Jan. 31, 2009
College Station - The Big 12 conference scored a pair of victories over the SEC in the Texas A&M Showdown on Saturday as the meet attracted a two-day attendance total of 4,037 in the Gilliam Indoor Track and Field Stadium.
With 359 points the Big 12 women rolled by their SEC counterparts, who tallied 226. On the men's side the Big 12 totaled 332 points to better the 279 turned in by the SEC.
Comprising the Big 12 teams were Missouri, Texas and Texas A&M while the SEC included Florida, LSU and Mississippi. Saturday's attendance was 2,575 with 472 students.
Aggies sprinters had highlight performances with Porscha Lucas lowered her world and collegiate leading mark in the 200 to 23.38 seconds.
"We never teamed up with another team before to score points in a common cause," Lucas said. "It was a little different, but in the end I was still racing against people from the Big 12 as well as the SEC."
Phiri challenged LSU's Trindon Holliday in the 60, with the Tiger posting a win of 6.56 to take over the collegiate lead in 2009. Phiri bettered his 6.64 school record he set twice last year.
"It wasn't as much of a surprise as it was last year," said Phiri of breaking the school record. "It was a great performance, but I know there are a couple of things I could have done better.
"I really wanted to beat him, especially in front of a home crowd. It was the first time my mom and dad have seen me run in 2 ½ years. I was really eager to do that, but unfortunately that didn't happen. It only takes one good race, so hopefully at nationals I'll get him when it matters the most."
Holliday and Phiri currently rank third and fifth on the 2009 world indoor list. They charged down the middle of the track in earning NCAA automatic qualifying marks as Florida's duo of Terrell Wilks (6.73) and Jeremy Hall (6.74) gave chase in placing third and fourth in the final.
Lucas entered the meet sharing the world lead in the 200 with a 23.39. She cruised to a 23.38 victory over teammate Gabby Mayo (23.60) and Alexandria Anderson of Texas (23.68). Anderson claimed the 60 in 7.33 with Lucas (7.35) and Mayo (7.38) taking second and third.
"It's always good to have competition out here to see exactly where you are in training," Lucas said. "I'm happy that I continue to drop my times in the 200, but I know I need to continue to work hard to drop my time even more for Big 12 and the NCAA Championships.
"I'm getting a better feel for the track. I'm getting used to how the curves are and other things as well. I'm glad we're getting this much time on it before we host the conference and national meets."
Texas A&M actually claimed four of the top six places in the women's 200 as Khrystal Carter (24.14) finished fourth and fifth.
In the men's 200 Phiri edged teammate Chris Dykes with an indoor personal best of 21.01 to rank No. 5 on the Aggie all-time list. Dykes finished in 21.13 as another pair of Gators followed in Calvin Smith (21.42) and Wilks (21.54).
Jumping events became another treat for the Aggies as they claimed three wins. Tyron Stewart and Vashti Thomas each won their respective triple jumps while Julian Reid did the same in the long jump.
Stewart moved to No. 6 performer on the A&M all-time list with a winning mark of 52-8 ¾ as Thomas reached a distance of 42-0 ¾ in her debut performance in the maroon and white. Reid bettered the field with a long jump of 24-11 ¼.
"Our group is so strong with Zuheir, Julian and Melvin," noted Stewart. "Every week I just try to do my best and PR. It's going kind of slow right now as I get my phases together. Other than that it was a pretty good day, I'm satisfied with it.
"The best jumpers are already here at Texas A&M. So the competition is already here, we don't have to go look for the competition. Every meet we push ourselves, because we know it's going to be a good jumping meet basically every time we compete."
Thomas becomes the No. 6 performer on the Aggie all-time list and also added a runner-up finish in the 60 hurdles (8.47). She finished ahead of teammate Yasmine Regis, who produced a mark of 41-9 ¼ for second place.
Texas A&M won the distance medley relay in 9:51.31 with a foursome of Nick Toohey (4:09.3).
Christina Munoz turned in another winning effort as she clocked 17:05.88 to claim the 5,000 meters.
Ashika Charan finished as runner-up in the long jump with her mark of 20-5 ¼. Laura Asimakis placed second in the pole vault with a clearance of 12-6.
Both of Texas A&M's 4 x 400 relays finished second. The men posted a time of 3:11.30 behind Florida's 3:10.04 while Texas was third in 3:12.05. The Aggie women ran 3:43.68 as runner-up.
After leading the heptathlon on day one, Trinity Otto finished fourth with a career best score of 5,373 points. It earned him a NCAA provisional standard and makes him the No. 3 performer on the A&M all-time list.
Nick Toohey also earned a NCAA provisional mark in the 800 as he placed fourth in 1:50.34, the No. 3 performance ever for the Aggies behind his school record.
Deidre Tarver had a huge career best toss in the weight throw, reaching a distance of 56-2 for fourth place. She moved to No. 4 on the A&M all-time list.
In finishing fifth in the 5,000 meters Kevin Burnett ran a time of 14:33.22, which places the freshman as the No. 4 performer on the Aggie all-time indoor list.