February 08, 2008
Stationed in lane eight of a super-charged 60-meter final, Texas A&M freshman Gerald Phiri blistered a time of 6.67 seconds to place fourth and equal the Aggie school record during first-day action at the eighth annual New Balance Collegiate Invitational.
?This race didn?™t feel as fast as the other one?™s I?™ve run this season,? said Phiri, a Zambian-born British sprinter who had a previous career best of 6.70 and had run 6.71 twice this season. ?When I crossed the line everyone thought I was disappointed, since I was thinking I had run 6.7 again.
?But when I saw the time I was so excited. Walking back down the track I was almost crying. I?™ve waited so long to run 6.6-something. I had run loads of 6.7s since I was 16 years old. To finally break that barrier, it becomes a psychological advantage for me.?
Tyrone Edgar recorded the school record time back in 2006 during the Big 12 Championships. Last week A&M senior Richard Adu-Bobie threatened the record with a 6.69 clocking in Kentucky.
This weekend it was Phiri?™s turn to chase the record and he matched it with his fourth-place effort. LSU?™s tandem of Richard Thompson and Trindon Holliday went 1-2 with marks of 6.57 and 6.61. Oklahoma?™s Marcus Pugh finished third in 6.64. Finishing behind Phiri?™s 6.67 was Tennessee?™s Rubin Williams, in 6.69.
?He?™s a young guy who looked really good in the final,? noted Aggie head coach Pat Henry. ?He?™s excited about running. The field doesn?™t get much better than that one.
?Once you get caught up in that type of competition, if you have things going right between your ears you can run fast.?
A full slate of activity during the first day of the Collegiate Invitational, held in the Armory, presented plenty of highlights for the Texas A&M track and field team.
Ashika Charan repeated her runner-up performance from a year ago and matched the indoor personal best she established last year at this meet with a leap of 20-6 ?Ľ (6.25).
Julian Reid improved his indoor long jump mark to 25-4 (7.72) in placing third. Reid now shares the Big 12 lead with OU?™s Anthony Flemons and is the No. 4 performer on the A&M indoor all-time list with the No. 11 performance.
Kevin Ondrasek moved to the No. 2 position on the current Big 12 list when he won his section of the 1000 meters in 2:26.14, placing fourth overall in the event. Ondrasek set a personal best in the 800 last weekend and added another career mark in the 1000. He is now the No. 5 performer on the Aggie all-time list with the No. 11 performance.
In the women?™s 60 meters and 60 hurdle finals, the Aggie women had two athletes in each race.
Simone Facey placed fifth in the 60 meters with a 7.29 while Gabby Mayo ran 7.58 for eighth place. LSU?™s Kelly-Ann Baptiste set a meet record with a 7.17 winning time, just ahead of teammate Samantha Henry?™s 7.18.
For the 60 hurdles Jennifer Williams finished fifth in 8.45 as Lindsey Adams clocked 8.51 to place eighth. In the prelims Adams set a career best in posting the third-fastest qualifying time. Her 8.35 clocking moved her to the No. 5 performer and eclipsed her previous best of 8.36, which was set in 2006.
Consolation finals of the women?™s 60 had Porscha Lucas running 7.40 for third place as Khrystal Carter clocked 7.52 for sixth. The men?™s 60 consolation had Richard Adu-Bobie placing fourth in 6.75 while Dominique Stafford ran 6.82 for sixth place.
In the consolation final for the 60 hurdles, Mayo ran 8.60 after an 8.52 in the prelims. She also recorded a 7.40 in the prelims of the 60 meters.
In the 5,000 meters Joe Sauvageau recorded a personal best of 14:46.61 to place fourth. He improved to the No. 11 position on the Aggie all-time list.
Texas A&M posted a time of 9:59.82 to place second in its section of the distance medley relay, becoming the No. 9 performer in A&M history. They finished sixth overall.
The Aggies ran in the lead with an opening leg of 3:02.8 from Ondrasek and maintained the advantage with a 48.1 split from Nick Robinson. Amid the 800 portion of the third leg, Nick Toohey cruised along to a 1:55.7 split maintaining the A&M edge until right before the final exchange when Princeton passed him and took over the lead.
Matt Ross ran 4:13.1 on the anchor leg, spending most of the mile distance in second and right on the shoulder of the Princeton runner. The final lap put some distance between Princeton and the Aggies, who held on for the runner-up spot.
The first race of the day had Christina Munoz winning her heat of the 3,000 in 9:53.23, equal to the No. 6 performer on the A&M indoor all-time list. Munoz finished eighth overall in a field of 53 runners. Brenna Williamson posted a personal best time of 9:59.19 to place 12th overall.
The rarely run 500 meters produced a collegiate all-time best of 1:00.82 by Lesiba Masheto of Illinois. A&M had two entrants in the race, with A.C. Robinson clocking 1:02.92 for fifth place and Trinity Otto turning in a 1:07.59.
In other field events Tyron Stewart finished seventh in the college division of the long jump with a mark of 23-4 ?˝. Javier Olivas placed ninth in the shot put (54-8 ?ľ) while Brandon Letsinger had the same result in the high jump (6-6 ?Ľ).
Evelyn Wing won her section of the 800 with a time of 2:15.23 and placed 13th overall. Graham Northcutt was tripped in the final stages of the 1000 and fell. He recorded a time of 2:35.35. Later in the 800 Northcutt ran 1:56.85. In the men?™s 3,000 David Hebert turned in an 8:40.41.
Just missing the consolation final in the men?™s 60 hurdles was Cade Liverman, who ran 8.00 to win his heat but 7.99 was the last time that moved into the finals. Melvin Echard improved to an 8.18 in the prelims, setting his season best.
In qualifying races for Saturday finals, Jessica Beard recorded the third fastest qualifying time in the 400 with a heat winner of 53.90. Sandy Wooten (55.21) and Allison George (56.19) did not advance.
The men?™s 400 had Bryant McCombs (48.00), Bryan Miller (48.45) and Nick Robinson (48.75) in the prelims, but none reached the finals.