March 15, 2008
Strong efforts in the 4 x 400 relay by the Aggies on Saturday evening capped a unique weekend for the men?™s and women?™s squads as both finished in the top 10 amid team scoring at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
A silver-medal performance in the women?™s 4 x 400, matching their result from last year, produced the second-fastest indoor time in A&M history for the quartet of Sandy Wooten (54.17), Simone Facey (52.45), Jennifer Williams (53.11) and Jessica Beard (51.61). They clocked 3:31.34 to finish behind the 3:31.14 posted by LSU. The Aggie school record stands at 3:29.93 from last year?™s NCAA meet.
As a result the Aggie women turned in a best-ever seventh place finish with 23 points in the team standings, bettering the previous best of 13th-place established last year.
A school record of 3:06.37 by the A&M men?™s foursome of Justin Oliver (47.05), Chris Dykes (47.28), Nick Robinson (46.50) and A.C. Robinson (45.55) placed the Aggies fourth in the race and helped to earn the team a tie for 10th place overall with 17 points.
It?™s the highest finish by an A&M men?™s team since 1990 when the Aggies tied for third place in team scoring. Texas A&M also had a team place third in 1989 and seventh in 1980. Last season the Aggies tied for 32nd place.
?You have to be pleased with the team finishes,? said A&M head coach Pat Henry, who is in his fourth season with the program. ?Any time you start placing in the top 10, and being in there with both groups, that?™s what we needed to be able to do this year. We?™re moving in the right direction.
?I?™m extremely pleased with the people that we brought here. We competed at a very high level that got us here and in some cases a little bit better.?
The relay mark the Aggie crew broke was a 3:06.51 set in 1994 when the group of Stacy Zamzow, Mike Miller, Dante Bolden and Danny McCray won the NCAA Indoor title.
?It was great to set the school record,? A.C. Robinson said. ?I?™m glad we got after it since we were ready to run a time that fast. Our mind was set on breaking the school record.
?Placing 10th at the NCAA Indoor Championships gives us an idea of what we can accomplish outdoors. We will have a chance to win the Big 12 and score even higher at the NCAA Outdoor meet. It?™s just a stepping stone for us and the franchise we are beginning to build.?
In individual events a pair of freshmen shined on the second day of the NCAA meet.
Jessica Beard broke the Texas A&M school record on the way to placing third in the 400. Her time of 52.48 bettered the mark of 52.53 established by Clora Williams in 2006 during the NCAA semifinal.
Miami?™s Krista Simkins won the race in 52.16 while Alabama?™s Trish Bartholomew ran 52.37 for second. Beard was the only freshman in the final.
?Going into the race I felt that if I ran a personal best, then I would be happy with my result whether if I won or not,? Beard said. ?I was focused on contributing points to the team.
?When they told me I had beaten Clora?™s indoor record I was really excited. It made me feel even happier with my performance.?
Gerald Phiri finished sixth in the 60 as he equaled his school record of 6.64. LSU produced a 1-2 finish as Richard Thompson won in 6.51 with Trindon Holliday runner-up with a 6.54. Phiri ran an equal time to fifth-place finisher J-Mee Samuels of Arkansas, but a separation of 0.004, 6.632 to 6.636, broke the tie.
Zuheir Sharif placed ninth in the triple jump with a mark of 51-8.5 (15.76) while Julian Reid finished 15th with a distance of 49-7 (15.11). Ashika Charan finished 11th in the women?™s triple jump with a mark of 43-2.25 (13.16).
In earning two All-American honors during this NCAA Indoor Championship Simone Facey now has a total of eight after her third NCAA meet with the Aggies. She is currently tied with Adrien Sawyer on the women?™s side and equal with Howard Davis, Stanley Kerr and Randy Matson from the men?™s side.
?It?™s really a special feeling to be listed among the other athletes in Texas A&M history who have earned that many All-American honors before me,? Facey noted.
?To run on the 4 x 400 relay is a great experience for me. I?™m really pleased with what I did tonight. I was able to run my personal best, the fastest split I?™ve ever had on a 4 x 400 relay.?
Facey ran the third leg of the 4 x 400 last year when A&M set a school record as the NCAA Indoor runner-up. This time she moved to the second leg following a stellar opening lead-off from Sandy Wooten, who was right on the heels of LSU?™s Brooklyn Morris (54.12) with her 54.17 split.
Facey, racing LSU?™s Nickiesha Wilson and Brandi Cross of South Carolina on the second leg, powered to the front of the pack midway through her carry. Wilson would reclaim the lead for LSU with her split of 52.42 while Facey kept challenging with her 52.45. Cross even kept South Carolina in the hunt with a 52.23 split.
The cumulative time at the second exchange was extremely close ?- LSU (1:46.54), Texas A&M (1:46.62), South Carolina (1:46.66).
Jennifer Williams ran the third leg along with Latavia Thomas, LSU?™s NCAA Indoor 800 champ, and Faraign Giles from Carolina. Thomas increased the LSU lead with a 52.63 leg while Williams answered with a 53.11. Giles fell off the pace with a 54.30 carry.
Deonna Lawrence, who didn?™t qualify for the NCAA 400 field, anchored LSU with a 51.98 split. Beard posted the fastest split of the night and nearly caught Lawrence at the line with her 51.61 leg.
?The race was really close, each leg ran their best split this season,? Beard said. ?We really couldn?™t ask for much more. It really lets us know where we are now and shows us what we can do outdoors. That?™s the next goal for us, outdoors.?
Nick Robinson supplied a key role for the Aggies during the indoor season when he replaced Bryant McCombs, who was injured during practice a month ago, on the men?™s 4 x 400 relay.
?Being a senior and running in front of all these cameras, I had no choice but to run my best,? stated Robinson. ?I?™m so happy to be part of a school record relay, Coach Henry had us ready to run.
?In a final only race you have to make sure you?™re ready to do your part for the team. We all ran the best we could and the result was a school record.?
An anchor leg last season when the Aggies were silver medalists at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, Justin Oliver delivered for A&M as he took over the lead leg duties when McCombs wasn?™t available.
Oliver led the trio of Baylor, Arizona State and Florida in the third of a three-section final through the first circuit of his relay leg. He then was knocked off stride when a runner cut in front of him going into the curve. Oliver recovered and retained the lead for the Aggies with a 47.05 split in handing off the baton to Chris Dykes ahead of Baylor (47.14) and Arizona State (47.22).
A smooth run from Dykes (47.28) still had A&M challenging for the lead. Baylor?™s cumulative split at the second exchange was 1:33.94 to the 1:34.32 for the Aggies.
Running a 46.50 split allowed N. Robinson to keep within a couple of strides of the Bears, who passed the baton with a time of 2:20.39. A&M?™s third handoff came with a time of 2:20.82 with Arizona State challenging at 2:20.88.
?It was awful that we lost McCombs during the season and I know how badly he wanted to be here and desired this as much as we do,? noted A.C. Robinson. ?Nick stepped up and I?™m proud of him. He let us know he was ready to run and he gave us what we expected from him.?
LeJerald Betters paced the Baylor effort with a 45.28 anchor as the Bears won in 3:05.66. A race to the finish line had Joel Phillip (45.47) of Arizona State edging A.C. Robinson with a margin of 3:06.34 to 3:06.37.
?A.C. is my roommate on our trips, so we talk about a lot of stuff,? N. Robinson said. ?I know he is going to back me up every time. I feel real comfortable handing him the stick.?
A run of 3:06.19 by TCU in the second section claimed second overall for the Horned Frogs as Arizona State and A&M moved down a place in the final order of finish.
Arizona State women defended its title from 2007 with 51 points to place ahead of favored LSU, who was runner-up with 43 points. Rounding out the top five teams were Michigan (39), Texas (35), and Stanford (32). Joining Texas A&M among the next five squads were Florida State (28) at sixth with Florida (19) and Tennessee (19) tied for eighth. Finishing in a three-way tie for 10th place were Kansas, Texas Tech and Virginia Tech with 18 points apiece.
On the men?™s side Arizona State pulled off the double, as the Sun Devils edged out Florida State 44-41. Texas (34), LSU (33) and Tennessee (26) rounded out the top five. The next group included Arkansas (24) in sixth place ahead of Stanford (23), Florida (19), Northern Iowa (18) and the tie for 10th at 17 points between the Aggies and Washington.
Women Team Scores
1. Arizona State 51; 2. LSU 43; 3. Michigan 39; 4. Texas 35; 5. Stanford 32; 6. Florida State 28; 7. Texas A&M 23; 8. tie, Florida & Tennessee, 19; 10. tie, Kansas, Texas Tech & Virginia Tech, 18.
Results
400: 3. Jessica Beard, 52.48. Breaks school record of 52.53 set by Clora Williams in 2006.
4 x 400: 2. Texas A&M, 3:31.34 (Sandy Wooten, Simone Facey, Jennifer Williams, Jessica Beard). Second fastest in school history.
TJ: 11. Ashika Charan, 43-2 ?Ľ (13.16).
Men?™s Team Scores
1. Arizona State 44; 2. Florida State 41; 3. Texas 34; 4. LSU 33; 5. Tennessee 26; 6. Arkansas 24; 7. Stanford 23; 8. Florida 19; 9. Northern Iowa 18; 10. tie, Texas A&M and Washington, 17.
Results
60: 6. Gerald Phiri, 6.64. Equals school record set by Phiri.
4 x 400: 4. Texas A&M, 3:06.37 (Justin Oliver, Chris Dykes, Nick Robinson, A.C. Robinson) Breaks school record of 3:06.51 set in 1994.
Triple Jump: 9. Zuheir Sharif, 51-8 ?˝ (15.76); 15. Julian Reid, 49-7 (15.11).