April 7, 2011
AUSTIN - Texas A&M won the men's 4 x 800 relay for the first time since 1945 on Thursday during the second day of the Texas Relays at Myers Stadium. The Aggies crushed a 24-year-old school record with a winning time of 7:19.57.
A pair of third-place finishes for A&M included Daphne Fitzpatrick in the heptathlon and the women's 4 x 800. Fitzpatrick came within four points of the school record with her career best score of 5,638. Meanwhile, the Aggie women's 4 x 800 set a school record of 8:42.42.
The A&M men's foursome of Sam Mutschler (1:52.2), Joey Roberts (1:47.1), Oscar Ramirez (1:49.0) and Michael Preble (1:51.3) battled a testy Arkansas crew through each leg of the 4 x 800. In setting the school record they bettered the previous Aggie mark of 7:26.63 set in 1987 by Maurice Holt, Derek Green, Larry Payton and Matt Dunn.
"What a day," exclaimed Roberts. "It's such a moment to be part of, especially winning this race for the first time in over 65 years. It's sort of daunting, even my grandmother wasn't around then.
"A lot of Aggies - past, present and future - are watching us and looking up to us. It's great to be part of this achievement."
Mutschler led most of his lead-off leg, but handed off the baton in fourth place. Roberts sped to the front of the pack within the first 150 meters of his carry. His fast split ensured the Aggies were still leading when he gave the baton to Ramirez while the Razorback countered with a 1:47.9 from College Station native Duncan Phillips.
On the third leg Ramirez had to contend with Arkansas' Dorian Ulrey (1:48.4) and they were even making the final exchange. Preble held a stride lead over Razorback Chris Bilbrew throughout the anchor leg. Bilbrew made his move with 100 meters left in the race, but Preble never let him pass.
With 20 meters remaining Preble pulled away from Bilbrew to claim the victory as Arkansas ran 7:20.20 for second place. The rest of the field included Oklahoma (7:29.77), Louisiana Tech (7:31.23), Grambling (7:32.29) and UTSA (7:32.69).
Texas A&M earned its third Texas Relays title in the 4 x 800, the two previous titles occurred in 1943 and 1945.
"We wanted to win it this year after placing fourth last year," noted Preble. "We also wanted to go for the meet record (7:16.21 set in 1985), but unfortunately I didn't run a fast enough split for us to get that done. They ran unbelievable and it's great to be part of something like this and see it all come together today."
In chasing the heptathlon school standard of 5,642 points set by Kalleen Madden during the 1993 Southwest Conference meet in Austin, Fitzpatrick produced career best marks in the javelin (135-4) and 800 meters (2:21.60), the final two disciplines of the seven-event competition.
Fitzpatrick started the second day of the heptathlon with a 17-11 ¾ long jump for 694 points and then scored 692 in the javelin and 802 in the 800 meters.
Chelsea Carrier of West Virginia won the event from start to finish, leading the field after each event. Her score of 5,927 points is the current American and collegiate leading score for 2011. Kansas State's Ryann Krais totaled 5,848 points as runner-up.
Fitzpatrick bettered her previous best score of 5,395 set during the 2010 Texas Relays when she placed fourth.
"It's a great experience setting career best marks in those two events, especially coming off the long jump mark I had to start the second day," Fitzpatrick said. "I was eager to do well in the javelin. Then running a huge PR in the 800 was very exciting.
"I'm excited to get on the track again and go for the school record at the Big 12 meet. Knowing I'm stronger in the 800 shows me I'm very close. Usually when I run 2:30 in the 800 I'd be dead. Today I felt stronger after running the 800 faster."
Running in the women's 4 x 800 for the Aggies were Erica Parker (2:08.9), Hillary Hagan (2:09.5), Tiffany Singleton (2:14.5) and Aliese Hyde (2:09.5). They were tied for the lead with Texas Tech on the first exchange and then were passed by LSU during the second leg. Hagan rallied, though, to put the A&M ahead on her exchange with Singleton.
Texas Tech reclaimed the lead going into the final leg while LSU was second and the Aggies in third. The Tigers passed the Red Raiders and LSU won in 8:39.19. Tech posted an 8:41.61 for second just ahead of the 8:42.42 for the Aggies. Baylor placed fourth in 8:47.43 while Kansas finished fifth in 8:54.80.
William Markert completed his first decathlon with a score of 7,032 to tie for 10th place amid a field of 22 entrants. Cal's Mike Morrison, the NCAA runner-up in 2010, won the event with a score 7,921.
Markert ran 15.44 in the 110 hurdles, threw the discus 137-6, cleared 15-1 in the pole vault, tossed the javelin 151-1 and ran the 1,500 in 4:57.80.
In the men's hammer final Casey Strong threw a distance of 180 feet, 3 inches (54.94) to place 16th.
In qualifying races Andrea Sutherland advanced in the 400 hurdles with a time of 57.65, which was fifth fastest in the prelims.