July 8, 2010
MIRAMAR, Florida - Four Texas A&M track and field athletes will compete in the North American, Central American, Caribbean Championships at the Miramar Ansin Sports Complex from July 9-11.
Three Aggies - Ashika Charan, Curtis Mitchell and Jeneba Tarmoh - will be part of the United States team that competes in the NACAC under-23 meet this weekend while Demetrius Pinder represents Bahamas in the championship.
Pinder recently claimed his first 400-meter title at the Bahamas Championships, running 45.21 to finish ahead of Andretti Bain (45.44) and Chris Brown (45.78), the 2010 World Indoor champion. Pinder also won his prelim heat in 45.74 with Bain (45.80) second.
The 45.21 for Pinder was his second fastest time ever run, following the 44.93 he recorded in Austin during the NCAA West preliminary rounds.
In his first season with Texas A&M, Pinder finished second in the 400 at the Big 12 Championships and placed sixth in the NCAA final. He also ran on the A&M 4 x 400 relays that set school records in winning the NCAA Indoor and NCAA Outdoor titles in 2010.
Charan will triple jump for the U.S. team at the NACAC meet. In placing fifth recently at the U.S. Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, Charan set a personal best of 44 feet, 4 inches, the best mark by an American collegian this season. Charan's senior campaign with the Aggies included a Big 12 title in the triple jump as well as relay duty on the 4 x 400, which claimed a Big 12 victory and set a school record as silver medalist in the NCAA Championships.
Mitchell is entered in the 200 for the NACAC meet and is in the relay pool for both the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays. He rolled through the season undefeated in the 200 meters until a runner-up finish in the NCAA Outdoor final. Mitchell was the NCAA Indoor champion with a school record 20.38 clocking and posted an outdoor best of 20.23.
Relay duty for the Aggies produced a sweep of indoor and outdoor Big 12 and NCAA titles in 2010 with Mitchell running on all four victories. Texas A&M established school records of 3:04.40 and 3:00.89 in winning each NCAA championship.
Tarmoh will contest the 100 meters at NACAC and is in the relay pool for the 4 x 100 relay. This season Tarmoh won the Big 12 title in the 100 with a career best of 11.19 as part of her sweep of the 100 and 200 titles. She then placed third in the NCAA final with a windy 11.13 after advancing to the final with an 11.05 wind-aided semifinal win. During the U.S. Championship Tarmoh was the only collegian in the 100-meter final and she placed seventh.
Running the opening leg of the 4 x 100 for the Aggies, Tarmoh led off A&M's world-leading efforts in 2010 of 42.56 to win the Texas Relays and a 42.49 that topped the field at the NCAA West preliminary rounds.
In the NCAA final, where Texas A&M won its fourth consecutive title, Tarmoh earned her first national collegiate title as the Aggies won in 42.82. She also ran the first leg of the A&M 4 x 400 that set a school record of 3:28.57 as NCAA runner-up in the 4 x 400.
Coverage of the NACAC Championships will be provided by usportstv.net via a pay-per-view option online. The webcast starts at 7:35 a.m. (CST) on Friday, July 9, with continued coverage on Saturday, July 10 (6 a.m.) and Sunday, July 11 (6 a.m.). Cost is $7.95 per day or $17.95 for the weekend.
The NACAC under-23 meet will include athletes representing 32 member nations from the following countries: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, El Salvado, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, The Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turk and Caicos Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, and the United States.