Texas A&M
Baylor - Michael Johnson Classic
Aggies generate six wins at Baylor's Michael Johnson Classic
Apr 23, 2011 | Track and Field
April 23, 2011
WACO - Texas A&M totaled six victories at the Michael Johnson Classic hosted by Baylor on Saturday. Amid the wins were a school record in the pole vault by Prezel Hardy, Jr.
Aggies victories also included the men's 4 x 100, Wayne Davis II in the 110 hurdles and Casey Strong in the hammer.
Asimakis improved her pole vault school record twice in winning the event with a clearance of 13 feet, 9 inches (4.19 meters). Another pair of Aggies produced career best vaults as Aly Daily placed third with a clearance of 12-9 ½ (3.90) and Jessica Bonfield finished sixth with an 11-11 ¾ (3.65).
"Clearing 13-9 on my third attempt, I guess it took two attempts to realize what I needed to do to get over it," Asimakis said. "I've been jumping that high consistently at meets, but I just haven't been able to clear that bar.
"I put everything together today and it worked perfectly."
After coming into the competition at 12-5 ½ (3.80), Asimakis needed three attempts to get over 12-9.5. Then she made 13-1 ½ (4.00) on her first attempt. The next height of the bar was 13-5 ¼ (4.10), above the school record of 13-4 ½ Asimakis set the first weekend of April.
Successful on her second attempt at 13-5 ¼ meant Asimakis was the lone competitor remaining. Texas State's Elena Horn missed three times at that height.
"Today I didn't really think about PRs," said Asimakis. "I just wanted to get my name higher on the national list. When I cleared 13-5 ¼, though, I let my emotions out. I just screamed. I loved it."
With another school record notched on her pole, Asimakis had the bar raised to 13-9. Another third attempt success had her seeking another lofty height.
Settling on 14-0 (4.27) as her next barrier Asimakis had another round of three attempts. However, she wasn't able to claim a third PR on this successful day.
"At that point my legs were tired after so many attempts at earlier heights," noted Asimakis. "If I had fresh legs then I would have probably cleared 14. Now that I've become so consistent at 13-9 I can open up later in a competition and have fresher legs when we get to 14 feet."
While Asimakis now has the top five performances on the Aggie all-time list, Daily improved her standing as the No. 3 performer and Bonfield equals the No. 6 performance.
Prezel Hardy, Jr. lowered his world junior leading time to 10.13 seconds with a victory in the 100 meters. The field lost a pair of runners on consecutive false starts by A&M's Gerald Phiri, who came into the meet as the collegiate leader with a 10.06, and TCU's Charles Silmon.
Hardy, who still had a challenge from Baylor's Woodrow Randall and Abilene Christian's Desmond Jackson, sped to the finish for the victory with a 1.7 tailwind. Jackson ran 10.22 for second while Randall finished third in 10.23.
"The key was remaining focused after the false starts," said Hardy. "That took a tremendous effort as far as the mental challenge. You can't allow other people to take you out of your race. You have to remain strong and run your race. I think Gerald was a little too excited for the start. He was ready.
"I'm familiar with the starter from running here the past four years in high school. He likes to hold the runners a little bit longer than needed. Nonetheless, I'm thankful for being able to run my race and set a PR."
Earlier in the evening session Hardy ran the third leg of the Aggies 4 x 100 that posted a winning time of 38.96 seconds. The relay order included Tran Howell, Phiri, Hardy and Demetrius Pinder.
While A&M is the current collegiate leader with a 38.71, the 38.96 is No. 10 on the Aggie all-time list. Finishing behind A&M was Texas (39.45), TCU (39.50) and Abilene Christian (38.90), while Baylor missed the last exchange and didn't finish.
A second A&M group ran 40.60 to win another section and place sixth overall with the crew of Wayne Davis II, Julian Reid, Michael Bryan and Carlyle Roudette.
In the women's 4 x 100 a missed first exchange between Gabby Mayo and Jeneba Tarmoh kept the Aggies from completing the race with Dominique Duncan and Ashley Collier. It was the first time that has happened to Texas A&M women since the prelims of the Texas Relays in April of 2009.
Since then the Aggies rolled off a streak of 27 victories, 19 of which were in finals. Oklahoma won the women's 4 x 100 in 44.09 with Baylor runner-up at 44.12 while TCU placed third in 44.43.
Texas A&M swept the short hurdles with Wayne Davis II won the 110 hurdles in a career best of 13.71.
Ruddock cruised in her victory as she defeated national leader Tiffani McReynolds of Baylor on her home track with a 2.3 tailwind. McReynolds, who clocked a windy best of 12.74 to win the Texas Relays, ran 13.02 while Alysha Adams of North Texas finished third in 13.28.
Davis II also claimed a notable scalp as he and Keiron Stewart of Texas were even throughout their battle in the 110 hurdles. After the 10th hurdle, Davis gained an edge and won the race on the lean at the finish line.
"Off the last hurdle I was thinking to myself as soon as my trail leg hits I'm going to thrust in front of him and get him," recalled Davis. "That's all I was thinking before the last hurdle."
Davis ran 13.71, with a 1.9 wind, to register a win for the second consecutive week. Stewart, who was also a Texas Relays winner this season with a windy 13.43, placed second in 13.74.
"Winning the race over Florida's Eddie Lovett in Gainesville last week gave me confidence for this week," Davis said. "It showed me how I run against competition. I feel more confident going into any race now. I'm very happy about the time and it's wind legal."
In the women's 400 Jessica Beard ran 52.37 as the field faced a stern wind on the homestretch to finish as the top collegian. Beard finished second to professional Sanya Richards-Ross, who won with a 52.00. A&M's Ibukun Mayungbe placed second in another section with a 53.40 that placed fifth overall.
Casey Strong won the hammer with a 197-2 (60.10) toss that was just shy of his school record effort of 198-9 from last weekend. The Aggies also placed fourth and fifth with Landon Hartwick (177-3) and Cole Knuth (176-11) finishing ahead of Jacob Thormaehlen of Texas (173-5) and Oklahoma's Holden Mitchell (173-0).
The women's javelin resulted in a 2-4-5-7 finish for the Aggies. Asimakis led the way with a season best throw of 161-10 (49.34) as she placed runner-up to Oklahoma's Brittany Borman, who won with a 171-7 (52.29). This marked just the second meet Asimakis has thrown the javelin after an arm injury at the 2010 Texas Relays.
"When I threw 161-10 it felt great, I had no pain in my arm," stated Asimakis, who has a career best of 173-0 from 2009, the year she won the Big 12 title. "I still need to get consistent with my approach. I need to be a little quicker with my approach and that should get me back into the high 160s."
Lauren Berg improved to 140-8 (42.88) as the next A&M finisher in fourth place while Aly Daily (136-3) and Bonnie Richardson (130-4) placed fifth and seventh.
A debut in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase for Kasey McNorton resulted in a runner-up finish in 11:33.04, making her the No. 4 performer on the Aggie all-time list. Colbea Harris finished fourth in 11:51.78, the No. 6 performer at A&M.
Tyron Stewart set a career best in the long jump as he achieved a distance of 26-0 ¾ (7.94) to place second. That moved him to No. 6 on the Aggie all-time list.
Three freshman Aggie jumpers surpassed 40 feet in the triple jump. Leading the trio was Melissa Mays, who jumped 41-3 ¼ (12.58) for third place. Jordan Wilson placed fourth with a 40-4 (12.29) mark and Lisa Steinkamp had a windy 40-1 ½ (12.23) for fifth place.
Cameron Alexander placed fourth in the high jump, clearing 6-8 ¾ (2.05) while Tyler Lee finished ninth with a clearance of 6-6 ¾ (2.00).
An improvement of six inches brought A&M shot putter Jennifer Edwards on the brink of 50 feet as her personal best of 49-11 ¾ (15.23) placed sixth in a competitive shot put that featured plenty of Big 12 throwers. Edwards moves to No. 3 on the Aggie all-time list. Teammate Taylor Rosser placed ninth with a 47-9 ¾ (14.57).
In the men's javelin season best improvements were turned in by Matt Hightower, who hit 189-5 (57.73), and William Markert, who threw 171-9 (52.36), as they placed fifth and eighth. For Markert his improvement of 20 feet would account for 90 points in the decathlon.
Jill Hydrick placed eighth in the discus with a mark of 154-7 (47.11).
In the afternoon session of the 400 hurdles Tim Johnson posted the top time, winning his section with a 53.52, over a field of 31 entrants.
Carlyle Roudette won his section of the 200 with a 21.37 (2.5 wind) and placed third overall. Michael Bryan posted a 21.45 (3.6) for third in his section and fifth best overall.
In the 1,500 the Aggies had a pair of steeplechasers placed second and third as Stephen Curry ran 3:58.96 and Dylan Williams clocked 3:59.76 behind the winning time of 3:58.75 by Robert Reed of A&M-Commerce.
Over 100 meters Natasha Ruddock led an Aggie trio of sprinters with a windy 11.87. Jeronda Womack (11.88) and Chandrell Stephens (11.90) went 1-2 in another section with wind-legal times. The trio placed 6-7-9 overall among a field of 38.
Sasha-Kay Matthias finished in 24.29 for eighth and ninth place.
Ricky Joyce placed eighth in the B section of the 800, running a 1:58.66, while Ryan Weatherly finished 12th with a 1:59.14.
Players Mentioned
