Dec. 9, 2010
HEAT SHEETS
COLLEGE STATION - Hosting the Reveille Invitational on Saturday provides the Texas A&M track and field team a preview of the indoor season, which gets into full stride in January.
The two-hour meet, which begins at 12:30 p.m. at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium, will feature the two-time national champion Aggies along with Baylor, Houston and TCU. It's the first of seven meets Texas A&M hosts this season, including the NCAA Championship in March.
With 11 events being contested the sprinters will be featured in the 60 meters, 60 hurdles and 4 x 400 relay. Distance runners will cover events in the 800 meters, 5,000 meters and distance medley relay. Field events will include the high jump, pole vault, long jump, shot put and weight throw.
A featured sprinter for the Aggie women is Porscha Lucas and finished third in the NCAA 100.
During last year's indoor season Tarmoh earned bronze medals in the 60 and 200 at the Big 12 Championships and placed fifth at the NCAA Indoor in the 200. Tarmoh then captured the 100-200 gold-medal double at the Big 12 Outdoor meet.
In the Reveille Invitational Tarmoh will run the 60 meters against a field that includes Mountain West champion Chaniqua Corinealdi of TCU and Houston's Grecia Bolton, the bronze medalist in Conference USA.
The men's 60m features A&M's Gerald Phiri, starting his fourth season in maroon and white. Phiri, a two-time 100-200 double gold-medalist at the Big 12 Outdoor Championships in 2008 and 2009, earned silver in the Big 12 Indoor 60 and bronze in the 200 last year and then claimed silver in the NCAA Indoor 60.
Phiri will face a field that includes last year's meet winner Charles Silmon of TCU, who finished second in the 60 at the Mountain West meet, and another Aggie senior in Tran Howell. TCU's Mychal Dungey, a Mountain West indoor silver medalist in the 200, is in the race along with Houston's Errol Nolan, a double Conference USA champion in the 200 and 400.
While Phiri begins his fourth season with the Aggies, newcomer Prezel Hardy will make his debut for Texas A&M as he races in the same section of the 60 meters with Phiri and Howell.
Relay work in the 4 x 400 will have Big 12 champions Jessica Beard and Tabarie Henry in action for the Aggies.
Beard, who has won six consecutive conference titles in the 400 (three indoor and three outdoor), will run on the Aggie crew with newcomer Ibukun Mayungbe as well as All-Americans Andrea Sutherland and Tarmoh.
Henry won both Big 12 titles in the 400 last year and he will anchor an A&M relay squad that includes All-American veterans Bryan Miller and Howell along with Michael Preble, a bronze medalist in the Big 12 Indoor 600 yards.
Talented hurdler Wayne Davis returns to action after an injury curtailed his indoor and outdoor campaign a year ago. Davis won the 60m hurdles at the Reveille meet in 7.99 seconds last season and will run against professional hurdler Aries Merritt this weekend.
Davis is one of seven returning individual champions from the 2009 Reveille Invitational. Three women return as well as four men.
Returning in the women's field is Houston's Ciera Johnson (800), TCU's Whitney Gibson (long jump), TCU's Stormy Harrison (shot put). Others returning among the men's entries are TCU's Silmon (60), TCU's Sean Tabor (shot put) and Aggie Cole Knuth (weight throw).
In the men's throwing events, Big 12 javelin champ and NCAA finalist Sam Humphreys will contest the weight throw along with teammates Knuth and Casey Strong.
All-Americans in the women's jumps will be featured in the long jump as Sasha-Kay Matthias.
Joey Roberts, a silver medalist over 600 yards at the 2010 Big 12 Indoor meet, will lead an A&M crew of Oscar Ramirez, Sam Mutschler and Carson Smith in the 800 meters. The field will include Houston's Doug Kelley, a Conference USA silver medalist.
In the 5,000 meters an A&M crew of Jordan Chappell, Micah Dettmer, Austin Geerts and George Stredny will square off against TCU's Festus Kigen, the recent South Central region cross country champion who won the 2010 Mountain West indoor title and placed sixth during the NCAA Indoor over 5,000 meters.
The Aggies will also field a pair of distance medley relays. The women are set to run with Ryan Snapp, James Bonn and Nathan Parker.