Texas A&M
NCAA Championships
Team battles tighten after second day of NCAA Championships
Jun 12, 2009 | Track and Field
June 11, 2009
FAYETTEVILLE - NOTE: Friday's competition begins at 11 a.m. with the hammer final, then at 1:45 p.m. with the continuation of the women's heptathlon. Track finals will start at 6 p.m. with the men's and women's sprint relays. Live TV coverage will air from 6 to 9 p.m. on CBS College Sports.
The second day of the NCAA Championships at John McDonnell Field produced the first team points for the Texas A&M men while more sprinters advanced to the finals of their events.
In the first final involving the Aggies, Julian Reid placed fourth in the long jump with a mark of 26-1.5 (7.96) to earn five points for A&M. Teammate Tyron Stewart finished 10th with a 25-3.5 (7.71).
The next final had Trinity Otto completing the decathlon with a score of 7,652 points for seventh place. It was just off his personal best tally of 7,655 from the Big 12 meet. He added a pair of points to the A&M total.
Through four finals the Aggies are currently in ninth place with seven points. Oregon leads the field with 20 points off a pair of victories Thursday. The rest of the top five currently includes Arkansas (14), Arizona (11), Arizona State (10) and Florida State (10).
The first women's final involving the Aggies was the 10,000 meters, where Christina Munoz placed 19th in 35:33.49, the No. 10 performance on the A&M all-time list.
Women's team scores after three finals have Florida leading with 13 points, followed by Florida State (12), and Providence (10).
On Friday, though, more scoring opportunities arrive for the Aggies with finals in the 4 x 100 relays, 100 meters and women's javelin.
Oregon men, the NCAA team favorite, lost key points in the 1,500 when a stress fracture curtailed Matt Centrowitz as he failed to make the final.
In the men's 10,000 meters the Ducks totaled 10 points from Galen Rupp's victory in 28:21.45. However, they were projected for 13 points. Oregon's Luke Puskedra and Daniel Mercado placed 11th and 14th for no points.
Meanwhile, the Oregon women picked up bonus points in the long jump with a third place finish by Jamesha Youngblood and a seventh place effort from Mattie Bridgmon in the women's 10,000.
Projected team scores in the women's team battle now have Oregon leading 52-45 over the Aggie women with Arizona State and LSU tied with 44 points.
Coming into the meet with a projected 10 point margin over the Aggies in the men's team title chase, updated formcharts have the Ducks trailing Texas A&M, 55-54.
The Aggies lost one projected point in each men's final they've had so far as Track & Field News predicted a third-place finish for Reid, who was stationed in second place after the first three rounds of the long jump, and a sixth-place position for Otto, who was in fifth place going into the final event.
In the sprint prelims on the second day of action three A&M sprinters advanced to the final of the 200 meters after running two rounds on Thursday. The Aggie men's 4 x 400 also reached the final while the women just missed getting in.
Porscha Lucas, a finalist already in the 100, blistered a pair of collegiate leading times in the 200. She won her opening round race in 22.52 and then won her semifinal race in 22.38, the second fastest time in the world for 2009. Lucas only trails a 22.34 set by Lauryn Williams a couple of weeks ago.
Her 22.52 ranked as the sixth performance on the Aggie all-time list then moved down one position when her 22.38 became the No. 3 performance behind A&M's school record of 22.25 set by Simone Facey in 2006 and Lucas' PR of 22.29.
Dominique Duncan advanced out of the first round with a 23.88 to place third in her heat. Then in the semifinal she finished seventh in 23.41.
Chris Dykes won his semifinal heat in 20.40 over Florida State's Charles Clark (20.45) while Gerald Phiri placed third in 20.56. In the prelim round, Dykes was runner-up in 20.84 while Phiri was a heat winner in 20.85.
Texas A&M's crew of Kyle Dykhuizen and Justin Oliver cruised to a time of 3:04.76 to finish second in the 4 x 400 heat to Baylor's 3:04.29.
Other teams making the relay final were Florida State (3:03.13), Mississippi State (3:03.14), South Carolina (3:04.01), Florida (3:04.64), USC (3:04.89), LSU (3:05.09), and Texas Tech (3:05.11).
In the women's 4 x 400, the Aggies ran in the final heat and had to better at least a 3:34.43 set by Louisiana Tech to advance on time. Placing third in the heat behind Arizona State (3:33.75) and South Carolina (3:33.98), the A&M women ran 3:34.85 and didn't advance to the nine-team final.
Jessica Beard gave it a hearty effort, moving from fifth to second on her second leg run, making up 25 meters as she split 50.5 seconds.
Three Aggie hurdles moved on to the semifinals. Gabby Mayo claimed her 100-meter hurdle heat in 13.07 while Vashti Thomas placed second in another heat with a 13.56.
In the 110-meter hurdles De'Lon Isom finished fourth in 14.00 and moved on as a time qualifier.
Players Mentioned
