.
Dawson won the final medal of the day in the men’s long jump, leaping a personal-best mark of 7.89m/25-10.75 on his first jump, which landed him at No. 4 in the A&M history books and carried him throughout the event to the bronze. Mason Mangum tacked on another set of points for the Aggies after placing fifth in the event with a leap of 7.70m/25-3.25.
The final point scorer of the day was Megan Roberts, as she competed in the women’s 5,000m and placed eighth in 16:13.87.
The women’s 200m duo of Camryn Dickson and Jasmine Montgomery punched their tickets to Saturday’s 200m finals. Dickson finished second in the event with a personal-best time of 22.91 which moved her up from No. 11 to No. 5 in the A&M record books, while Montgomery claimed the last finals spot in 23.21 which ranked her eighth.
Blake Harris had a strong opening to his heptathlon campaign, as he recorded four top-six finishes in the first four events. He started the day on top, winning the 60m in a time of 6.92. The junior followed that up with a sixth-place results in the long jump (7.07m/23-2.5), third in the shot put with a personal-best mark of 12.58m/41-3.5 and ended the day third in the men’s high jump with a clearance of 1.96m/6-5. Harris enters the second day of the heptathlon tomorrow in fourth place with a total of 3,150 points.
Next Up
The Aggies return to the Fasken indoor facility tomorrow for the second day of the SEC Indoor Championships.