April 9, 2009
LIVE RESULTSÂ |Â FRIDAY HEATSÂ |Â FRIDAY DISTANCE HEATSÂ |Â SATURDAY HEATS
Los Angeles - A second trip to Southern California this outdoor season will have the Aggies on the UCLA campus as they compete in the Rafer Johnson / Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational this weekend.
A decathlon and heptathlon started action on Thursday in the meet named after the pair of Bruin multi-event legends, each of whom claimed Olympic gold. Texas A&M will be in action on Friday and Saturday.
Field events begin at noon on Friday with running events starting at 2 p.m. and going through 9:30 p.m. On Saturday, field events will begin at 11 a.m. with running events starting at noon and wrapping up around 3 p.m.
Teams expected to join UCLA and the Aggies in the Invitational are Azusa Pacific, Cal Poly SLO, Cal State Bakersfield, Cal State LA, Cal State Northridge, Cal State San Marcos, California, Mississippi Valley, Pepperdine, Point Loma, Rice, Seattle Pacific, Southern Illinois, Stanford, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, USC, Utah State, Utah Valley State and Washington State.
In addition to the collegiate competition, Saturday's invitational events will feature pro athletes and a number of Olympians who competed in Beijing the previous summer.
Texas A&M enters the meet with the top-ranked women's team while the men are No. 2 in the USTFCCCA rankings released this week. Host UCLA is No. 8 in the women's rankings and No. 15 in the men's rankings.
The Aggies are coming off a successful Texas Relays performance, which included six victories, as A&M earned outstanding team honors for the first time since 1980 at the prestigious meet.
In the 4 x 200 relay the Aggies became the first school win both the men's and women's race in the same Texas Relays. The women's 4 x 200 has been contested since 1996 at the meet.
Texas A&M also claimed a double win in the triple jump with Yasmine Regis (44-5.5) producing collegiate leading marks with their victories. They will each contest the long jump this weekend.
Aggie sprinter Jessica Beard will run her first 400 of the outdoor season after claiming NCAA Indoor silver in March. Beard has established a career best of 23.15 in the 200 during the early stages of the outdoor season and anchored Texas A&M's 4 x 200 to a second Texas Relays title this past weekend.
Porscha Lucas, who set a career best of 11.12 in the 100 as runner-up in the Texas Relays Invitational 100, will race in the 200 against a high-level field.