Texas A&M
Penn Relay Carnival
Aggies defend two relay titles, Mayo wins seventh Penn Relays watch
Apr 29, 2011 | Track and Field
April 29, 2011
PHILADELPHIA - Texas A&M women successfully defended a pair of Championship of America titles Friday when they won the 4 x 100 and shuttle hurdle relays in front of 38,806 fans at Franklin Field.
In the process Aggie senior Gabby Mayo claimed her sixth and seventh Penn Relays watches for the victories, tying the women's meet record at the Penn Relay Carnival.
Mayo joins the three other women who have earned seven watches at Penn. The trio includes Villanova's tandem of Kathy Franey and Michelle Bennett as well as Cathy Rattray of Tennessee.
In 2009 Mayo ran on A&M's winning efforts in the 4 x 100 and 4 x 200. Last year Mayo ran on three winning relays during the Penn Relays - 4 x 100, 4 x 200 and shuttle hurdles - and earned the college women's athlete of the meet honor for relay events. The Aggies set collegiate records in winning the 4 x 200 and shuttle hurdles in 2010.
Then in January, Mayo was honored with the Penn Relays / Frank Dolson Award presented by the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association at its 107th annual banquet.
"I'm so happy with the two relay wins today," Mayo noted. "I'm ending on a good note since it's my last year to run as a collegian at the Penn Relays. I feel like I'm on the best team ever in collegiate history. So, I'm very happy."
In the 4 x 100 final the Aggies ran with the foursome of Mayo, Jeneba Tarmoh, Dominique Duncan and Ashley Collier. The winning time of 43.24 seconds bettered LSU (43.49), Central Florida (43.70), Auburn (44.05), Houston (44.11), Clemson (44.43), South Carolina (44.71) and Tennessee (45.24).
"We knew we had to come in here and defend our title," noted Duncan. "Coming here is similar to nationals for us. So, if we can do it here we can do it again at nationals."
Tarmoh added: "We're Texas A&M and all about traditions. So, defending titles is becoming a tradition for us. Everybody is out to beat us. The handoff between Gabby and I was great, but my pass to Dominique was a little iffy. We do what coach tells us to do, stay calm and get the baton across."
Texas A&M recorded the ninth fastest time in Penn Relays history, adding to the No. 2, 6, 7, and 8 marks they have set in the past three years.
"Since my teammates have already been national champions it's nice, as a freshman, to be part of a win at Penn Relays," said Collier. "I was nervous, but I couldn't have done it without my teammates setting it up like they did."
Tarmoh said: "This is very conducive to what nationals will be like. It may not be as rowdy as Penn, but we'll be in Des Moines and it's another good track city."
A&M's crew of Mayo, Donique' Flemings, Daphne Fitzpatrick and Natasha Ruddock ran 53.41 seconds for the shuttle hurdle victory, notching the eighth fastest time in meet history. The Aggies also have the No. 1 and No. 3 fastest times in this event at Penn.
Central Florida, who was the 2009 Penn winner, finished second in 53.83. Clemson placed third in 53.98. Texas A&M is the first school since LSU (2003-2004) to win consecutive titles.
"I was a little nervous since I knew there were some good teams out here today," said Ruddock. "I trust Coach Anderson and the team he puts together I know we will be successful. It's very exciting to win again. This is my last year, so I'm happy we got the win today."
Fitzpatrick added: "I knew the other three were on the winning team last year, so I wanted to be able to do my share and help defend the title. I wasn't sure what was going on with Ruddock's leg, it's tough to see from behind the field, but I could hear the crowd get louder as Ruddock was catching the leading team.
"It's very exciting to be part of the victory and it's such an honor. I never thought I'd get to win a relay at the Penn Relays. It's something I'll never forget."
Mayo slipped in the blocks on the initial start and the race was restarted. Central Florida and Clemson provided challenges throughout the race, with UCF holding a lead by two hurdles once the action moved to the anchor leg.
"I was so powerful, they just slipped," joked Mayo. "It was nervous watching the rest of the race. Ruddock was a lifesaver again."
Ruddock, A&M's anchor, sped down the track as a series of `whooooos' from the crowd increased as her distance to UCF's Ashley Bolling closed by strides after each hurdle. Bolling clipped the last two hurdles as Ruddock continued to roll to the finish and win by a 0.42 margin.
"The race was pretty competitive," stated Ruddock. "I knew if I kept my composure we still had a chance to win. I knew we had a good team and would be capable of defending our title."
With its third win in the shuttle hurdles Texas A&M ties Illinois and South Carolina for the second most victories in this race at Penn. LSU leads the group with eight wins.
"It feels so great to win again," noted Flemings. "Coming in we knew we had to execute the race well. We achieved the outcome we wanted, to defend our title. I was a little more balanced this year, but I still get nervous right before a race. I know if I can execute my race like I do in practice I'll be fine."
A third victory for A&M in the women's 4 x 100 also ties the Aggies for second most wins with Morgan State and Texas behind the dozen titles claimed by LSU.
The lone men's final relay came when conditions cooled to the low 60s for the sprint medley. The Aggies placed third, with a 3:17.67, in a close finish between Penn State (3:17.10) and Florida (3:17.30).
Bryan Miller and Tabarie Henry started things off for A&M with the pair of 200-meter legs against the tandem of Jeff Demps and Terrell Wilks of Florida. Michael Preble ran the 400 leg in 46.5 compared to a 47.4 for Gator Christian Taylor and Penn State's Casimir Loxsom (46.3).
Preble gave Joey Roberts a slight lead over Penn State's Ryan Foster and Florida's Sean Obinwa for the 800-meter anchor.
That trio remained in close quarters for the final two laps of the race. On the homestretch of the final lap Obinwa (1:48.90) pulled even with Roberts (1:49.52) in the final 20 meters, but Foster (1:48.78) inched ahead in the final 5 meters and claimed the win with a lean at the finish.
In the women's sprint medley the Aggies finished seventh with a time of 3:56.63 from the crew of LaKeidra Stewart, Ibukun Mayungbe, Daphne Fitzpatick (55.9) and Hillary Hagan (2:12.80).
Field event finals produced a runner-up in the women's Championship triple jump for Sasha-Kay Matthias, who produced a career best mark of 42-6.25 (12.96), which is No. 9 all-time at A&M. Teammate Tiffany Peters placed fourth with a windy 41-8.5 (12.71). LSU's Melissa Ogbourne won with a 42-10.75 (13.07) effort.
In the college triple jump Melissa Mays equaled her best with a 41-3.25 (12.58) that earned runner-up status to a 42-4.75 (12.87) from Fort Valley's Antionette Oglesby.
The Aggies placed three athletes in the men's Championship long jump. Tyron Stewart led the trio, placing seventh (25-2.75), with Julian Reid finishing eighth (24-10) and Melvin Echard placing 10th (24-0.75w).
Cameron Alexander cleared 6-8.25 (2.04) for seventh in the college high jump.
QUALIFYING
Texas A&M ran a close race with LSU in the men's 4 x 400 qualifying session. At the finish the Tigers held a 3:07.22 to 3:07.29 edge as the two schools posted the top two times for Saturday's final.Running for the Aggies were Tabarie Henry (47.2), Bryan Miller (47.2), Joey Roberts (46.4) and Michael Preble (46.6).
Earlier in the day A&M ran the same foursome of Prezel Hardy, Jr. and Demetrius Pinder in qualifying for the 4 x 100 and 4 x 200 relays.
In the sprint relay the Aggies won the opening heat in 40.06, bettering the field comfortably as Johnson C. Smith finished second in 41.50 and Abilene Christian placed third in 41.55.
However, the following heats were being won by sub 40-second times. LSU (39.81) and Florida (39.79) each won a heat. Then three times ran under 40 with TCU (39.51) leading Indiana (39.93) and Mississippi State (39.94).
That left the Aggies sixth among the eight fastest times advancing to the Championship of America final for Satuday. Texas A&M, who won the Texas Relays in a collegiate leading 38.71 from lane 2, will have to work its magic again in an attempt to defend its Penn Relays title.
The Aggies posted the second fastest qualifying time in the 4 x 200 with a 1:22.04 heat winner over Arkansas (1:22.63). LSU led qualifying with a 1:21.81.
Others making the Championship final were Florida (1:22.50), Mississippi State (1:22.58), South Carolina (1:23.30), Indiana (1:23.58) and Clemson (1:23.99).
In the women's 4 x 200 qualifying the Aggies had the third best time from their heat winning in 1:32.65 over Tennessee (1:35.97) and Mississippi State (1:36.10). A&M ran with the crew of LaKeidra Stewart, Ashley Collier, Jessica Beard and Dominique Duncan.
Auburn, the runner-up to A&M the past two years, led qualifying with a 1:31.84 and Texas had the next fastest time at 1:32.29. Others making the field were Clemson (1:33.85), Houston (1:33.98), Central Florida (1:34.33), Pittsburgh (1:35.57) and Tennessee.
Texas A&M advanced three of its four hurdlers to the finals. In the women's 100 hurdles Ruddock was a heat winner in 13.39 while Mayo finished third in another heat with a 13.58. Wayne Davis II placed fourth in his heat of the 110 hurdles with a 13.87.
Donique' Flemings placed seventh in the same heat with Ruddock, running 13.83, and finishing 16th overall. Michael Bryan placed fifth in his heat of the 100 meters with a 10.85 and placed 13th overall in qualifying.
Players Mentioned
