Aggies bid for more NCAA titles in Fayetteville
Mar 11, 2010 | Track and Field
March 11, 2010
Fayetteville, Arkansas - In a town that will forever be a favorite memory for Texas A&M track and field, the Aggies return to the site of their double NCAA Championships last June as contenders for the indoor titles this weekend at the Randal Tyson Track Center.
First-ever national championships for the Aggie track and field program were attained in dramatic fashion on the Arkansas campus last summer. Now the collegiate indoor season reaches its final weekend with NCAA Indoor titles up for grabs with a slew of schools in the running to take top honors.
"Our last trip to Arkansas was a good one," Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry said. "The indoor season, of course, is a lot different than outdoor track and field so you approach it a little differently. It's a competitive meet and we're going to try to win it. It's a meet we are looking forward to.
"Championship meets like this one are about those athletes who can step up and do it in this environment and this time of the year when it counts. That's track and field. We're prepared, we're healthy for the most part, and both groups have some up front people who need to do well for our team to do well."
Live results can be found online at www.flashresults.com while live streaming video will be available online at www.ESPN360.com beginning at 8 p.m. on Friday and 6:10 p.m. on Saturday. Coverage prior to those start times will be available at www.ncaa.org.
Oregon enters the men's meet as defending champions and will have a strong shot at a successful title defense. The latest rankings have Florida entering the meet at No. 1 followed by Oregon, Texas A&M, Arizona State and LSU.
On the women's side the Oregon Ducks enter as the top ranked team followed by Texas A&M, LSU, Florida and defending champion Tennessee.
"If things go well for us we should be in the mix and in contention for a team title," Henry said. "We will need contribution from each person we have here. I'm encouraged with this group we have competing this weekend."
If the team scoring comes down the final event the Aggies should be in prime position with it's 4 x 400 relay teams. The A&M men enter as the top seed with a 3:04.86 while the Aggie women, defending NCAA champions in the relay, sport the second best seed at 3:33.20.
For the Aggie men, two events will feature three A&M athletes competing against one another for maximum points. The 400-meter field includes Demetrius Pender and Brian Miller, a trio that finished 1-2-4 in the Big 12. In the triple jump the crew includes Zuheir Sharif, Julian Reid and Tyron Stewart, who each scored vital points last June to help the Aggies quest for a national team title.
The Texas A&M women will have two athletes competing in three events with Jeneba Tarmoh (60, 200, 4x400) and Vashti Thomas (60 hurdles, long jump, triple jump) taking on extra duty. Those pair of Californians competed at the same school in San Jose at Mt. Pleasant High School.
Elsewhere the Aggies double up in the 60 and triple jump while having three entered in both the 200 and 60 hurdles.
Combinations for A&M include Porscha Lucas, Tarmoh and Ashika Charan joins Thomas.
The Aggies also have strong solo contenders in the sprints with the likes of Curtis Mitchell (200) and Gerald Phiri (60).
Beard, who finished second in both NCAA Championship 400s last year, will be a favorite in the quarter with her collegiate leading 51.15 from her Big 12 victory. The 400 field will also include the defending champion in Hampton's Francena McCorory as well as the NCAA Outdoor champ in Auburn's Joanna Atkins.
Mitchell is currently riding a five-meet winning steak in the 200, where his best of 20.69 set in January remained the world leader until two weeks ago when a pair of 20.67s from Florida State's Charles Clark and Florida's Calvin Smith took over the national leading marks.
Phiri placed sixth in the 60 a year ago and enters this weekend with the seventh best seed time at 6.62. However, half of the field is only separated by 0.03 of a second. Running in heat one, Phiri will face the top seed in Florida's Jeff Demps (6.59). Heat winners plus the next six fastest times move on.
In the men`s 400, Henry will bring a three-meet winning streak into the NCAA Championships. He opened the season with an A&M school record of 45.81 to win the Texas A&M Challenge. Then he won the Challenge II in 46.19 before taking the Big 12 title in 46.28.
Last year Henry finished second in the 400 at the NJCAA Outdoor Championships after winning the 600 at the NJCAA Indoor meet while competing for Barton County. He season included a fourth-place finish in the 400 at the World Championships in Berlin.
Pinder lowered his personal indoor best by a full second as he opened the season with the Aggies by winning the Texas A&M Invitational in 46.01. He produced a three-meet winning streak adding titles at the Texas Dual meet (46.03) and New Balance Collegiate Invitational (46.19), before finishing second to Henry at the conference meet with a 46.28.
Miller, an All-American last June with an eighth-place finish at the NCAA Outdoor, is a rising talent among American sprinters. His season best of 46.47 came as runner-up to Henry at the Texas A&M Challenge II. Miller recently placed fourth at the Big 12 in 46.81.
With most field sizes at the NCAA Indoor averaging around 16 athletes, the prelims will produce feisty competition to determine the eight athletes for the finals.
One of the more talented fields assembled in the Tyson Center is in the men's 400 meters. The top two seed times are among the fastest ever in the collegiate history of the sport as Georgia's Torrin Lawrence enters with a 45.03, third fastest all-time, and Alabama's Kirani James has posted a 45.24, fourth fastest all-time.
Henry, who enters the meet with the third fastest time this season, and Miller will race in the same preliminary heat while Pinder is in the same heat as James. The top eight times from four heats will advance to a two-section final.
The men's triple jump will open with the defending champion, Florida's Christian Taylor, taking the first jump. Also in the first section of jumpers are Stewart and Reid of A&M. Sharif is in group two with Big 12 champion Bryce Lamb of Texas Tech. Seven athletes return from last year's competition.
Last season the Aggies scored nine points in the triple jump at the NCAA Indoor. Then during the outdoor NCAA meet, the point production blossomed to 18 points from four jumpers and put A&M in contention for the team title.
Sharif placed third at the NCAA Indoor last year and led event for most of this indoor season with his school record of 54-3.75. Reid, sixth last year, ranks fourth this season with a 53-11.75, which stood as the Aggie school record for a brief spell in January. Stewart, who was ninth and just missed scoring last March, has the fifth best mark this season with a 53-10.25.
In the women's 60 Tarmoh will line up against the top seed, UTEP's Blessing Okagbare, as they run in adjacent lanes in the third of three heats. Tarmoh has a seed time of 7.29 while Okagbare tops the collegiate list at 7.18. Mayo, with a seed time of 7.30 from her Big 12 win, runs in heat two with four sprinters from the SEC.
Lucas will take the second fastest seed in the 200 with her 23.06 and runs in the fifth of five heats. Duncan (23.66) will run in the third heat with collegiate leader Shavon Greaves of Penn State (22.98) while Tarmoh (23.25) is in the fourth heat.
The Aggies will have an entry in each heat of the women's 60 hurdles. Ruddock, a NJCAA Indoor hurdle champion and two-time NJCAA Outdoor hurdle champ, is in heat one with Virginia Tech's Kristi Castlin, who placed third last year after finishing second in 2008.
Thomas runs in heat two with current collegiate leader Queen Harrison of Virginia Tech, who has a best of 7.94. Mayo, the Big 12 champion with a school record of 8.05, is in heat three.
In the jumping events Thomas and Charan will seek to improve on performances from last season. Thomas contested the long jump and triple jump last year, placing 14th and 15th, while Charan finished 14th in the triple jump.
Players Mentioned
