April 27, 2010
The first national team rankings of the outdoor season to use only data from the 2010 season shifted the top ranked teams this week. Texas A&M men, number two since the outdoor preseason rankings in March, move into the No. 1 slot. Meanwhile, the Aggie women drop from the top position they've held each week to No. 2.
Texas A&M tops the men's field that includes among the top 10 teams: 2. LSU, 3. Florida, 4. Arizona State, 5. Auburn, 6. Texas Tech, 7. USC, 8. Florida State, 9. Oregon, and 10. Mississippi. Other Big 12 schools among the top 25 include: 11. Oklahoma, 19. Kansas State, 20. Nebraska, 21. Baylor, and 23. Kansas.
The Aggie women are No. 2 behind new No. 1 LSU while Oregon remains No. 3. The rest of the top 10 includes: 4. Oklahoma, 5. Virginia Tech, 6. Clemson, 7. Florida, 8. Auburn, 9. Miami, and 10. Florida State. Big 12 squads among the top 25 include: 12. Texas Tech, 14. Nebraska, and 16. Texas.
More than likely the A&M women would be No. 1 this week if three sprinters had been able to run their opening 200 meters of the outdoor season during the Michael Johnson Classic in Waco two weekends ago. Rains canceled the last portion of the meet, which meant Porscha Lucas, Gabby Mayo and Jeneba Tarmoh could not run the 200.
Those three sprinters each have a career best that is under 23 seconds. This past weekend they combined with Jessica Beard at the Penn Relays to break the collegiate record in the 4 x 200 relay. Each runner averaged a time of 22.355 seconds to generate the winning time of 1:29.42.
Lucas, Mayo and Tarmoh are scheduled to run the 200 meters during the Texas Invitational this Saturday in Austin. It will be the final regular season meet for the Aggies prior to the Big 12 Championships held on May 14-16 in Columbia, Missouri.
PENN RELAYS RECAP
Texas A&M enjoyed its most successful outing ever at the Penn Relay Carnival, which drew record crowds for the final day (54,310) as well as a three-day count of 117,346. The Aggies totaled four Championship of America relay titles and were runner-up in an additional relay race.
The A&M women earned three Championship of America relay titles and set collegiate records in two events - 4 x 200 (1:29.42) and 4 x 100 shuttle hurdle (52.50). The other victory had the women defending its 4 x 100 title with a 43.09. Aggie women also claimed two field event wins in the college division of the high jump with Sasha-Kay Matthias.
Gabby Mayo ran a leg on each of those three winning relays and earned the women's athlete of the meet honor for relay events.
Texas A&M men defended its 4 x 100 title, running a season best time of 39.08 that currently ranks second in the nation. After posting the top qualifying times in the 4 x 200 (1:21.22) and 4 x 400 (3:04.84) a pair of miscues kept A&M from two more possible victories.
No other teams bettered the qualifying marks the Aggie men produced during the final of those two races. An injury to Curtis Mitchell turned in a strong anchor leg to claim fourth for the Aggies.
A dropped baton on the anchor leg of the 4 x 400 hindered A&M's chances of winning the final race of the day. Another strong anchor effort from Tabarie Henry came up just short of still claiming the win for the Aggies, who finished second to Mississippi State, 3:04.92 to 3:05.04.
Zuheir Sharif in the triple jump with a mark of 52-5.5 (15.99).
RICE TWILIGHT
A few Aggie throwers and distance runners traveled to Houston this past Saturday to compete in the J. Fred Duckett Twilight hosted by Rice University.
One of the top marks produced was a winning effort of 48-11 (14.91) by Taylor Rosser in the shot put. It moves Rosser to the No. 4 position on the Aggie all-time list. Teammate Jennifer Edwards placed third in the meet with a best of 46-7.25 (14.20), which makes her the No. 6 performer on the A&M all-time list.
Deidre Tarver placed second in the discus (142-11 / 43.57) and finished third in the hammer (167-5 / 51.02).
Stephen Currey (9:24.75) and Ryan Snapp (9:25.79) posted season best times in the 3,000-meter steeplechase to place fifth and sixth, respectively. Cole Knuth finished fifth in two events, the discus (163-3 / 49.75) and hammer (172-10 / 52.68).