Texas A&M
Oregon Pepsi Team Invitational
Texas A&M second to Oregon in Pepsi Team Invitational
Apr 10, 2010 | Track and Field
April 10, 2010
EUGENE, OREGON - Texas A&M placed second to Oregon in both men's and women's team scoring at the 21st Pepsi Team Invitational at historic Hayward Field amid a day that had the Aggies winning 15 events.
No. 2 Oregon women totaled 212 points with No. 1 A&M placing second with 179.5 points. Missouri (141) finished third with Washington (129.5) fourth.
No. 3 Oregon men tallied 186 points to better the 151 scored by the No. 2 Aggies. Washington (132) finished third ahead of Illinois (109) and Missouri (103).
"We did things we wanted to do today," Texas A&M head Pat Henry said. "Texas Relays was last weekend for us, so we put a lot of people on the track and competed hard last weekend.
"We came up here to compete. We didn't do everything that we would do in a normal circumstance, but our kids competed at a level I'm very pleased with. Oregon looked very good and it's nice to have a great competition. That's why you come up here, we didn't come here for the sun."
Oregon head coach Vin Lananna added: "We put the best line-up we could just like we do for every meet. We try to pick the best suited people to get the job done."
The Aggies won some races with impressive efforts, taking a total of five meet records on the day while registering a school record in the men's javelin.
They did so in front of a crowd that numbered 5,321 fans, second best ever for this meet. Today's crowd total only trails the 6,149 that were present back in 1987, the first year for the Pepsi Team Invitational.
Meet records set by A&M included the women's 4 x 100 (43.89), men's 4 x 400 (3:05.69), Jessica Beard (51.64) in the 400, Gabby Mayo (13.10) as she led a 1-2-3 sweep of the 100 hurdles and Gerald Phiri (10.30) equaled the mark in the 100.
Winning efforts for the Aggies also included Curtis Mitchell (20.69) in the 200, Deidre Tarver (153-5) in the discus, the men's 4 x 100 (39.78) and women's 4 x 400 (3:38.06).
A total of 11 runner-up efforts aided the Aggies in team scoring. Five of those second-place finishes completed an A&M 1-2 sweep of top points. In two events - 100 hurdles and men's 200 -- the Aggies went 1-2-3.
Aggies placing second were Tarver (169-7) in the hammer, Sasha-Kay Matthias (20-0 1/4) in the women's long jump, Donique' Flemings (59.54) in the 400 hurdles, Porscha Lucas (11.57w) in the 100, Dominique Duncan (23.61w) in the 200 and Tran Howell (20.99) in the 200.
Humphreys win the javelin also set a school record for the undefeated freshman, as his fourth round toss of 251-8 (76.71), bettered the A&M record of 76.70 (also 251-8) set by Nery Kennedy in 2004.
"This is the top competition I've faced so far and it's good to compete in this setting before we come here in June for nationals," said Humphreys, who bettered a field that included a pair of NCAA finalists in 2009.
Washington's Kyle Nielsen, who placed 6th at NCAA last season, hit his top mark of 241-9 (73.69) in the opening round while Humphreys struggled to get past 234 feet. Oregon's Alex Wolff, 10th in the 2009 NCAA final, turned in his best effort of 236-4 (72.04) in round two.
Humphreys best in the opening three rounds was a 234-2 (71.37), which had him in third place. Frustrated with his third round effort, Humphreys received advice to throw low from assistant coach Juan De La Garza.
In the fourth stanza, Humphreys unleashed the winning throw to secure his fourth consecutive victory of the season and set the Aggie school record in the process. The career best throw improved upon his previous best of 247-0 set a couple of weeks ago.
"Coach told me to change one thing after the third round and as soon as I did it made all the difference," noted Humphreys, who passed the final two rounds. "I flopped down in the high jump pit nearby and thought `finally'. It's great to continue my winning streak. I knew I had it in me, but I didn't know it would turn out like this to start my season."
Just as impressive for the women was Beard running her first outdoor 400 and posting a meet record of 51.64, topping a 52.73 set by Oregon's Camara Jones in 1992. Beard powered through the first 200 and then maintained her advantage to the finish over the Oregon pair of Keshia Baker (53.62) and Michelle Baker (54.91).
"I wanted to come out here and set up my race really well," Beard said. "I just wanted to get into a mindset for nationals that will be here in June. I really wanted to take advantage of the day regardless of the conditions.
"It's good to always have somebody out there trying to push us to our best. Last year it was between Oregon and us as to who was going to win nationals. Then they just won the NCAA indoor. Now we're trying to come out here and defend our national title. I definitely know they are going to one of the top teams to contend with in June."
An early surprise in the meet for the Aggies was Burnett winning the 5,000 meters in a personal best of 14:08.06 to defeat Jordan Swarthout of Washington (14:08.29) and Colin Mickow of Illinois (14:08.86). Oregon's top finisher was Luke Puskedra in 14:10.83. A&M's Joe Sauvageau added a point with an eighth-place finisher in 14:38.70.
"I love this stadium so much, it's an awesome atmosphere," Burnett said. "You hardly ever see stands filled like this for distance events. Normally that's when people go get their nachos or something.
"It's so great to come out here and have such a great competition with Oregon and the other teams here. To actually win this race, there's not a better feeling in the world for me."
Burnett, who had a career best of 14:21.86 coming into the meet, is now the No. 5 performer at A&M with the 10th best performance.
"Yeah, we stuck it in Oregon's ear on that 5,000," Henry joked. "We got after them in that 5,000. It was good for Burnett to do that. He's a hard worker and it's fun for him to come off that Bowerman curve and be able to try to beat somebody."
After anchoring the Aggie 4 x 100 to a meet record victory of 43.89, Mayo later led a 1-2-3 sweep in the 100 hurdles as her 13.10 just edged teammate Natasha Ruddock's 13.12 while Vashti Thomas finished third in 13.53. The 100 hurdles meet record of 13.23 was set in 2007 by USC's Candice Davis.
"I wasn't feeling it today, so that effort was all a mental race," Mayo said. "Physically, I was not there. So I'm happy and I know coach is happy with that performance. I know my time will go down from there."
Joining Mayo in the sprint relay were Porscha Lucas and Dominique Duncan. Later in the meet Lucas (11.57w) and Duncan (23.61w) were runner-up to Oregon's Amber Purvis, who supplied the Ducks with an impressive double victory in the 100 (11.38w) and 200 (23.00w).
Purvis ran the second leg in the 4 x 100 relay for Oregon and put them in contention with the Aggies. Mayo had company as the race reached the anchor legs. Mayo sped to the finish for the victory with Oregon setting a school record 44.13 in second place.
"I had to really run on the anchor leg, but I love the competition," Mayo noted. "I think the cool weather set us back a little bit. We adapted and came out on top." Phiri matched the 100-meter meet record of 10.30 set by Slip Watkins of LSU in 1988 and also by Washington State's Augustin Olabia in 1991.
In the sprint relay Phiri ran second leg of the A&M unit that led off with Curtis Mitchell on the final two legs. They recorded a time of 39.78 to win handily.
Pinder cruised to a win the 400 at 46.76 with teammate Michael Preble second in 47.36. Mitchell, meanwhile, extended his winning streak to eight meets this season with a windy 20.69 victory over teammates Howell (20.99w) and Tabarie Henry (21.10w).
The final meet record claimed by the Aggies occurred in the final race of the day, the men's 4 x 400. With a foursome that included Kyle Dykhuizen, Henry and Howell, A&M posted a 3:05.69 winning time that bettered the meet record of 3:07.73 set by Washington in 2006.
A second squad of Aggies placed third in 3:08.84 with the crew of Ashton Young, Michael Preble, Oscar Ramirez and Joey Roberts.
