April 6, 2011
AUSTIN - The two-time defending national champion Aggies will compete at the 84th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in Mike A. Myers Stadium this week, starting on Wednesday and concluding on Saturday. Texas A&M has been named outstanding team of the Texas Relays the past two years and last season the Aggies won nine events during Saturday's showcase portion of the meet.
Of the nine victories A&M attained a year ago during the Texas Relays the Aggies will return personnel for title defenses in seven of those events. The Aggie men claimed wins in the 4 x 200, 4 x 400, 100 meters (Zuheir Sharif) and javelin (Sam Humphreys) while the A&M women captured titles in the 4 x 100, 4 x 200, 100 meters (Gabby Mayo), 100 hurdles (Natasha Ruddock).
The Aggies enter this year's Texas Relays as collegiate leaders in the women's 4 x 100 (43.16), women's 4 x 400 (3:32.48), men's 4 x 400 (3:02.21) along with the men's 100 (Prezel Hardy, Jr. 10.21), men's 400 (Tabarie Henry 44.83) and women's 400 (Jessica Beard 51.55).
Tickets for the meet are $30 for an all-session reserved seat and $20 for an all-session general admission. There is no charge for events held on Wednesday and Thursdays. Single day tickets for Friday or Saturday cost $15 (reserved) and $10 (general admission). Tickets can be purchased on site, through the web TexasBoxOffice.com or by calling 800-982-2386.
Competition on the first two days includes the heptathlon and decathlon as well as some distance and hurdle races. Daphne Fitzpatrick, who is celebrating her birthday Wednesday, returns in the heptathlon while frosh William Markert makes his debut in the Texas Relays decathlon. Fitzpatrick finished fourth a year ago, scoring a career best 5,395 points.
Jessica Beard, the NCAA Indoor 400 champion who recently set the collegiate leading mark of 51.55 in her first outdoor race, will have a busy Texas Relays as she is scheduled to run on three relays - 4 x 100, 4 x 200 and 4 x 400 - in her senior campaign.
The Aggies are three time defending champions at the Texas Relays in the 4 x 200, where they set a Relays record of 1:31.41 in 2010, and also set a meet record of 42.56 in winning the 2010 title in the 4 x 100. However, the women's 4 x 400 relay has been an elusive title for A&M in Austin.
"It's always fun to compete at the Texas Relays, especially with the crowd," noted Beard. "There are a lot of Aggie supporters there and you can hear them cheering us on to win. Now that I'm running at this meet my fourth and final year with Texas A&M I'm really looking forward to running well and helping out on the relays. A goal of mine is to win the 4 x 400.
"I'm excited about running on three relays and I think the experience will help me in other situations later in the season. I love the effort the girls are giving. It seems we are faster this time of the year compared to last season. When I see the effort of the first three legs that motivates and encourages me during my leg of the relay."
Beard anchored the 4 x 100 at the LSU Invitational this past weekend as the Aggies notched its 24th consecutive victory in a final, dating back to 2008, in clocking a winning time of 43.16 to defeat LSU (43.48). In the 4 x 400, without the services of Beard, A&M ran 3:32.48 to defeat LSU (3:33.63) with a foursome that included Donique' Flemings and Ashley Collier.
Since a missed exchange of the baton during the prelims of the 4 x 100 at the 2009 Texas Relays, the Aggies have not lost to another collegiate team in 25 consecutive races, including prelims. That run of success includes three of the four NCAA titles the Aggies have claimed as well as the collegiate record of 42.36 they established in claiming the 2009 NCAA championship.
The Texas A&M women also currently hold collegiate records in the 4 x 200 (1:29.42) and the shuttle hurdle relay (52.50).
In the men's 4 x 400 the Aggies have displayed their depth of quarter-milers recently by having a pair of relays race against each other and produce sub 3:05s by each. At the Arizona State Invitational the A&M relays finished first and third with times of 3:04.92 and 3:05.56. The winning time broke an 11-year-old meet record of 3:05.70 set by USC in 2000.
This past weekend another 1-3 finish by the A&M 4 x 400 relays had the first group setting a collegiate leading time of 3:02.21, currently second fastest in the world, with the crew of Joey Roberts, Tabarie Henry, Bryan Miller and Demetrius Pinder.
Meanwhile the second Aggie group recorded a 3:04.69, believed to be the fastest time by a secondary relay from the same school. The time, currently fifth fastest in the world, was produced by Carlyle Roudette, Tran Howell, Michael Preble and Oscar Ramirez.
"I'm glad that our coach makes us run a B team because that makes us even more competitive," Miller said. "I know when other teams see we have two relays that can run that fast it makes them a little nervous. It sharpens our competitive nature. Our coaches know what they're doing, so I'm going to continue to put my trust in them."
In his senior year with the Aggies Miller has experienced the Texas Relays since his prep days in Houston. He ran on two winning relays a year ago, the 4 x 200 and the 4 x 400. The Aggies defended their 4 x 200 title with a meet record of 1:20.61 and became the first A&M squad to win the 4 x 400 at the Texas Relays in 30 years with a winning time of 3:01.55.
The Aggies have claimed the past three NCAA Indoor and Outdoor titles in the 4 x 40 and also carry a 15 meet winning streak into the Texas Relays. The current streak dates back to their 2010 Big 12 Outdoor title and includes the entire 2011 indoor season.
"It's going to be great for our relay and a lot of fun," noted Miller of the Texas Relays experience. "Hopefully, we are going to race against some really good teams so we can run some good times. Last year was our first year to win it and we are coming back to repeat that and keep our title.
"I like the experience of the entire meet with the crowd and everybody having fun. I started out running the 100 meters for two years while in high school and have been running relays while with A&M. I look forward to seeing the mixture of pros, college and high school athletes at one meet."
While Phiri returns as defending 100-meter champion he will face a stern test, namely from freshman teammate Prezel Hardy, Jr., who has won his first pair of 100 meter races this outdoor season. Following a 10.33 second victory in Arizona, Hardy sped to a career best 10.21 win at LSU and currently shares the wind-legal collegiate lead with three other sprinters.
Mayo has won the women's 100-meter title the past two years with an identical time of 11.13 seconds, but she is not scheduled to compete this weekend as she continues to come back from her spill in the hurdles during the NCAA Indoor less than a month ago.
In the 100 hurdles Ruddock appears in form and ready for her title defense. A wind-aided 13.01 victory in Baton Rouge showed positive signs after Ruddock fell in her hurdle race at Arizona State. She clocked a winning time of 12.97 last season.
Humphreys earned a special victory in the javelin last year as he won a Texas Relays watch in his freshman campaign with the Aggies. He produced a winning mark of 245-9 in Austin and a week later bettered the A&M school record by a centimeter (251-8 / 76.71) in snaring a win in Eugene at the Oregon Pepsi Team Invitational. After winning the Big 12 title, Humphreys placed fifth at the NCAA Championships.
While Sharif, the Aggies triple jump winner in 2010, has graduated A&M still returns Julian Reid, the 2009 Texas Relays winner, as well as Tyron Stewart, a runner-up in the triple jump last season.
An event area where Texas A&M has the potential for more titles will be the 4 x 800 relay. An explosion of talent in the 800 produced a pair of school records indoors by Joey Roberts and Michael Preble, a Big 12 Indoor title for Roberts, and a NCAA Indoor bronze medal for Michael Preble.
The women's 800 has seen improvement with senior Erica Parker, junior Tiffany Singleton and a freshman crew of Aliese Hyde, Hillary Hagan and Taylor Buckner.