May 19, 2010
IRVING - Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry earned his fourth consecutive women's Coach of the Year honor from the Big 12 Outdoor Championships as selected by the conference coaches. Henry has received eight honors as Coach of the Year in the Big 12 since 2007, including four for the indoor conference meet.
The Aggie women won its fourth consecutive Big 12 Championship at the outdoor conference meet and have totaled eight straight Big 12 titles when including indoor titles won since the program's first championship in 2007. This year's senior class has won every Big 12 track and field conference meet they have contested over the past four years.
Texas A&M swept five sprint events in Columbia, Missouri, with victories in the 100, 200, 400, 4 x 100 relay and 4 x 400 relay. Titles were also claimed in the 100 hurdles and triple jump. Those seven victories accounted for 70 of the Aggies winning total of 157 points.
Jeneba Tarmoh claimed a 100-200 sprint double and was part of the winning sprint relay, which won for the fourth straight year. Tarmoh totaled 22.5 points in the conference meet to earn high point honors.
Jessica Beard remained unbeaten in the conference 400 meters, winning her third Big 12 outdoor title to go along with three Big 12 indoor crowns. Beard anchored the 4 x 400 relay to victory with a split of 50.79 and placed fourth in the 200.
Conference honors for Outstanding Performer of the Year went to a pair of athletes who completed a 5,000 - 10,000 double at the Big 12 meet - Iowa State's Lisa Koll and Oklahoma State's John Kosgei. Freshman of the Year honors went to Mason Finley of Kansas, winner of the shot put and discus, as well as Oklahoma's Karen Shump, winner of the shot put.
Nebraska's Gary Pepin earned his second consecutive men's Coach of the Year accolade and sixth overall outdoor postseason honor.
Big 12 Championships air Friday on Fox Sports outlets
Coverage of the Big 12 Championships held this past weekend in Columbia, Missouri, will air this Friday on various Fox Sports network channels. In Texas the first airing of the conference meet will be at 12:30 p.m. on Fox Sports Houston and Fox Sports Southwest. The program is two hours long.
A pdf of the out of state networks carrying the Big 12 Championships and their air times is attached.
Other conference championships will also air this weekend. The Pac-10 meet is on Fox Sports Southwest on Thursday, May 20, at 1 p.m. The Big 10 Championships will appear on the Big Ten Network on Saturday, May 22 at 3 p.m. ESPNU will have the SEC Championships on Tuesday, May 25, at 8 p.m.
Aggie women No. 2, A&M men No. 3 in national team rankings
Following conference weekend the Florida men and Oregon women were ranked No. 1 in the national team rankings while Texas A&M dropped to No. 2 in the women's rankings and No. 3 in the men's rankings.
The same scenario happened last season with Florida and Oregon moving to No. 1 following the conference championships. Then after the region meets, with only NCAA Championship qualifiers tabulated, Texas A&M was No. 1 in both rankings. The Aggies went on to claim double NCAA Championships, becoming only the second school ever to win men's and women's national titles in the same season.
Florida men leads a top 10 that includes: 2. Oregon, 3. Texas A&M, 4. Southern California, 5. LSU, 6. Arizona State, 7. Texas Tech, 8. Florida State, 9. Auburn, 10. South Carolina.
Oregon women tops a top 10 that includes: 2. Texas A&M, 3. LSU, 4. Oklahoma, 5. Virginia Tech, 6. Florida, 7. Penn State, 8. Clemson, 9. Florida State, 10. Texas.