June 24, 2010
DES MOINES, Iowa - In the first final involving an Aggie during the USATF Championships at Drake University, Texas A&M frosh Donique' Flemings won the junior title in the 100 hurdles.
Winning the race in 13.33 seconds, which matches her career best from earlier this season, earns Flemings a trip to Moncton, Canada, for the World Junior Championships from July 19-25.
"I've been practicing hard for this and to win the Junior title is great," noted Flemings, who is from Ft. Worth, Texas (Saginaw HS). "What's even better is matching my PR, which means I ran my best. Now I have to keep working to get better."
Flemings posted the top time in the prelims with a wind-aided 13.44 (2.1 wind) with Penn State's Evonne Britton second in 13.47.
"It was a little different with two races in the 100 hurdles today," Flemings added. "I knew I had to run my race in the prelims and not worry about qualifying for the final. I knew running a clean race would get me to the final."
In the final Flemings had another close race with Britton, who was second in 13.37, while TCU's Larissa Matthew placed third in 13.44.
"After winning the NCAA team title as a freshman, now I qualify for the World Juniors with a first-place finish at Juniors," said Flemings, who ran on the Aggies silver-medal 4 x 400 relay at the NCAA Championships. "There's no better feeling than winning, especially in the 100 hurdles.
Previously this season Flemings posted a 13.33 to place sixth at the Texas Relays. Then during the Penn Relays she ran the third leg on the Aggie shuttle hurdle relay that won in 52.50 and set a collegiate record.
"Making the World Junior team means I have to keep working hard and keep practicing so I can get better and compete well in Canada," Flemings noted.
Flemings qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 400 hurdles after running a personal best of 58.10 at the NCAA West preliminary round in Austin. She is scheduled to run the first round of the 400 hurdles at the U.S. Junior meet on Friday afternoon.
In the women's Junior 100 final Ashley Collier, an incoming A&M freshman, placed fourth with a time of 11.66 seconds. Collier, running with Dallas Gold Track Club, competed for Ft. Worth Dunbar in high school.
Ashika Charan sets career best of 44-4 to place fifth in U.S. Championships
Ashika Charan established a career best of 44 feet, 4 inches (13.51 meters) to place fifth in the U.S. Championships on Thursday at Drake Stadium. Charan bettered her previous best of 43-11.25 on a pair of jumps.
The mark of 44-4 also becomes the American collegiate leader for the 2010 season. Charan, an A&M senior, is the No. 3 performer on the Aggie all-time list with the No. 5 performance. Only Yasmine Regis and Detrich Clariett have marks better than Charan at Texas A&M.
"There were a good class of women competing out there, jumpers I've looked up to during my collegiate career," noted Charan, who competed at Drake Stadium in 2007 and 2008 during the Midwest Region and NCAA Championships. "So being out there and competing against them really pumped me to keep going to try to stay up with them."
Erica McClain won the competition with a windy mark of 46-6.25 (14.18) while Shakeema Welsch placed second at 46-2 (14.07). Toni Smith finished third with a 44-11 (13.69) while Amanda Smock was fourth at 44-7.5 (13.60).
"I thought the triple jump was over for me," said Charan, who will compete for the United States at the NACAC under-23 meet in Florida during July. "There is still a little spark left. Hopefully I can stay healthy and keep it going."
This season Charan ran relay legs for the Aggies on the 4 x 400, which placed second at the NCAA Championships after winning the Big 12 title, in addition to her usual workload of long jump and triple jump.
"It felt good to focus on one event today," stated Charan. "I didn't have to worry about warming up for another event or running a certain way for the relay. Coming in here and going after it in the triple jump felt great."
Charan jumped in the first flight and led the competition with a second round jump of 43-9.75 (13.35). She had to wait to see if her mark would make the final after the second flight of jumpers.
"I was sweating out my jump in the first flight, I was praying a lot that it would get me to the finals," Charan said. "I was pumped in the finals, I knew I had to do something big. It was now or never, I knew I had to jump big on every attempt."
TCU's Neidra Covington, jumping in the second flight, passed Charan with a 44-2 (13.46) leap in the third round. Charan was in sixth going into the final three rounds.
In the fourth round Charan produced a career best of 44-0 (13.41) to maintain sixth place. That mark is the No. 7 performance on the Aggie all-time list.
Then she passed Covington, who was the American collegiate leader at 44-2, in the fifth round. Charan closed out her impressive series with a 43-5 (13.23) in the final stanza.
"I didn't want my NCAA performance to be my last in an A&M uniform," noted Charan, who placed eighth in Eugene at the NCAA Championships after winning the Big 12 title. "I had to do something today, or regret it for the rest of my life. It was nice to have on my A&M uniform and perform like that today."
On the track Jeneba Tarmoh qualified for the semifinals of the 100 meters in the U.S. Championships by placing third in the opening heat with a time of 11.37, running into a 1.5 headwind. Tarmoh finished behind Alexandria Anderson (11.29), the 2009 NCAA champion from Texas, and Gloria Asumnu (11.34).
Among the current collegians in the field, Tarmoh posted the top time. Other collegians advancing to the semifinal, which will be run on Friday at 6 p.m. with the finals set for 8 p.m., were Tiffany Townsend of Baylor (11.47), LaKya Brookins of South Carolina (11.53), Texas Tech's Terra Evans (11.56), and Shayla Mahan of South Carolina (11.63).
Texas A&M volunteer assistant Wallace Spearmon ran 10.33 for second in the third heat of the men's 100 and advanced to the semifinal. The field ran into a 1.7 headwind.