Jan. 22, 2009
A&M vs. UT Dual - Schedule & Heat Sheets 
College Station - Texas A&M will officially open the Gilliam Indoor Track and Field Stadium on Saturday afternoon with a dual meet against the University of Texas men and the University of Tennessee women.
The three-hour meet, set to start at 2 p.m. with the men's mile, will feature four teams ranked among the top 10 in the nation for the 2009 indoor season. The Aggie women are ranked No. 1 in the nation while the A&M men hold the No. 6 position. Tennessee is No. 4 in the women's rankings while the Longhorn men are No. 7.
"We started off real easy, didn't we," quipped Henry. "The goal and challenge is to win, but we are facing two very strong programs. To defeat either one of them is going to require us to have a great meet.
"It'll be a great one to watch, and a great way to open this venue."
Dual meet scoring is different than a regular season or conference meet in that only the top four places score in individual events along with the top two places in a relay. In addition, only two participants from each school can score in an event.
The scoring system being used this weekend is 5-3-2-1 points for the first four places in an individual event and 5-3 for the top two places in a relay. So, with 159 total points on offer, the first team to reach 80 points will win the dual.
Based on seed times for the entries into this meet both duals are projected to finish with only a three-point gap for the winning team. The deciding points may be determined in the final event, the 4 x 400 relay.
"The way the NCAA has structured scholarships it's very difficult for any school to be real strong in all event areas," Henry said. "It's just extremely difficult.
"So, you look at teams you would like to have a competition against that have some balance in their program. Balance is what we are establishing with our program."
Tennessee and Texas feature teams strong in middle distance events along with talent available across the board. Those event areas will counter the sprint strength of Texas A&M.
There is a balance among the field events, where the Aggie men have stellar jumpers for the long and triple jump while the Longhorns seek to perform better in the high jump and pole vault. Key points seem to be available for either team in the two throwing events, the shot put and weight throw.
Tennessee women will likely hold an edge in the throwing events while A&M flexes its prowess in the jumps. The pole vault appears to be even among the two squads. "There will be some events where Texas or Tennessee will have a lot of great people in and we don't," said Henry. "Of course there will be some events where we have great people in and they don't.
"It's a balancing act to make a great competition, but this is one where there are some outstanding athletes spread out among all four of the teams competing here on Saturday. It will allow the fans to see some great track and field performances."
The last dual meet between Texas A&M and Texas occurred outdoors in March of 1997 with Texas winning both the men's (89-74) and women's (79-65) meets. In 1996 the Aggies were the victors on the men's side, 98-55.
For Tennessee, it's the first time the Lady Vols have been involved in a dual meet in 13 years. Back in 1996 Tennessee defeated Indiana (65-48) in Bloomington during an indoor dual.
Featuring 16 returning All-Americans, the Aggies will host a meet on campus for the first time since the summer of 2004. For senior members on the team it will be a particularly special event since it's the first time they been able to compete at home in a track and field meet.
"We just had a graduating class that never ran at home," Henry noted. "Now we have a group of athletes who get to compete in front of their peers. That is so important to our athletes and our program."
Texas A&M opened the 2009 season with seven NCAA provisional marks at the Arkansas Invitational the first weekend of January while recording nine victories. This weekend the focus will shift toward scoring points in the dual meet format while also pursing qualifying marks within those performances.