April 18, 2009
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BATON ROUGE - On a day when the Texas A&M program claimed 13 wins at the LSU Alumni Gold Invitational one of the many highlights for the Aggies featured a rare double victory over the host Tigers in the 4 x 100 relay at Bernie Moore Stadium on Saturday.
The Aggies also achieved dual wins in the 400 and 200 meters with the crew of Justin Oliver (46.10), Porscha Lucas (23.01) and Chris Dykes (20.68) sweeping men's and women's titles in those sprint events.
On the overcast day the No. 1 A&M women attained six victories - 4x1, 200, 400, 5,000, discus, javelin. The No. 2 Aggie men won five events - 4x1, 200, 400, 4x4, triple jump - and they added a pair of B division titles in the 800 and 1,500.
In addition the Aggies had the top collegiate finisher in three more events - 100 hurdles, 110 hurdles and women's triple jump.
"It is important to come in and try to beat a quality program," A&M head coach Pat Henry said. "But the emphasis for us to do what we do and do it right. If we do that, then we think we can beat most anybody.
"On the men's side today we ran a different lead off leg with Dominique Stafford coming out of the blocks. We took a bit of a chance with that decision and still ran well. On the ladies side we look good, but our exchanges are not perfect yet."
Dykes and Oliver were the third and fourth legs of the Aggie men's 4 x 100 relay squad that edged out the anchor-leg effort of LSU's Trindon Holiday for a 39.06 to 39.07 victory. The first two legs for A&M included Stafford and Gerald Phiri.
Finishing behind Texas A&M and LSU was a Tiger Olympian crew in 39.27 and a Canadian squad in 39.37.
"One thing LSU always does well in is the relays," noted Oliver. "So, we know we have to come in here ready to go when we line up against them. This is the first time for me to beat LSU at their track in four years, so that felt great."
Dykes added: "It feels good to come here and beat them at home. We've been losing to them on this track for the last three years I've been coming here. It was fun to beat them in both relays."
The Aggie women had a slightly larger margin over the Lady Tigers with a 43.08 to 43.39 edge. Running on the A&M women's relay were Khrystal Carter, Lucas, Allison George and Gabby Mayo.
Giving chase to A&M and LSU in that race were Houston (44.60), Southwest Mississippi (44.90) and Louisiana Tech (45.59).
"In the relay we continue to try to get better each week," Lucas said. "We're still working on getting our hand-offs down. We just focus on what we need to do so we can keep running fast times."
In the 4 x 400 relay that concluded the meet Oliver moved the Aggies from third to first on the anchor leg. His 45.6 split enabled him to pass the anchor leg for the Tiger Olympians and then out-lean LSU's Robert Simmons at the finish.
While both teams registered a time of 3:06.16 the difference came down to 0.008 of a second (3:06.152 to 3:06.160). The Tiger Olympians finished third in 3:06.61. Running the first three legs for A&M were Morquise Cleveland (46.7) and Bryan Miller (45.9).
Oliver and Miller ran season best marks as both finished ahead of Simmons in the open 400. Oliver's 46.10 claimed the victory while Miller posted a 46.43 for second in the section and third overall. Simmons ran 46.46 for third in the section and fourth overall.
Beard had little trouble with the international field she faced in the women's 400. Running a time of 52.26 had Beard finishing ahead of Tiger Olypians Hazel-Ann Regis (52.41) and Cynetheia Rooks (53.27) and Nina Gilbert (52.51).
In the men's 200 Dykes recorded his best mark of the season with a 20.68 performance that put him ahead of teammate Phiri's 20.74. They both finished ahead of the 20.88 posted by Michael Mathieu in the second section.
Lucas cruised to a 23.01 clocking in the 200 to better Ebonie Floyd of Nike (23.21), LSU's Samantha Henry (23.38) and teammate George (23.54).
Tiger Olympians swept the 100-meter titles with the men's victory going to Beijing 100 silver medalist Richard Thompson (10.15) and women's win claimed by Kelly-Ann Baptiste (11.18).
LSU had the top collegians in each 100 race as Holliday (10.19w) held off Phiri (10.21w) in their section of the 100. In the women's race Henry (11.33) had the edge on Lucas (11.37).
Hillary Pustka returned from a recent injury to place fourth with a toss of 143-5 (43.73). Christina Munoz won the 5,000 (17:14.95) by six-plus seconds while teammate Emilie Fischer placed seventh (17:46.77).
Zuheir Sharif led a 1-2-4 Aggie finish in the Invitational triple jump named after LSU's LeJuan Simon, who passed away last fall. Sharif reached a distance of 52-10.25 (16.11) to win the event while Keenan Hall was runner-up with a 51-3.5 (15.63). Melvin Echard finished fourth with his effort of 50-10 (15.49).
Posting the top collegiate mark amid a field of post collegiate international athletes were Mayo (13.14) in the 100 hurdles, De'Lon Isom (13.74) in the 110 hurdles and Vashti Thomas in the triple jump (42-4.75w). Thomas was also fourth in the 100 hurdles with a 13.38.
A 1-2 finish in the discus started out the day for Texas A&M as Anteneshia Lindsey won the event with a toss of 159-8 (48.66) with teammate Deidre Tarver taking runner-up honors with a mark of 149-6 (45.58).
A Friday final in the women's hammer had Tarver placing fourth as she established a career best in the hammer with a toss of 174-8 (53.23) in the second round.
Solid runner-up efforts by Texas A&M included Nick Cook hitting a personal best mark of 57-2 (17.42) in the shot put. Seth Lowery cleared 6-8.75 (2.05) to finish in a three-way tie for second in the high jump.
Ashika Charan reached a wind-aided distance of 20-3.5 (6.18) for fourth place.
In the 1,500 a 3:52.87 from Joe Sauvageau earned fourth place. Oscar Ramirez posted a 1:51.99 to place fifth in the 800.
In the mid-morning session of B finals on the track MacLean O'Donnell and Ryan Snapp claimed a 1-3 finish in the 1,500 meters. O'Donnell clocked a personal best of 3:55.15 for the victory while Snapp set a PR of 3:56.02 for third place.
Later in the 800 Graham Northcutt claimed a second Aggie win with a 1:54.32 clocking that bettered a field of 21 runners.
Joey Roberts won his heat in 48.29 and finished third overall in the 400. Brittany Machacek placed fourth in the 400 with a time of 55.09.
Morquise Cleveland added a win in his section of the 200 as he ran down LSU's Tristan Walker for a 21.45 to 21.48 edge at the line. Cleveland placed fifth overall.
A runner-up effort in his section of the 400 hurdles for Chad Brown placed fifth in the javelin with a toss of 209-4 (63.82).
Aly Daily cleared 11-7.75 (3.70) to place fifth in the pole vault, one spot ahead of Asimakis, who finished sixth with an 11-7.75 (3.55) make.
In the men's pole vault Chad Stoermer led a trio of Aggie vaulters with a clearance of 15-7 (4.75) for sixth place while Brett Bennett tied for ninth (14-5.25).
Tiffany Peters neared her outdoor best with a 41-5 (12.62) effort to place sixth in the triple jump.
Decathlete Trinity Otto competed in a set of events during the meet. He placed fifth in the long jump with a wind-aided mark of 23-3.25 (7.09). In the 110 hurdles a time of 15.03 placed fourth in the heat and 11th overall. Then in the shot put a mark of 45-4.5 (13.83) placed Otto 19th.