May 12, 2011
Big 12 Outdoor - Schedule - Live Resutls
NORMAN, Okla. - While the Texas A&M women seek a fifth consecutive team title at the Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships this week, the Aggie men take aim on their first outdoor conference title since 2001. The University of Oklahoma will serve as host of the conference meet, being held from Friday through Sunday, at the John Jacobs Track Complex.
During the indoor season the A&M men won its first ever Big 12 team title in commanding fashion as they topped Oklahoma by 28 points with a tally of 134 points, the second best total in the 15-year history of the conference. The Aggie team victory was the first indoor conference crown for the A&M men since a Southwest Conference title in 1980.
A bid by the Aggie women to win a fifth consecutive Big 12 Indoor team championship was denied by host Nebraska, 115.5 to 101. In both team battles for the outdoor crown, the Cornhuskers will provide a strong challenge for the Big 12 Outdoor title along with host Oklahoma and Texas.
"I think we have an experienced group," said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. "The conference meet is always a little bit different meet than any other meet during the year. We have some good depth and we have some things we know we have to do well in to win this kind of meet.
"I think we are prepared, we've had a good season to this point and we're healthy. We return a nucleus of people who have been in this battle before. This group has some confidence in themselves after winning national championships and conference titles. If we show up at the track with a good mental attitude about what we are doing, then we should be very successful."
The A&M women, nationally ranked No. 2, swept the sprint and relay titles at the Big 12 meet a year ago. They return the individual champions in Jeneba Tarmoh (100, 200) and Jessica Beard (400) while holding the collegiate leading times in the 4 x 100 (42.87) and 4 x 400 (3:27.33).
Meanwhile, the Aggie men enter the meet ranked No. 1 nationally. They swept the sprint events a year ago and won the 4 x 400 while placing second in the 4 x 100. A&M returns defending champions in Gerald Phiri (100) and Tabarie Henry (400) and hold collegiate leading marks in the relays, the 4 x 100 (38.71) and 4 x 400 (3:00.45).
Combined the Aggies became the first school to win nine of the 10 sprint and relay events at last year's Big 12 meet. The previous best was seven events achieved by Texas A&M in 2009 as well as Texas in 1999 and 2003.
A pair of Aggie senior sprinters will seek historic final races this weekend. Jessica Beard and Gerald Phiri have each won three consecutive titles in the 400 and 100 meters, respectively.
Beard, who became the first female to complete a four-year run of victories at the Big 12 Indoor Championships, aims for her fourth consecutive outdoor title in a bid to go 8-for-8 in the 400 meters. The only other female to win an event four times at the Big 12 Outdoor was Lisa Koll of Iowa State in the 10,000 meters (2007-2010).
"It's an exciting feeling getting out there and knowing this is my last Big 12," said Beard. "I know I've won this event every year, but I'm thinking `wow, what can I give in my last Big 12 performance.' I think it's going to be a great meet.
"I'll be doing a couple of events this weekend along with the relay, so I just want to go out there and really run a season best, at least. This outdoor season I've only run two 400s and one open 200, so I'm really excited about both of those events at conference."
Phiri, who won a Big 12 sprint double in the 100 and 200 as a freshman and sophomore, claimed a third straight title in the 100 a year ago while placing second in the 200. Phiri has also been the high-point scorer at the Big 12 Outdoor three consecutive years, scoring 22.5 points in 2008 and 2009 while his total of 20 points in 2010 tied him with two others.
"The Big 12 Championship is one of the meets I always look forward to," noted Phiri. "I've been fortunate enough to be the 100 meter champion three years in a row and hopefully I'll be able to get a fourth title. My string of 100-200 doubles was broken last year, but maybe I can win the double three out of my four years at A&M.
"In the 4 x 100 relay I'm hoping we can set the school record (currently 38.51 set in 2009) since our relay practices are going really well right now. I'm excited to see how we can do this weekend."
Only three other men have completed a four-year run of victories in one event at the conference outdoor meet - Darold Williams of Baylor (400), Derrick Peterson of Missouri (800), and Jonathan Johnson of Texas Tech (800).
Other event streaks the Aggies currently hold include the women's 200, where three different sprinters have won the past four titles - Simone Facey (2007), Porscha Lucas (2008, 2009) and Jeneba Tarmoh (2010).
Last season Tarmoh became just the second A&M female sprinter to achieve a Big 12 triple in claiming the 100 and 200 titles while being part of the winning 4 x 100 relay. Facey first completed that gold-medal triple in 2007. The Aggies depth in the 200 will include Dominique Duncan, Ashley Collier and Beard.
In the men's 200 A&M claimed a third straight title last season with Curtis Mitchell finishing in front of two-time champ Phiri. A strong contender to end that streak is OU's Mookie Salaam.
Gabby Mayo (2009) and Natasha Ruddock (2010) have won the past two 100 hurdle titles and the field includes 2008 winner in Oklahoma's Latoya Greaves. Baylor's Tiffany McReynolds, the Big 12 Indoor winner over 60 hurdles, will be a factor as well.
In the triple jump A&M won the past three years with Yasmine Regis (2008, 2009) and Ashika Charan (2010). Both have graduated, so defending the event will fall upon current Aggies - Sasha-Kay Matthias, Tiffany Peters and Melissa Mays.
Defending champions for A&M also include Sam Humphreys in the javelin, where he won last year with a toss of 243-9 (74.31), the best winning mark in the conference since 2002 and the fourth-best winning mark ever. Humphreys broke his own school record in the javelin by one inch with a winning toss of 251-9 (76.73) in winning the Texas Relays.
Tabarie Henry became the first Aggie male to win the 400 meters at the Big 12 Outdoor a year ago. His main threat to a successful defense will likely be teammate Demetrius Pinder, the 2011 NCAA Indoor 400m champion, as well as the 2009 conference champ Gil Roberts of Texas Tech.
The men's long jump will feature the past three champions in A&M's Julian Reid (2008), Nebraska's Nicholas Gordan (2009) and Marquise Goodwin of Texas (2010).
Multi-events have been a point-producer for the Aggies. Daphne Fitzpatrick, third a year ago in the heptathlon (5,234 points), returns with a career best score of 5,638 from a third-place effort at the Texas Relays.
Nebraska returns a pair of champions in the heptathlon who have claimed the past three Big 12 titles - Megan Wheatley (2008, 2009) and Chantae McMillan (2010). The Cornhuskers have won the past six conference titles in the heptathlon.
The 800 meters is a new scoring area for the Aggies. On the men's side they will feature the NCAA Indoor bronze medalist in Michael Preble and the Big 12 Indoor champion in Joey Roberts. Along with Sam Mutschler and Oscar Ramirez the A&M 4 x 800 crew placed third at the Penn Relays with a school record time of 7:14.02, which is the ninth fastest school on the collegiate all-time list.
For the Aggie women, the quartet of Erica Parker, Aliese Hyde, Hillary Hagan and Tiffany Singleton will have the potential to contribute points.
Natasha Ruddock, who won the Big 12 100m hurdle title a year ago, anchored A&M to victory in the Penn Relays shuttle hurdles and then placed third in the 100-meter hurdle final. Last year in the Penn Relays 100m hurdles, Ruddock posted a career best of 12.87 seconds as the runner-up.
In the 400 hurdles Donique' Flemings finished seventh. The entire finals field from last year returns this season.
Wayne Davis II has won four 110-meter hurdle races this outdoor season and set a career best mark of 13.71 in defeating Kieron Stewart (13.74) of Texas at Baylor. Davis also defeated Florida's Eddie Lovett with a wind-aided time of 13.75 in Gainesville.
New sprint talent for the Aggies could be point producers in the form of Prezel Hardy, Jr., Michael Bryan and Ashley Collier. Hardy has produced career best times of 10.33, 10.21 and 10.13 in three victories this season. Collier clocked a best of 23.40 in the 200 and a windy best of 11.22 in the 100.
Amid the distance events the Aggies return Katherine Devlin, who placed fourth in the 10,000 last year, Kevin Burnett, who finished 10th in the men's 5,000, and Stephen Curry, who was 12th in the steeplechase.
All three have produced career best times this season. Devlin clocked 33:56.98 and Burnett ran 14:04.71 at Mt. SAC while Curry produced a 9:10.56 in the steeple.
Sasha-Kay Matthias, runner-up in the Championship division of the triple jump at the Penn Relays, headlines a talented group of A&M jumpers in the conference meet. Matthias leads the team in both the long jump (20-2.5) and triple jump (42-6.25).
Tiffany Peters placed fourth at Penn with a season best of 41-8.5 while freshman Melissa Mays finished second in the college division at the Penn Relays and produced a mark of 41-3.25 for the third meet this season.
Improvement in the men's hammer has Casey Strong, the school record holder at 198-9, and Cole Knuth (183-4) in scoring range at the conference meet. Likewise, in the women's shot put Jennifer Edwards (49-11.75) and Taylor Rosser (48-2.5) are on the cusp of being able to score at the Big 12 meet.