Jan. 28, 2011
COLLEGE STATION - Friday evening action at the Texas A&M Challenge, presented by Mondo America, included a school record for the Aggie women in the distance medley relay.
Through three finals the Big 12 women hold a 61-31 lead over the SEC. On the men's side the SEC has a 29-28 edge over the Big 12. Saturday's action will have finals starting at 2 p.m. in the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium.
In addition to the school record for the Aggies, Daphne Fitzpatrick set a career best in the pentathlon and the men's distance medley won with a time that cracked the school's all-time top 10 list.
The A&M foursome of Aliese Hyde, Andrea Sutherland, Hillary Hagan and Haley Parsons placed third in the race with a time of 11:38.78, which bettered the school record of 11:46.54 that was set in 2002. The previous record holders included Andrea Bookout, Regan Teague, Angeles Pantoja and Jennifer Whatley.
Splits for the Aggie crew included 3:38.07 (1200), 53.69 (400), 2:11.58 (800) and 4:55.46 (1600) in the 4,000-meter race. Oklahoma won the race in 11:34.51, Georgia finished second in 11:35.28 while Kansas State placed fourth in 11:41.88.
"We knew we each had to run certain times for us to have a chance at breaking the record," noted Parsons. "It felt really strong with the group we had. It provided us good practice prior to conference. Now we can perfect a few things for us to be competitive at the Big 12 meet.
"My legs were a bit tired running the anchor leg, but Coach Henry tells us that not everything is always going to feel good when we race. So, I just overcame it and wanted to be competitive in the race while trying to do my best for the team."
The Aggies won the men's distance medley in 9:52.89, establishing the 10th fastest time on the A&M all-time list. The relay crew included Oscar Ramirez (3:01.92), Tran Howell (45.99), Michael Preble (1:50.71) and Ethan Doherty (4:14.28).
Finishing behind the Aggies in the men's distance medley were Oklahoma (9;55.01) and Georgia (9:55.63).
The other pair of finals on the first evening came in the 5,000 meters. Jordan Chappell placed third in the men's race with a clocking of 15:08.47 while teammate George Stredney placed fifth in 15:53.16.
Georgia's Brett Richardson won the men's 5,000 in 14:42.37 while Kansas State's Sydney Messick claimed the women's race in 17:22.78.
Fitzpatrick totaled 3,768 points to better her previous best of 3,692 set at the Big 12 meet last season. The tally moves Fitzpatrick to No. 5 on the A&M all-time list. Kansas State's Ryann Krais won the event with a score of 4,021 points while Georgia's Lucie Ondraschkova placed second with 3,947 points.
Among a field of 18 entrants 15 finished the competition. Scoring in the event favored the Big 12 schools as they totaled 22 points to edge the 17 compiled by the SEC.
Fitzpatrick opened the competition with a 9.02 (906 points) in the 60 hurdles and then cleared 5-7 (855) in the high jump. A shot put mark of 35-10 ¾ (591) was followed by an 18-4 ¼ (726) long jump. Fitzpatrick ran the 800 meters in 2:30.26 (690) points to close out the event.
Through the first day of the heptathlon, Aggie frosh William Markert is in fifth place with a score of 2,981 points. Florida's Gray Horn is the leader at 3,242 with Georgia's Michael Ayers second with a 3,153 and Texas Tech's Chuck Zavala third at 3,043.
Markert posted a 7.37 in the 60 (755), then long jumped 20-11 ¾ (673) and won the shot put portion of the event with a 48-0 ½ (768) effort. He concluded day one of the event with a 6-6 clearance in the high jump (785).