Women's Track Wins Big 12 Outdoor Championship
May 13, 2007 | Track and Field
LINCOLN, Neb.- Scoring 129 points on the final day of the Big 12 Track & Field Championships enabled the Texas A&M women to claim a first-ever outdoor conference title to go along with its initial league championships indoors earlier this season.
Finishing with a total of 140 points the Aggies overtook host Nebraska at Ed Weir Stadium on a very windy afternoon. The Cornhuskers, who held a 63-point lead after two days, were second in team scoring with 117 points. Defending champion Texas placed third with 89 points.
"Overall, I was extremely pleased with the effort we had on the women's side," Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry said. "On the men's side we had some good efforts as well, but just not enough efforts.
"For the ladies we can say we're getting it together and we are the Big 12 Champions. That's never been done before by the women's program. We're extremely pleased. We had some great up-front efforts today, but we also had a lot of efforts that help you win the championships. We had a lot of people step up and a lot of good things happened."
On the men's side A&M scored 50 points to place ninth. Oklahoma earned the team title with 110.5 points ahead of Texas Tech (100) and Texas (96).
Simone Facey led the charge for the Aggie women as she claimed both sprint titles, blistering the field with winning times of 11.19 and 22.49 seconds. Her display of sprinting prowess enabled Facey to earn the women's high-point scorer of the meet honor with 22.5 points.
"Simone had a tremendous meet, she was ready to run," Henry noted. "Coach Vince Anderson has done a good job getting her prepared and ready to run. I can't say enough about the coaching staff, everybody has done a good job in getting people here."
It marked the second time this season Facey has recorded a world-leading time in the 200 meters. The previous mark set by Facey was 22.77, which was lowered a week later to 22.60 by Kerron Stewart of Auburn. The previous career best for Facey was a 22.71 set in 2004.
The 200 clocking by Facey also set a Big 12 meet record, bettering the previous mark of 22.73 set by three Longhorn sprinters – Nanceen Perry (1997), LaKeisha Backus (1998) and Sanya Richards (2004). Facey also broke the stadium record of 22.57 held by Nebraska's Kim Walker in 1991.
In the 100 Facey lowered her career best from 11.22, which she set in 2004, and in the process reset the A&M school record from the 11.24 she ran in the qualifying rounds.
"I kind of surprised myself running that fast," Facey stated after the meet. "I really didn't expect those times in the 100 and 200, but I'm really happy with the result and the effort I put out today to put the team at the top.
"I prepare for this type of meet thinking about the team and what I need to do to help them be successful. I executed really well and was focused in both races. I didn't really worry about anyone else in the race but myself."
Facey also ran the third leg of the winning 4 x 100 relay, which set a school record for the fourth time this year in running a 43.67. Elizabeth Adeoti led off with Porscha Lucas handling second leg and Rachel Foster finishing off the effort on the anchor leg. It was the first time in the 11-year history of the Big 12 Championship that Texas didn't win the sprint relay. The Longhorns were runner-up in 44.01.
"The 4 x 1 was really a good race," said Facey. "Everyone ran their best and we had clean hand-offs, that was the reason we ran that fast."
Of the 140-point total by the Aggie women, 95 were produced in the sprint, hurdle and relay races.
Texas' Alexandria Anderson was runner-up to Facey in both sprint races, running 11.21 and 22.67. Aggies following Facey in the 100 final were Lucas in fourth (11.51) and Adeoti in fifth (11.62). In the 200 A&M sprinters placed third, fifth and seventh behind Facey with Lucas (22.79), Tresha Henry (23.27) and Katie Baker (23.73).
Lucas and Henry each set career bests in the 200 for the second consecutive day. For Lucas, her time among junior aged athletes (19-and-younger) ranks among the top 25 in the world and top 10 in the U.S. on all-time lists.
The Aggies capped their championship in the final event by winning the 4 x 400 in 3:32.98 with the foursome of Henry, Clora Williams, Sandy Wooten and Katie Baker. The last three legs of the 1,600-meter relay all placed in the 400 final. Clora Williams was runner-up in 53.26 while Baker placed fourth (54.40) and Wooten finished eighth (55.86).
Medalist on the final day for the A&M women included silver medals for Jessica Wingfield in the javelin (160-9) and Ashika Charan in the triple jump (43-11.25w) while Jennifer Williams claimed bronze in both hurdle races, posting a 13.41 in the 100 hurdles and a career best of 59.19 in the 400 hurdles. Kasey Onwuchekwa earned a bronze medal in the shot put as she matched her season best of 54-5.25.
Adding points that aided the Aggie effort along the way Sunday included Yasmine Regis placing fifth in the triple jump (43-7w), Sarah Ravenelle finishing seventh in the steeplechase (10:41.84) and a 6-7-8 finish in the javelin by Hillary Pustka (143-6), Hali Henderson (135-10) and Ilsa Rodriguez (132-8).
A pair of silver-medal performances and two bronze-medal efforts highlighted the final day of action for the A&M men, which opened with a sour note when the 4 x 100 relay false-started.
Nick Robinson neared his career best in running a 50.63 for second place in the 400 hurdles. It was the first time this season Robinson, who entered the Big 12 meet ranked fourth, eclipsed 51 seconds.
The 4 x 400 relay crew of Morquise Cleveland, A.C. Robinson, Marcus Pitre and Justin Oliver challenged Baylor in the final event of the day and finished second in 3:05.66 to the 3:03.94 run by the Bears.
Zuheir Sharif reached a wind-aided distance of 52-0.5 in the triple jump for third place behind a pair of Sooner jumpers as Richard Adu-Bobie clocked a windy 10.33 for third in the 100, just behind the winning mark of 10.30 for Oklahoma's Marcus Pugh and the 10.32 run by Jamaal Charles of Texas.
A&M placed fourth, fifth and eighth in the 400 with Justin Oliver (46.27), A.C. Robinson (46.60) and Bryan McCombs (47.34). Also contributing points along the way Sunday were Javier Olivas, placing fifth in the shot put (56-4.5), Nick Toohey finishing eighth in the 800 (1:54.53), and Cade Liverman getting eighth in the 400 hurdles (52.87).
