AUSTIN - Laura Asimakis claimed her first javelin title at the Texas Relays with a mark of 164 feet, 3 inches on Friday morning at Myers Stadium. Meanwhile, Sam Humphreys placed second in the men's javelin, missing an opportunity to win three consecutive Relays titles.
Asimakis injured her arm the last time she threw the javelin at the 2010 Texas Relays when she placed 11th. With a personal best of 173-0 in the event from 2009, Asimakis neared that mark when she opened her javelin season two weeks ago with a toss of 170-4.
"It was pretty fantastic to win a Texas Relays title in my senior year," said Asimakis. "The last time I threw here I tore my ulnar collateral ligament in my elbow. So, I'm very happy with the win."
After opening with a 156-10, Asimakis threw her 164-3 winner in the second round. She followed with marks of 153-7, 163-2, 162-5 and 161-4. Finishing second with a 162-9 (49.62) was Stanford's Brianna Bain while a 162-4 (49.47) from Amethyst Boyd of South Plains claimed third.
"I was looking for consistency in my throws today, so I went from a longer run on my approach," stated Asimakis. "I feel more comfortable with the longer run. The way the girls were throwing today I figured my best throw would hold up, but had to wait it out until the end."
Asimakis will compete in the pole vault on Saturday at noon.
Florida's Stipe Zunic grabbed the lead in the men's javelin with his first round toss of 250-2 (76.25) and then increased it to 255-6 (77.89) in the fourth round. The winning mark was a personal best for the Croatian.
Humphreys, throwing right after Zunic in the first three rounds, opened with a 245-9 (74.92) and then improved to 248-7 (75.78). A pair of fouls followed for Humphreys and then he finished the competition with marks of 228-10 and 235-2 to place second.
"My form wasn't coming together very well and the track surface was slipping enough where I couldn't get a grip on it," said Humphreys. "But I still threw 75 meters, so it was a pretty decent throw.
"I was consistent with my first two throws for the second meet this season. So, I just need to keep that up and I think I'll be all right. I had the same approach distance as a couple of weeks ago. I just added two more steps today."
During the 2011 NCAA Outdoor meet Humphreys passed Zunic by one inch in the last round, moving from fourth to third. The difference of two points on the first day of the four-day national championships became the difference in the team score on the final day when Texas A&M defeated Florida State by one point for the team title and Florida was third, two points behind the Aggies.
"I was thinking he was coming back for revenge this weekend," Humphreys joked. "I felt really good today, I just needed to get one throw through the point. It was frustrating."
Another victory for the Aggies in Friday's morning session was achieved by freshman Chelsea Utley in the B division of the high jump. Utley cleared 5-10 (1.78), matching her career best, to defeat a field of 15 jumpers and moves to No. 7 on the A&M all-time list.
"It was very overwhelming at first, I didn't know how I would compete in a meet like this," Utley said. "I asked the Lord to be with me and guide me. It ended up being great."
Utley needed a third attempt clearance at 5-10 to turn back West Virginia's Sydney Cummings, who missed all three tries at the height. Both Utley and Cummings cleared 5-8.75 on their second attempt. Â Utley attempted 5-11.25, but missed three times.
"Once I cleared the bar I knew I was a step closer to beating my PR and setting a new one for myself," Utley stated. "It was a boost to my confidence, and I know what my capabilities are now."
Aggie competitors in B division events on Friday included Ben Skrla, who placed fifth in the discus with a season best mark of 176-2 (53.70). In the men's high jump Tyler Lee finished seventh and Cameron Alexander tied for eighth place as both cleared 6-10.75 (2.10).
Aly Daily finished in a three-way tie for eighth place as she cleared 12-7.5 (3.85). Taylor Rosser finished ninth in the shot put with a toss of 46-8.75 (14.24) while Jennifer Edwards had three fouls.
Babatunde Amosu was 13th in the triple jump with a leap of 48-1.25 (14.66). Winning the event was A&M All-American Julian Reid, who competes for Great Britain, with a windy mark of 55-0 (16.76).
EVENING SESSION
The Aggies challenged Stanford throughout the men's 4 x 1500, but came up 0.70 of a second short in getting the victory. Chris Derrick held off A&M's Henry Lelei over the final leg of the race to secure the win for the Cardinal, 15:20.09 to 15:20.79.
Will Barry ran the opening leg for A&M, splitting 3:57.4, and was even with Stanford's James Rosa at the exchange. MacLean O'Donnell ran in the lead, ahead of Joseph Rosa, for most of the second leg as he split 3:47.2 before giving the baton to C.J. Brown.
Brown was a stride back of Stanford's Erik Olson for a majority of his leg, until the final 150m when Olson put a gap on him. Brown split 3:53.5 and handed the baton to Lelei.
Derrick, twice a silver medalist at the NCAA Indoor over 3,000 and 5,000 meters, led the anchor leg throughout and held off the final surge from Lelei with 180m left. Â Lelei split 3:42.6 to close out the race. Texas finished third behind the Aggies in 15:41.45 with Kansas fourth in 15:42.61.
In the sprint medley relays both Aggie squads placed third in their sections. The A&M men also finished third overall in 3:18.42 with the foursome of Ricky Babineaux, Carlyle Roudette, Ashton Young and Oscar Ramirez. Baylor chased down USC for the victory, 3:17.47 to 3:17.61.
The Aggie women placed seventh overall with a time of 3:57.30, running a squad of LaKeidra Stewart, Chandrell Stephens, Kanika Beckles and Aliese Hyde. LSU broke the meet record they held with a 3:43.79 clocking.
QUALIFYING EVENTS
Texas A&M enjoyed a successful morning of qualifying for the finals in the 100 meters, 100 & 110 hurdles, 4 x 100 relay and the women's 4 x 400.
Running in the first heat of the women's 4 x 100 prelims, the Aggies sped to a winning time of 43.78 to lead all qualifiers. Arkansas was second to A&M in that heat with a 44.63 and also made the nine-team final.
Other teams qualifying for the final included LSU (43.86), Texas (44.08), Texas Tech (44.48), Houston (44.92), Stanford (45.02), USC (45.36) and TCU (45.44). Just missing the cutoff were Baylor (45.56) and UTEP (45.67).
The A&M men ran 36.95 in the final heat of the 4 x 100 prelims and finished behind Auburn's 38.95. Joining those two squads in the final were Mississippi State (39.47), Texas Tech (39.63), Florida (39.73), Texas (40.01), LSU (40.15), and Oklahoma (40.39).
In the 100 hurdles Donique' Flemings set a career best time of 13.17 to defeat current collegiate leader Tiffani McReynolds of Baylor (13.29) and former teammate Vashti Thomas (13.32). Flemings, now No. 8 on the Aggie all-time list, had the third best qualifying time behind a 13.15 from Stanford's Kori Carter and a 13.16 for Villanova's Shericka Ward.
Wayne Davis II ran a windy 13.94 for third in his heat of the 110 hurdles and had the sixth best time in qualifying. Kenneth Minkah ran a windy 14.15 for fourth in his heat and placed 11th overall in the qualifying round.
Ashley Collier and Dominique Duncan both advanced to the finals of the women's 100 with heat winning times of 11.28w for Collier and 11.30 for Duncan. The time by Duncan is a wind-legal career best.
Not advancing to the final were Olivia Ekponé (11.59) and LaKeidra Stewart (11.76), who ranked 15th and 30th respectively.
In the men's 100 all three Aggies reached the final. Prezel Hardy, Jr. led all qualifiers with a windy 10.18 (2.5 wind). Ameer Webb clocked 10.37 in finishing third to Florida's Jeff Demps (10.29) and LSU's Aaron Ernest (10.30). Michael Bryan won his heat in 10.41 and was the ninth and final qualifier for the final.
The women's 4 x 400 won its heat in 3:35.89 and was seventh fastest overall with line-up of Kanika Beckles, Ibukun Mayungbe, Donique' Flemings and Olivia Ekponé. Texas led the qualifiers for the final with a 3:31.37, as Texas Tech (3:32.72) challenged the Longhorns in the same heat.
Other teams in the finals of the 4 x 400 include South Plains (3:34.83), Arkansas (3:34.90), LSU (3:35.05), Florida (3:35.41), Oklahoma Baptist (3:37.11) and Baylor (3:37.53).