Texas A&M
Texas Relays
Texas A&M outstanding team at Texas Relays again
Apr 03, 2010 | Track and Field
April 3, 2010
AUSTIN - Nine victories on the final day of the 83rd Texas Relays, amid a meet record crowd of 21,000 fans at Mike A. Myers Stadium, earned Texas A&M outstanding team honors for a second year in a row.
The Aggies produced two meet records in relay races, the men's 4 x 200 (1:20.61) and women's 4 x 100 (42.56), amid a superlative day that had A&M on the winner's podium for four relay victories and five individual wins.
In addition the Aggies supplied three runner-up finishes, two of which competed a 1-2 combo for A&M in the women's 100 hurdles and men's triple jump. The only hiccup was a dropped baton on the final exchange in the men's 4 x 100.
"We had a day that we can remember for a while at Texas A&M," Aggie head coach Pat Henry said. "Anytime you come in here and win four relays, with two meet records, and total nine wins on the final day it makes for a very special day. This was a fine, fine meet for this team.
"We did have a mistake in the sprint relay. We would like to run the 4 x 100 one more time, at least the last leg one more time. That's the way it is sometimes."
Relay victories were also claimed in the women's 4 x 200 (1:31.41) and men's 4 x 400 (3:01.55). It marked the first 4 x 400 title for the Aggie men in 30 years, the last being in 1980.
Individual titles were attained by Zuheir Sharif in the triple jump (54-3.25), Natasha Ruddock in the 100 hurdles (12.97), Gabby Mayo in the women's 100 (11.13) and Gerald Phiri in the men's 100 (10.17).
The Aggies added runner-up efforts in the men's triple jump with Tyron Stewart (53-6.5) as well as the 100 hurdles with Vashti Thomas (13.08) and Andrea Sutherland in the 400 hurdles (57.12).
Third-place efforts included Tiffany Peters in the triple jump (42-9.5), Jeneba Tarmoh in the 100 (11.21) and the women's 4 x 400 (3:32.94).
Texas A&M opened relay racing on Saturday by defending its 4 x 200 relay titles, when they became the first school at the Texas Relays to claim both a year ago. Both A&M squads set world-leading times in each race.
The 4 x 100 relay had mixed results for the Aggies as the women set a meet record and ran the fastest collegiate time ever in the month of April with a 42.56 winning mark. Meanwhile, the men weren't able to get the final exchange made and did not finish.
The Aggie men set the 4 x 200 meet record with a clocking of 1:20.61, second fastest in school history to a 1:20.32 set in winning the Penn Relays last season. The foursome included Curtis Mitchell. Texas previously held the meet record of 1:20.79 from 2003.
Mitchell, the NCAA Indoor 200 champion, had a challenge from Mississippi State's Justin Christian as well as Baylor's Trey Harts as they reached the homestretch after the final baton exchange. Mitchell powered to the finish with the victory while Christian put Mississippi State second at 1:21.09 while Harts and Baylor were third in 1:21.25. LSU finished fourth in 1:23.23.
The A&M women also recorded the second fastest time in school history as they won their third consecutive Texas Relays title in this event in 1:31.41 with the crew of Porscha Lucas. The Aggie school record is 1:30.28 from winning the Penn Relays last year.
South Plains, running in the first section of the two-section final, placed second with a 1:33.68 while TCU (1:34.63) and Oklahoma (1:34.94) finished third and fourth. A&M won its 2008 title in 1:33.46 and then ran 1:32.31 for the 2009 win.
A meet record of 42.63 in the women's 4 x 100 was taken down by the Aggies with a 42.56 victory. A&M ran with the foursome of Jeneba Tarmoh, Lucas, Duncan and Gabby Mayo. It's also the fastest time in the world this year and the fastest collegiate time ever in the month of April, bettering a 42.59 set by LSU at Penn Relays in 2008.
LSU, who set the meet record in 2003, dropped the baton on the second exchange and were unable to finish. Placing a distant second place to the Aggies was Houston (44.18) with UTEP (44.54) in third and Texas Tech (44.68) fourth.
On the A&M all-time list the 42.56 winning mark is second only to the collegiate record of 42.36 the Aggies set in winning a third consecutive NCAA title last June.
The men's sprint relay missed the exchange from Pinder to Mitchell after getting carries from Howell and Phiri on the first two legs. Baylor won the race in 39.18 with TCU second in 39.20 as LSU placed third in 39.43.
Pinder and Mitchell made amends in the final event of the sun-splashed day, the 4 x 400 relay. Pinder (46.2) had a strong opening leg and Mitchell took over on the second leg. A bump with USC's Joey Hughes with 120 meters left on the second carry knocked Mitchell off stride. He then galloped past Hughes to the exchange zone to compete a 44.9 split.
Miller maintained the Aggies lead with a 45.7 carry and placed Tabarie Henry in prime position for the anchor leg. Henry cruised home with a 44.8 split for the win as A&M clocked a world-leading 3:01.55 to deny the challenges by Baylor's Marcus Boyd and USC's Reggie Wyatt.
Baylor placed second in 3:02.70 while USC (3:03.26) and LSU (3:07.36) finished third and fourth.
The 3:01.55 ranks fourth on the Aggie all-time list and is the fastest time A&M has recorded at the Texas Relays, bettering a 3:02.53 set in 1993.
Texas A&M's sprinting prowess continued in the 100 meters where Gabby Mayo and Gerald Phiri each won University 100 titles.
Mayo defended her 2009 title by running the same exact time, an 11.13 that is her career best. It's the third consecutive win A&M has in this event as Porscha Lucas won the race in 2008.
In the final 30 meters of the race Mayo chased down LSU's Samantha Henry, who was second in 11.18 while Aggie teammate Jeneba Tarmoh closed strong as well in placing third in 11.21 to equal her personal best.
Phiri motored to a 10.17 victory in the men's race to better qualifying leader Luther Ambrose of Louisiana-Monroe (10.24) as well as UT-Arlington's Cordero Gray (10.28) and TCU's Charles Silmon (10.34).
In 2008 Phiri was runner-up in the 100 with a 10.22. Now he becomes the fifth A&M winner in a Texas Relays 100, the last being Curtis Dickey, who won three consecutive Invitational 100s from 1978 to 1980.
Sam Humphreys won the men's javelin with a first round toss of 245-9 (74.90), becoming the first Aggie winner in the event at the Texas Relays since Jarrad Matthews in 2004. Humphreys becomes the fourth A&M javelin winner at the Relays, joining Matthews, Nery Kennedy (1995) and Ty Sevin (1994).
Humphreys added marks of 238-7 (72.47) and 240-7 (73.34) in the second and third rounds and then passed the final three rounds. Tom Engwall placed second to Humphreys with a 236-6 while BYU's Sean Richardson finished third at 228-5.
Donique' Flemings, ran 13.33 for sixth place and a career best mark.
Ruddock becomes the No. 3 performer on the Aggie all-time list with Thomas at No. 5 and Flemings No. 10.
Another Aggie 1-2 finish occurred in the men's triple jump with Zuheir Sharif defending the title Julian Reid won last year while Tyron Stewart placed second and Melvin Echard finished seventh.
Sharif jumped 54-3.25 (16.54) while Stewart challenged with a 53-6.5 (16.32). Echard posted a mark of 51-9.75 (15.79). While Sharif had the lead from the first round, Stewart needed the final round to move from seventh to second.
Andrea Sutherland opened the final day of the Texas Relays with a career best of 57.12 as runner-up in the 400 hurdles. Angele Cooper of Texas also set a PR to win in 56.20. They will square off again at the Big 12 Championships.
Sutherland's mark makes her the No. 2 performer all-time at Texas A&M with the eighth-best performance. It's the first time for an Aggie to break into the top 10 performances, which all belong to Rosa Jolivet, since 1998.
Later in the meet Sutherland (53.7) led off the women's 4 x 400 that placed third in 3:32.94. An anchor leg with Jessica Beard splitting 49.8 put the Aggies in contention as they chased Arkansas (3:31.20) and LSU (3:31.46). Texas placed fourth (3:32.98) after Beard passed Longhorn anchor Angele Cooper in the final strides.
The Aggie foursome included Donique' Flemings (53.4) and Sandy Wooten (55.1) on the second and third legs.
The Aggies placed four jumpers among the top eight of the women's triple jump with Tiffany Peters leading the crew. Peters placed third at 42-9.5 (13.04) ahead of teammate Vashti Thomas, who was fourth at 42-9 (13.03).
They finished behind Aggie school record holder and defending Texas Relays champion Yasmine Regis, who jumped 43-9 (13.33) for second place. Also in the field were Ashika Charan (42-6w) and Sasha-Kay Matthias (42-5.5), who finished seventh and eighth.
In the women's javelin final Emalie Humphreys placed eighth with a toss of 162-10 (49.64) while Laura Asimakis finished 11th with a mark of 157-8 (48.07).
Cameron Alexander tied for sixth in the B division of the high jump by clearing 6-7 (2.01).
