By: Tyler Pounds, Athletics Communications
EUGENE, Ore. – The Texas A&M women’s track & field team claimed three event championships and broke two collegiate records en route to a second place team finish at the NCAA Outdoor Championships Saturday night at Hayward Field.
Athing Mu dazzled track and field fans across the nation breaking her own 400m collegiate record by .11 seconds to win the national title with a time of 49.57. It was the first individual national title the freshman has claimed. Teammate Charokee Young finished fifth with a time of 51.13 as the Aggies tallied 14 team points in the event.
Just over an hour later, Mu split 48.85 to anchor the Aggies to a 4x400m championship. The Aggie quartet of Tierra Robinson-Jones, Charokee Young, Jaevin Reed and Mu clocked an all-time collegiate record time of 3:22.34. Texas A&M completed the indoor and outdoor sweep of the 4x400m after claiming the indoor title in early March and defended the outdoor title from the last contested NCAA Championships in 2019.
After concluding day one of the heptathlon with 3,834 points, a leading score by 162 points, Tyra Gittens claimed the heptathlon national championship with a total of 6,285 points.
The multi-eventer started day two with a long jump leap of 21-9.5 (6.64m) to bring her overall total to 4,887 points, a 416 point lead over Ida Eikeng of Washington. Gittens followed in the javelin with a personal best toss of 135-4 (41.24m), good enough for 691 points. With a 297 point lead heading into the final event, the 800m, Gittens clocked 2:28.88 in the 800m for 707 points to edge Michelle Atherley by 218 points for a title winning overall score of 6,285 points.
Gittens completed the multi-event sweep after claiming the indoor pentathlon national title.
Prior to her heptathlon 800m finish, Gittens entered the open high jump, along with Lamara Distin. Distin, a freshman, led the nation’s best high jump duo to a second and third place finish adding 14 points to the Aggies team total.
Distin entered the competition at the opening height of 5-8 (1.73m) with a first attempt clearance. The high flyer cleared the next five heights, all on first attempt clearances before bowing at an all-time personal best height of 6-2.75 (1.90m). Distin became the third best performer in Aggie history.
Gittens placed third with a clearance of 6-1.5 (1.87m). Including her second place finish in the open long jump on Thursday, it was her third top three finish bringing her point total to 24.
Fellow jumper, Deborah Acquah earned First Team All-American honors placing fourth in the triple jump with a mark of 45-9.25 (13.95m)
Texas A&M finished second in the team standings with 63 points, the most points by an Aggies team all-time. Southern California claimed the team title with 74 points.
Friday night the men’s team finished sixth with 29 points.
Texas A&M Point Scorers
Point Total – Athlete – Events
24 – Tyra Gittens – Long Jump, High Jump, Heptathlon
12.5 – Athing Mu – 400m, 4x400m
10 – Bryce Deadmon – 400m, 4×1, 4×4
8 – Brandon Miller – 800m
8 – Lamara Distin – High Jump
7 – Deborah Acquah – Triple Jump, Long Jump
6.5 – Moitalel Mpoke – 400m Hurdles, 4x400m
6.5 – Charokee Young – 400m, 4×400
2.5 – Jaevin Reed – 4×400
2.5 – Tierra Robinson-Jones – 4×400
1.5 – Omajuwa Etiwe – 4×400
1.5 – Devin Dixon – 4×400
0.5 – Devon Achane – 4×100
0.5 – Lance Broome – 4×100
0.5 – Emmanuel Yeboah – 4×100
Texas A&M Quotes
Head Coach Pat Henry
on the women’s team, Tyra Gittens and Athing Mu:
“We lined it up, this group of ladies did a tremendous job. We knew that we didn’t have a lot of bullets, but we knew that we have an elite group of ladies that can score. Tyra [Gittens] to score 24 points in this competition is huge and she is still a junior on top of that. Athing [Mu] to run the fastest 400m race ever in collegiate history, she just continues to gain confidence in herself. Everyone thinks that she is going to run off and leave everybody, she does but she still has some challenges. It’s not just about winning, her challenges are running faster all the time and that’s tough but she continues to do it.”