A&M women win Big 12 again
Mar 01, 2008 | Track and Field
March 01, 2008
Big 12 Indoor Championships ?- Lincoln, Nebraska
Final Women?™s Team Scores: 1. Texas A&M 119.25; 2. Nebraska 95; 3. Kansas 93; 4. Texas 79; 5. Texas Tech 70.5; 6. Baylor 68.25; 7. Oklahoma 59; 8. Missouri 55; 9. Kansas State 54; 10. Iowa State 30; 11. Oklahoma State 13; 12. Colorado 5.
Texas A&M Women ?- Finals
60: 2. Simone Facey, 7.23 (School Record); 5. Porscha Lucas, 7.30; 6. Allison George, 7.39 PR; 8. Gabby Mayo, 7.43. (A&M points ?- 16)
200: 1. Porscha Lucas, 22.86 (World Leader, School Record); 2. Simone Facey, 22.96 PR; 7. Jessica Beard, 23.84. (A&M points ?- 20)
400: 1. Jessica Beard, 52.61 PR; 4. Sandy Wooten, 54.33 PR; 5. Allison George 55.61 PR (A&M points ?- 19)
800: 5. Evelyn Wing, 2:13.35 PR (A&M points ?- 4)
3,000: 5. Christina Munoz 9:41.37 PR (A&M points ?- 4)
60H: 2. Jennifer Williams, 8.31; 3. Lindsey Adams, 8.38; 5. Gabby Mayo, 8.44 (A&M points ?- 18)
4 x 400: 1. Texas A&M, 3:36.45 (A&M points ?- 10)
TJ: 2. Ashika Charan, 43-0 ?Ľ (13.11); 4. Yasmine Regis, 42-5 ?Ľ (12.93); 6. Angela Thomas, 41-0 ?Ľ (12.50); 11. Ashley McCarty, 40-0 (12.19). (A&M points ?- 16)
Day one total: 12.25 points
Day two total: 107 points
Final Men?™s Team Scores: 1. Texas 106; 2. Nebraska 104; 3. Texas Tech 93; 4. Texas A&M 76; 5. Missouri 67; 6. Oklahoma 65.5; 7. Colorado 54; 8. Kansas State 46; 9. Baylor 38; 10. Kansas 37.5; 11. Iowa State 32; 12. Oklahoma State 22.
Texas A&M Men ?- Finals
60: 2. Gerald Phiri, 6.65; 6. Richard Adu-Bobie, 6.78; 8. Dominique Stafford, 6.82. (A&M points ?- 12)
200: 6. Chris Dykes, 21.24; 8. Gerald Phiri, 21.68. (A&M points ?- 4)
400: 2. Justin Oliver, 47.33; 9. Morquise Cleveland, 48.30. (A&M points ?- 8)
600y: 4. A.C. Robinson, 1:10.26 PR. (A&M points ?- 5)
1,000: 4. Kevin Ondrasek, 2:28.23. (A&M points ?- 5)
3,000: 4. Kevin McNab, 8:11.50. (A&M points ?- 5)
4 x 400: 2. Texas A&M, 3:08.34. (A&M points ?- 8)
PV: 10. Chad Stoermer, 16-0 ?ľ (4.90).
TJ: 4. Julian Reid, 51-6 ?˝ (15.71); 5. Zuheir Sharif, 50-10 ?Ľ (15.50); 6. Tyron Stewart, 50-8 ?Ľ (15.45); 10. Melvin Echard, 49-2 ?Ľ (14.99). (A&M points ?- 12)
SP: 6. Javier Olivas, 55-11 ?ľ (17.06).
Hept: 10. Trinity Otto, 5245 PR.
Day one total: 14 points
Day two total: 59 points
Texas A&M women successfully defended their Big 12 Indoor Championship with another commanding sprint performance on the second day of the conference meet in the Bob Devaney Sports Center on the University of Nebraska campus.
With school record efforts from Porscha Lucas and Simone Facey, the Aggies racked up 107 points to overcome the lead Nebraska established during day one action.
After Lucas won the 200 with a world-leading time of 22.86 seconds and Jessica Beard claimed the 400 in 52.61, they teamed up on the 4 x 400 relay for another victory, which resulted in a 3:36.45 ?- 3:36.60 win over Texas. Also running on the relay were Sandy Wooten and Jennifer Williams.
Texas A&M accumulated a final tally of 119.25 points to win the program?™s third conference title after achieving initial indoor and outdoor Big 12 crowns in 2007. Nebraska scored 95 points as the runner-up team. Following in the top five were Kansas (93), Texas (79) and Texas Tech (70.5).
?I can?™t be any more pleased with that group of ladies than we are today as a staff,? stated A&M head coach Pat Henry. ?This is a team meet, but within this team we had some tremendous individual performances today. That?™s what it takes to be successful at the next level.?
Runner-up performances for the Aggie women on day two included Jennifer Williams in the 60 hurdles (8.31), Simone Facey in the 60 (7.23 school record) and 200 (22.96), and Ashika Charan in the triple jump (43-0.25).
On the men?™s side the Texas A&M squad pieced together solid performances and came away with 76 points to place fourth in team scoring.
?We have a very young group on the men?™s side. One freshman shared high point honors while another was runner-up in the 60,? noted Henry. ?I?™m proud of the way they competed today. I?™m not tickled to death totally with our performance as a team, but I?™m proud of the way we lined up and competed.
?We moved up five spots this year and that?™s only part of the goal. We?™re anxious about getting better overall.?
Highlighting the strong effort was freshman Julian Reid earning a share of the Big 12 men?™s High Point Scorer of the meet with Missouri?™s Nate Englin, who won the shot put and placed fourth in the weight throw.
Reid, who is from Kingston, Jamaica, won the long jump on day one and led an Aggie trio in the triple jump on day two. Reid placed fourth with a mark of 51-6.5 (15.71) to finish ahead of teammates Zuheir Sharif in fifth place and Tyron Stewart in sixth.
?This honor means a lot to me,? Reid said. ?I was surprised when they called my name out to present the award. I?™m very grateful. While I?™m a bit unhappy with our team not winning, we have other championships to go after. I?™m looking forward to that now.?
Previous Aggies to claim the high point scoring honor at the Big 12 Indoor meet were Billy Fobbs in 1998 and Brandon Evans in 2001.
Texas won the men?™s league title with 106 points to hold off a 104 total from Nebraska. Last year the two squads tied for the Big 12 Championship with 93 points apiece. Texas Tech (93) finished third while Missouri (67) rounded out the top five.
The Aggie men improved upon a ninth-place finish from 2007 and recorded the highest finish at a Big 12 Indoor since a pair of fifth-place results in 2000 and 2003. Texas A&M finished as runner-up in the conference indoor meet during the 1998 and 2001 seasons.
Runner-up performances on the men?™s side include Gerald Phiri in the 60 (6.65) and Justin Oliver in the 400 (47.33). Then the 4 x 400 relay capped the evening with a second-place finish to Baylor. The quartet of Oliver, Chris Dykes, Nick Robinson and A.C. Robinson ran 3:08.34.
After establishing freshman records in four events last season, Lucas claimed a share of the 60-meter record while lowering the 200 mark to the record she now holds during the conference meet. Her winning time of 22.86 betters the world-leading time of 22.94 set by Nickesha Anderson of Kansas two weeks ago. It also equaled the Big 12 meet record set by Sanya Richards of Texas in 2004.
?We just told each other to do the same thing we did in New York,? said Lucas, referring to the 1-2 finish Facey and her achieved when racing two sprinters from LSU. ?We knew what we had to do, we both ran our own races and had a great outcome.
?Each race had the same level of competition, plus Simone and I really run well together. I still check the scoreboard after the race to see how fast we ran. Coach Anderson always tells us to run our race and get the time later. That?™s what I did.?
Facey lowered her career indoor best to 22.96 as the runner-up while Anderson of Kansas finished third in 23.06. Beard added a seventh-place effort with a clocking of 23.84 as the Aggies tallied 20 points in the event.
In the 400 Beard only trails two marks run by Clora Williams, the Big 12 Indoor 400 champion in 2006 and 2007. The times of 52.53 and 52.57 that Williams set during the 2006 NCAA Championships. Beard now holds the No. 3-4-5 performances on the A&M indoor all-time list.
?Winning the conference title keeps my mindset on pushing myself harder so I can strive for bigger things,? Beard stated. ?Clora was so good that I want to be like her and do what she did. I follow what she does when we are training.
With the win by Beard it marks the third consecutive victory for the Aggie women in the event following the pair Williams won the two previous years.
?This means a lot to me,? Beard added. ?It contributes points to the team and that is the ultimate goal. Plus it lets people know we have great quarter-milers at this school.?
Following Beard in the 400 with personal best indoor marks of their own were Sandy Wooten and Allison George. Running a 54.33 placed Wooten fourth while George posted a 55.61 for fifth place as the Aggies scored 19 points in the event.
Beard started her anchor leg of the 4 x 400 about 15 meters down to the Longhorn anchor. A methodical approach over the two laps allowed Beard to close the gap even while she had to contend with Baylor challenging for second place.
With 60 meters remaining Beard started to charge for the lead. She closed the gap on Texas?™ Temeka Kincy, but didn?™t overtake the Longhorn until the final few steps at the finish line. Texas A&M won the relay by a very narrow 0.15 of a second margin to defend its title in the event from last season.
In the women?™s 60 the Aggies picked up 16 points behind the school record of 7.23 set by Facey in placing second to the 7.22 run by Kansas?™ Anderson. Lucas finished fifth in 7.30 as George recorded a career best of 7.39 for sixth and Gabby Mayo placed eighth in 7.45.
Jennifer Williams claimed her second silver medal in the 60 hurdles with a clocking of 8.31 with teammate Lindsey Adams taking the bronze medal in 8.38. Mayo added key points when she placed fourth in 8.44 giving the Aggies a total of 18.
Another high point event for the women was the triple jump, where three A&M jumpers picked up 16 points. Behind Charan?™s runner-up performance two-time defending champion Yasmine Regis finished fourth (42-5 ?Ľ, 12.93) as Angela Thomas placed sixth (41-0 ?Ľ. 12.50).
Vital points also came from the distance events. Christina Munoz added to her fourth-place effort in the 5,000 on Friday with a fifth-place performance in the 3,000 as she clocked a PR of 9:41.37. Also notching another indoor career best for fifth place in the 800 was Evelyn Wing, who ran 2:13.35.
Reid led a 12-point output in the men?™s triple jump, which didn?™t include Melvin Echard setting a personal best of 49-2 ?Ľ (14.99) for 10th place.
Three other fourth-place efforts earned five points each for the Aggie team score. A.C. Robinson clocked 1:02.26 for another PR in the 600 yards. Kevin Ondrasek challenged the field early in the 1,000 meters and finished in 2:28.23. Kevin McNab neared his indoor best in the 3,000 as he recorded an 8:11.50.
The Aggies also generated 12 points in the 60 meters as Richard Adu-Bobie (6.78) finished sixth and Dominique Stafford (6.82) placed eighth behind the silver-medal performance of Phiri, who also placed eighth in the 200 (21.68). Chris Dykes finished sixth in 21.24.
Javier Olivas scored in the shot put, placing sixth with a toss of 55-11 ?ľ (17.06). Morquise Cleveland finished ninth in the 400 (48.30) as Chad Stoermer and Trinity Otto each placed 10th in the pole vault (16-0 ?ľ, 4.90) and heptathlon (PR of 5,245 points), respectively.
