April 3, 2009
AUSTIN - Angela Thomas highlighted the Friday afternoon session at the 82nd Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays for the Aggies by winning the triple jump for the second time in three seasons. A leap of 42-6 (12.95) notched a career best for the Waco senior and moved her to No. 7 on the A&M all-time list.
"It's great to leave the track knowing I did my best today," Thomas noted. "It was pretty hot out there, but I prefer it to be hot rather than cold. I was focused on what I needed to do today."
Thomas, who won the B division triple jump back in 2007 with a windy 42-2.25 and finished third last year, reached her winning distance in the fifth round. She previously led the field with an opening round of 41-3 and then improved to 41-5.25 in the third round.
"I knew it was going to come when I got on the board," said Thomas of her winning jump. "I was ready for it to happen."
Jasmine Simmons of Barton County broke a tie for second with a 41-9.25 last round effort. Then Oklahoma's Latoya Heath leapt into third place with a final round mark of 41-8. Thomas, who was concerned about losing her lead in the sixth round, also finished with a 41-8.
"I wanted to do better on my last jump, but I didn't quite have it on that effort," said Thomas, who has now competed in Myers Stadium 10 times - three times for the Texas Relays as a collegian, three times for the Relays as a high school athlete and four times in the Texas State high school meet.
The evening session featured a pair of relays and the steeplechase for the Aggie men.
Kevin McNab placed second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:11.35 to finish behind the 9:09.48 winning time from J.J. Hernandez of UT-Pan American. Joe Sauvageau finished sixth in 9:44.02.
In the sprint medley the A&M crew of Chris Dykes (20.6-200m), Bryan Miller (46.5-400m) and Oscar Ramirez (1:55.0-800m) led the race until the last quarter of the final lap on the anchor leg.
With a final time of 3:22.91 the Aggies placed second to USC's 3:20.59 when Blake Shaw passed Ramirez on the 800-meter anchor leg with 200m remaining. After the second section USC placed seventh while A&M finished 10th.
In the 4 x 1500 the field was stretched out through the first three legs, but by the anchor leg there were five teams in contention for the win. Kevin Burnett anchored for the Aggies and shared the lead with Arkansas' Michael Chinchar on the final lap of the race.
Chinchar and Texas Tech's Silas Kemboi kicked with 200m left and Burnett secured third for A&M. Arkansas won in 15:57.97 while Tech ran 15:58.57 with the Aggies clocking 16:01.35.
The Texas A&M foursome included Matt Ross (3:54.9), Graham Northcutt (4:00.1) on the first three legs with Burnett anchoring in 4:02.1.
The morning session, which consisted primarily of qualifying races in the 4x1, hurdles and 100 meters, turned into a mixed bag for the Aggies.
First on the track was the women's 4 x 100, where the A&M crew of Khrystal Carter, Porscha Lucas, Allison George and Gabby Mayo didn't advance the baton past the second exchange.
The A&M men's sprint relay followed and posted a runner-up time of 39.60 seconds behind the 39.51 recorded by Florida State. Those were fastest pair of times in the qualifying section. Running for the Aggies were Chris Dykes and Justin Oliver.
Other schools advancing to the men's final were LSU (39.67), Baylor (39.77), UT-Arlington (39.98), Washington State (40.07), Mississippi State (40.17), TCU (40.26) and North Texas (40.40).
Later in 4 x 400 relay qualifying the A&M women recorded the fastest time of the day as they won their heat in 3:34.48 with the foursome of Allison George (53.1), Sandy Wooten (54.6) and Jessica Beard (51.5).
Texas women won their heat in 3:34.75 with the second fastest qualifying time while TCU was third fastest with a 3:36.66.
A series of finals were contested in other B division events on Friday. Hali Henderson nearly reached the regional qualifying mark in the javelin as her 141-4 (43.08) placed her fourth. The regional mark is 142-6.
Jennifer Davidson missed on her three attempts at that height.
Nick Cook placed ninth in the shot put with a mark of 51-5 (15.67).
In sprint and hurdle qualifying on Friday morning the Aggies advanced De'Lon Isom in the 110 hurdles.
While LSU's Samantha Henry claimed the world and collegiate with an 11.21 in the women's 100 qualifying, Mayo reached the final with an 11.46 heat winner. Duncan clocked 11.64 as runner-up to TCU's Jessica Young, who won the heat in 11.24. Elizabeth Adeoti finished third in her heat with a windy 11.72.
Isom won his hurdle heat in 13.91 over USC's Oscar Spurlock (13.98) and Washington State's Jeshua Anderson (14.26). Isom sported the fourth fastest qualifying time.
Vashti Thomas just missed advancing to the final of the 100 hurdles with a runner-up time of 13.79 in her heat. Ohio State's Letecia Wright won the heat Thomas ran in and was the last qualifier with her 13.78 clocking.