Nationally-ranked Aggies part of talented field assembled for Razorback Invitational

Photo by: Errol Anderson

Jan 28, 2016 | Track and Field

FAYETTEVILLE – Texas A&M's first road trip of the indoor season takes the No. 3 Aggie men and No. 20 Aggie women to the Razorback Invitational this Friday and Saturday to face a talented field of 13 teams in a scored meet.

In addition to host Arkansas, with the women ranked No. 1 and the men No. 11, schools in the meet include Florida (No. 1 men, No. 6 women), Florida State, Georgia (No. 7 men, No. 2 women), Iowa, Iowa State, LSU (No. 6 men, No. 18 women), Oklahoma, Oklahoma State (No. 16 men), Oregon (No. 5 men, No. 5 women), Purdue (No. 25 men) and UCLA.

The meet will be shown on SEC Network + on Friday and four hours of live coverage will be available on the SEC Network on Saturday from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. With five programs from the SEC competing in the Razorback Invitational some match-ups will offer a preview to the conference meet that will also take place in the Randal Tyson Track Complex in February.

The Aggies enter the meet coming off a pair of team titles in the Texas A&M Quadrangular, which led to the A&M men taking over the No. 1 position in the Track & Field News dual meet rankings while the women improved to No. 2.

Shamier Little, the World Championship silver medalist over 400 hurdles and defending SEC Indoor 400m champion, will run 200m this weekend with a crew of four teammates in the field – Aaliyah Brown, Briyahna Desrosiers, Diamond Spaulding and Brenessa Thompson.

Donavan Brazier, the U.S. indoor junior 800m record holder, is scheduled to race in the distance medley relay on Friday evening and the 4x400 on Saturday.

Fred Kerley opened with a 46.70 indoor career best in the 400 last week and he will race in the quarter again this weekend. Among 40-plus entrants in the event are quite a few sprinters from Florida and LSU, with Gator Najee Glass, third in the 2015 NCAA Indoor final, leading the group. Kerley is in the same section as Florida's Arman Hall, Michael Cherry of LSU and Arkansas' Obi Igbokwe.

Devin Jenkins, a double sprint winner in the Quadrangular last week, will race in the 60 and 200 meters again this week. In the 60, the field includes John Teeters of Oklahoma State, the 2015 NCAA Indoor runner-up as well as LSU's Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, the current 200m world leader. Jenkins ranks fifth in the world at 200m with his 20.94 victory from the Texas A&M Invitational two weeks ago.

Jennifer Madu will double in the 60m and long jump this weekend. Joining Madu in the 60 are Spaulding and Thompson. Madu faces a long jump field that includes a pair of NCAA Indoor finalists in bronze medalist Nataliyah Friar of LSU and seventh-place finisher Chanice Porter of Georgia as well as Georgia's Keturah Orji and Oregon's Jasmine Todd.

After winning the mile last week, Cameron Villarreal moves up to the 3,000m where he is joined by teammate Alex Riba. Villarreal is in the Invitational division of the event. Meanwhile, Austin Wells will race over 5,000m following his meet record in the 3,000 at the A&M Quadrangular. Joining Wells in the race is teammate Christian Farris.

The Aggie indoor vault record of 18-0 ½ will likely be under threat again as the foursome of Carl Johansson, Chase Wolfle, Jacob Wooten, and Audie Wyatt highlight the pole vault field. Wolfle, who placed fifth in the 2015 NCAA Indoor and currently shares the indoor A&M record, has cleared 16-11 the past two weeks while Wooten and Wyatt have each scaled an indoor best of 17-9.

Will Williams joins the Collie twins, Latario and Lathone, in a competitive long jump field that includes 2014 NCAA Indoor champion Jarrion Lawson of Arkansas, who was runner-up in both 2015 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor championship events, as well as Florida's KeAndre Bates, the 2015 NCAA Indoor bronze medalist. The Collies will also contest the triple jump.

Following three home high jump victories this indoor season, Sam McSwain will see how he fares on the road after clearing an indoor best of 7-0 ¼. The Razorback field includes 7-3 jumper Brandon Rivera, a freshman at Arkansas.

Katie Willard returns to the mile distance following her victory over 800m in the Quadrangular. Joining Willard are Katie Watson and Laura Craig. Willard and Watson are also scheduled to make up half of the Aggie distance medley relay along with Jazmine Fray and Jarra Owens.

A&M's multi-eventers continue their preparations for the heptathlon and pentathlon that will be part of the Charlie Thomas Invitational the Aggies host next weekend.

Daniel Martin and Lindon Victor will compete in the long jump and 60 hurdles while Victor is also in the shot put. Annie Kunz and Shaina Burns will contest the high jump and 60 hurdles while Burns adds the shot put as well.