Texas A&M
NCAA Midwest Region
No. 2 Aggies repeat double team championship at Midwest Region
May 30, 2009 | Track and Field
May 30, 2009
NORMAN, Okla. - Texas A&M - NCAA Championship automatic qualifiers
Women (9 athletes, 8 events, 11 positions)
Long Jump - Ashika Charan
Triple Jump - Ashika Charan
Javelin - Laura Asimakis, Emalie Humphreys
4x100 - Khrystal Carter, Porscha Lucas, Dominique Duncan, Gabby Mayo
100H - Gabby Mayo
100 - Porscha Lucas, Gabby Mayo
400 - Jessica Beard
200 - Porscha Lucas
Men (13 athletes, 9 events, 14 positions)
Long jump - Julian Reid, Tyron Stewart
Decathlon - Trinity Otto
4x100 - Chris Dykes, Justin Oliver
110H - De'Lon Isom
100 - Gerald Phiri
400 - Justin Oliver, Bryan Miller
200 - Chris Dykes
Triple jump - Zuheir Sharif, Tyron Stewart
4x400 - Justin Oliver
Texas A&M successfully defended both of its team championships during the Midwest Region competition on the Oklahoma campus this weekend. For the No. 2 ranked Aggie women it marked a third consecutive region title while the No. 2 A&M men claimed a second straight team crown.
The Aggie women scored 96 points to finish ahead of Texas Tech (61), Texas (59), TCU (55), Oklahoma (43.5), Minnesota (38.5), SMU (36), UTEP (36), Baylor (33) and Nebraska (29.5).
With 98 points the A&M men defeated a field that included Big 12 champion Nebraska (84.25), Texas Tech (49), Texas (47), Oklahoma (40), UTEP (34), Minnesota (32.25), Baylor (32), New Mexico (25), Sam Houston State (25) and Kansas State (25).
"As a team we talked about trying to win this meet," A&M head coach Pat Henry said. "We felt like we had the people to do that. When you get to this meet in the postseason there is a little bit more quality to compete against. If you do what your capable of here, then you have an opportunity to win the track meet."
As the qualifying meet for the NCAA Championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on June 10-13, the Aggies had 22 athletes earn automatic qualification in 17 events. The tally includes both 4 x 100 relays and the men's 4 x 400.
"We are taking a good size group to nationals," Henry said. "Of that group we have some great quality going, and I think that's the key element to being successful."
Gerald Phiri repeated his triple sprint victory he has accomplished twice at the Big 12 Championships as he won Midwest Region titles in the 100 (10.13), 200 (20.53) and was part of the Aggie 4 x 100 relay that posted a 38.85 win.
Also enjoying victories on the second day of action at the John Jacobs Complex were Yasmine Regis in the triple jump (45-1.5), Porscha Lucas in the 200 (22.77), and the women's sprint relay in a collegiate leading 42.80.
Runner-up efforts for A&M were supplied by Justin Oliver in the 400 (45.34), and Chris Dykes in the 200 (20.65), and the men's 4 x 400 relay (3:02.87).
"We performed at a very high level across the board," Henry noted. "I was extremely pleased with our entire effort today. That's a tribute to this group, it's a hard working group."
Phiri ran the second leg of the sprint relay, getting the baton from Justin Oliver anchored the squad as they lowered their own region record from a 38.93 set last year to 38.85. The crew is the No. & squad on the Aggie all-time list and equal to the No. 9 performance.
Then Phiri blistered a career best run of 10.13 seconds in the 100 with a 1.5 tailwind. Baylor's Trey Harts was runner-up in 10.34 with UTA's Cordero Gray and Kansas State's Mike Myer third and fourth with 10.35 clockings.
On the Aggie all-time list Phiri becomes the No. 6 performer with the No. 11 performance. Phiri also improves his Zambian national record.
In the 200 Phiri edged Harts again as both sprinters were credited with 20.53 times. Breaking the margin down to the thousandths of a second, Phiri claimed the victory 20.524 to 20.530. Dykes finished third in 20.65.
"It's fantastic," Phiri stated. "Last year, due to injury, I left the region meet with times of 10.76 and 26.07 as eighth place in both races. To come back here and win, especially in the 200 against the best two collegians in the country, allowed me to prove myself as one of the best 200-meter runners in the country.
"As far as the 100, I'm very happy with that time since I ran my fastest wind-legal time ever. There's a lot more in there and I look forward to nationals."
Winning its 13 consecutive postseason race over the course of the past three seasons, the Aggie foursome of Khrystal Carter, Lucas, Dominique Duncan and Mayo lowered their 2009 collegiate leading time from 42.91 to 42.80 in the 4 x 100 relay. For the season it marks the 16th win overall and 13th in a final over collegiate competition.
On the A&M all-time list the 42.80 takes over the No. 3 position, trailing only the school record of 42.59 set in winning the NCAA Championship last year and a 42.69 from the 2008 Penn Relays.
The 16-point combo for Aggies from the men's 200 in addition to the 21-point production from the men's triple jumpers pushed the Aggie men ahead of Nebraska by eight points heading into the 4 x 400 relay.
A three-team race in the 4 x 400 relay resulted in a very close finish. Baylor won in 3:02.72 with Texas Tech taking second in 3:02.75 while A&M finished third in 3:02.87 with the foursome of Howell, Miller, Kyle Dykhuizen and Oliver. On the Aggie all-time list the crew becomes the No. 5 team with the No. 7 performance.
Julian Reid led a 2-3-4-7 Aggie effort in the triple jump to help generate a much-needed 21 points.
Reid claimed the lead in the sixth round with a career best 55-0 (16.76) leap that broke his school record of 54-10.25 (16.72). Oklahoma's Will Clay responded with a 55-2.5 (16.81) mark on the last jump of the competition to reclaim his lead for the win.
Clay and Reid each surpassed the 22-year-old facility record of 54-2.75 (16.53) held by Olympic gold medalist Kenny Harrison as well as the region mark of 55-0 (16.76) set by OU's Shardae Boutte in 2008.
"It's wonderful to have this type of performance on back-to-back days at a championship meet," Reid said. "Hopefully, this will prepare me well for nationals when we do this all again."
Zuheir Sharif placed fourth with a 53-1.75 (16.20). Keenan Hall placed 18th (49-7.75). Stewart's jump is the No. 5 performer on the Aggie all-time list with the No. 7 performance.
Saturday's action got off to a hot start in the early afternoon as Yasmine Regis led a 1-4-6-7 finish by the Aggie women in the triple jump, scoring 20 points in the process. Regis' winning mark of 45-1.5 (13.75) bettered the facility record of 13.43 set in 2005 by Kansas State's Chaytan Hill. Regis, the A&M school record holder, recorded the second best performance on the Aggie all-time list.
Ashika Charan, fourth in the long jump on Friday, matched that effort in the triple jump with a windy 43-7.25 (13.29). Angela Thomas finished seventh with a 43-2.25 (13.16) that also had an assisting wind.
In the women's javelin Laura Asimakis set a career best mark of 173-0 (52.74) in the opening round and placed third overall. She moves up to the No. 3 performer with the No. 9 performance on the A&M all-time list. Only Katy Doyle and Esther Eisenlauer have thrown farther as Aggies.
"When I threw it I didn't think it was going to be that far," Asimakis said. "It just felt like an average throw. When they said 52 meters, I was like `okay, that was easy.' I haven't heard a mark in the 50s all season, so it was really exciting.
"It's good to peak now, hopefully I can throw farther at nationals."
Hillary Pustka placed 11th with a mark of 145-0 (44.19) while Hali Henderson finished 15th at 136-7 (41.64).
The 20 points from the triple jump and 11 more in the javelin moved Texas A&M into the team lead in the women's standings after eight events, taking a 6-point edge over Texas Tech (36-30). They increased that lead through the remainder of the meet.
Following her anchor leg on the sprint relay, Mayo set another career best in the 100 hurdles with a runner-up time of 12.96. Houston's Seun Adigun won the race in a region record of 12.88. Vashti Thomas placed seventh in the final with a 14.14 clocking.
Mayo remains the No. 2 performer on the Aggie all-time list behind Anjanette Kirkland, while improving to No. 5 on the performances portion.
De'Lon Isom placed fifth in the men's 110 hurdles with a windy 13.94 after the field lost favorite Omo Osaghae to a false start. Isom's blocks slipped on the next attempt to start and it happened again when the race got going on the third attempt.
With the 100 final following the hurdle final, Mayo produced an 11.22 for fourth place behind the 11.20 from Lucas for third. Alexandria Anderson of Texas set her second PR of the meet with an 11.05 winning time while TCU's Jessica Young was second in 11.18.
After their close finish at the Big 12 Championships, the home crowd anticipated the rematch between OU's Leslie Cole and A&M's Jessica Beard over 400 meters.
A strong start by Beard had her making up the stagger on Cole in the adjacent lane. Beard cruised through the curve after the 200m mark and then faced a challenged from Cole in the homestretch. Beard prevailed with a collegiate leading time of 51.24 while Cole finished second in 51.55.
The men's 400 also repeated the finish from the Big 12 meet as Texas Tech's Gil Roberts won the race in 45.11 as Justin Oliver and Bryan Miller set career best marks again for second and third place.
Oliver's 45.34 makes him the No. 5 performer with the No. 8 performance while a 45.57 for Miller is the No. 6 performer and No. 12 performance.
A 22.77 victory for Lucas in the 200 with Dominique Duncan adding three points with a sixth place finish in 23.47 locked up the women's team title for the Aggies.
The final women's event had the Aggies placing fourth in the 4 x 400 with a time of 3:34.01 from the foursome of Sandy Wooten, Jessica Beard, Tiffany Singleton and Brittany Machacek.
Kevin McNab finished 17th in the steeplechase with a 9:22.44.
