Texas A&M
Big 12 Championships
A&M men defend Big 12 Outdoor title, women third
May 13, 2012 | Track and Field
MANHATTAN, Kansas - Texas A&M produced 11 winning efforts on Sunday during the final day of the Big 12 Championships as the Aggies made its charge towards another set of conference team titles in front of 3,073 fans at R.V. Christian Track Complex.
The A&M men, who had seven victories on the final day, were successful in defending their 2011 title as they accumulated 150 points to better Texas by 19.
Prezel Hardy, Jr. led the effort as the men's high point scorer. He swept the sprint titles with a windy 10.03 in the 100 and career best 20.33 in the 200 while also anchoring the Aggies 4 x 100 relay to a 39.00 victory.
"We had to have a lot of people doing really well today to win the men's title," Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry said. "PJ had high point honors with a 100 and 200 victories, but we also needed the points we were able to score in a lot of events today. We still have some holes, but overall I was very pleased."
The Aggie men repeated a sweep of the Big 12 Indoor and Outdoor team titles they achieved last season. The 150 points for A&M claimed this championship as Texas finished second with 131. They were followed by Oklahoma, 91; Kansas State 75; Texas Tech, 72; Baylor 65; Kansas, 64; Oklahoma State, 64; Iowa State, 54; and Missouri, 52.
"It's a great feeling all the way around," stated Hardy. "We got the team championship, I got a PR in the 200 and wished I had a PR in the 100, but the wind was too much at 3.4. But I'll take a wind-aided 10.03. I had a fun time and everybody out here competed well for A&M. It was a great day to be an Aggie.
"I've been part of some great teams in the past two years. Last year we had outstanding seniors in Gerald Phiri, Demetrius Pinder, Tabarie Henry and Bryan Miller to name a few. That continued with this year's team as well with seniors Michael Preble and Joey Roberts. I'm very blessed and fortunate to be part of these conference championship teams."
Meanwhile, the Aggie women finished third with 128.5 points as Texas ended A&M's run of five consecutive conference championships with 139 points as Kansas finished second with 129.5 points.
The rest of the women's Big 12 team race included Baylor, 72; Texas Tech, 71; Oklahoma, 63; Missouri, 60; Iowa State, 58; Kansas State, 58; and Oklahoma State, 38.
"On the women's side we did everything we could do today," Henry noted. "Give a lot of credit to Texas for lining it up and getting after it here today. They didn't have everything go right either. Kansas probably had the best meet I've seen KU have, and they deserved it. They worked very hard."
Aggie sprinter Ashley Collier came away with high point honors by winning the 100 in a career best 11.01, finishing second in a very close 200 (22.89) and anchoring the A&M 4 x 100 to a sixth consecutive victory in a collegiate leading 42.99.
"I'm so happy to do so well in all my races today," said Collier. "I set up my 100 really well from the blocks to the middle of the race. Then I maintained that to the finish. I'm really happy with an 11.01 in the 100."
Collier's time in the 100 is second on the A&M all-time list, only trailing a 10.95 set by Simone Facey at altitude during the 2008 Big 12 meet in Boulder, Colorado. In the 200, Collier was originally declared the winner, but a review of the timing system picture had Paris Daniels of Kansas taking the win with a 22.887 to 22.890 edge.
Collier edged out teammate Natosha Rogers by half a point for high point honors. Rogers scored 20 points as she claimed the 5,000 on Sunday in 15:57.17 after winning the 10,000 on Friday.
The same trio from the 10,000 race were in the lead group with Rogers during the 5,000. Over the final stages of the race it was Sara Sutherland of Texas who gave Rogers a chase at the end.
Rogers answered the challenge with a strong surge on the final lap of the race and won by over six seconds. Sutherland faded just enough for Texas Tech's Rose Tanui to place second in 16:03.42 with Sutherland third at 16:04.15.
The Aggies repeated their sweep of the 4 x 100 relays with the women matching the collegiate leading time for 2012 with a 42.99 victory while the men posted a 39.00 winning time.
For the A&M women the sprint relay consisted of LaKeidra Stewart, Olivia Ekponé, Dominique Duncan and Collier. Texas challenged the Aggies throughout the race, but A&M had the edge on the final exchange. Collier then powered home to secure the Aggies sixth consecutive Big 12 victory with A&M's 10th fastest time ever.
The 42.99 by the Aggies denied Texas (43.25), who won the conference 4 x 100 from 1997 to 2006. Texas Tech (43.71), Kansas (43.73) and Oklahoma (44.93) rounded out the top five.
In the men's 4 x 100 the A&M foursome included Carlyle Roudette, Ameer Webb, Michael Bryan and Hardy. They claimed this event for the fourth time in the past five years with a 39.00 that held back the challenge from Baylor (39.16) and Texas (39.43).
Texas A&M also swept the sprint hurdles with Donique' Flemings running a windy 12.87 for the women's 100 hurdle title while Wayne Davis II set a national record for Trinidad & Tobago with a career best of 13.37 in the 110 hurdles, which equals the A&M school record set by Larry Wade in 1998.
Flemings race was assisted by a 2.3 wind as she took charge of the event from the start and held an edge over Katie Grimes of Texas Tech to the finish with a 12.87 to 13.00 advantage while Morgan Snow of Texas placed third with a 13.14.
Davis had a clean race in the 110 hurdles, which had a 1.8 tailwind, and cruised to the victory over Shane Braithwaite of Texas Tech (13.46), Tre' Lathan of Oklahoma (13.65) and Keiron Stewart of Texas (13.74). A&M teammate Kenneth Minkah also produced a career best with a 13.88 for fifth place.
"Overall it was the smoothest and most technically sound race I've ever run," said Davis, who also bettered the Olympic Games A standard. "I didn't really think much during the race, I just made sure to do a couple of small adjustments.
"I was excited about the time, but as soon as I was done with the race I didn't rejoice too much. I still have the NCAA meet and there is another collegian with a faster time than me. I just have to do this again and not get too excited or overwhelmed with this one thing that I've done. I need to keep pushing forward."
Henry Lelei won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in commanding fashion, lowering his school record by nearly a full seven seconds with an 8:38.90 as teammate Stephen Curry finished fourth in 8:58.00 to earn 15 points for the Aggies. Isaac Spencer placed 11th in 9:15.31.
Lelei took down a 1980 stadium record held by Paul Schultz of Kansas and bettered runner-up Fabian Clarkson of Oklahoma State (8:46.72) by nearly eight seconds.
Deon Lendore claimed the 400 in a career best 45.13 while teammate Ricky Babineaux ran 46.91 for sixth place. Lendore, in lane 5, managed to make up the stagger on Texas Tech's Gil Roberts, in lane 6, by the 300m mark of the race.
Then Lendore withstood the rebuttal from Roberts down the homestretch and had the edge with a lean at the finish, 45.13 to 45.16, as Kyle Clemons of Kansas placed third in 45.91.
"Going into the race I was a bit concerned," said Lendore, who bettered the Olympic Games standard and moved to No. 6 on the Aggie all-time list and No. 9 on the Trinidad & Tobago national list. "I went in with a good race plan and just tried to execute it to the best of my ability. I did the best that I could and came out with the win.
"At first when I went by Roberts at 300m I was wondering did I really catch him. Then in my mind the race had just begun. I knew I had to execute from there to the finish and hold my form."
Kanika Beckles posted another stellar time in the women's 400 as her 51.93 placed second to the 51.09, by Diamond Dixon of Kansas, that equaled Jessica Beard's Big 12 meet record from 2008. Ekponé ran a career best of 53.29 for fourth place.
The Aggie men wrapped up the conference championship with a 3:03.04 win in the 4 x 400 as Lendore provided an anchor leg of 44.8 to hold off Baylor's (3:03.40) challenge as well as Texas Tech (3:04.13) and Kansas (3:04.89). The first three legs for A&M included Babineaux, Roberts and Preble.
A season best of 3:32.31 had the Aggie women placing third in the 4 x 400 relay with a crew of Ibukun Mayungbe, Beckles, Flemings and Tiffany Singleton. Kansas won the race in 3:28.10 with Texas second at 3:20.32 and Baylor fourth with a 3:32.43.
Another pair of events that produced major points for the Aggies was the 100 and 200 meters.
A&M men scored 20 points in the 100 and added 21 more in the 200. Weeb placed second in the 200 (20.54) and third in the 100 (10.13w) while Bryan added a fifth in the 100 (10.21w) and seventh in the 200 (21.07). Roudette also placed eighth in the 200 (21.09) for the Aggies.
For the A&M women 33 points were scored in the 100 (17) and 200 (16). Duncan placed third with a career best in the 200 (22.96) and fourth in the 100 (11.31). Stewart matched her PR with an 11.45 for seventh in the 100. Ekponé added a seventh place in the 200 (23.66).
Dalton Rowan threw a career best of 186-11 to snare third place in the discus while Gregory Coleman ran a career best of 51.01 in the 400 hurdles and fought for fourth place late in the race.
In the 800 Michael Preble (1:49.89) and Joey Roberts (1:52.25) expected more, but ended up sixth and eighth while Iowa State's Edward Kemboi won in 1:46.65.
A pair of sixth-place finishers were grabbed by Olabanji Asekus, in the triple jump (49-3 ¾w), and Kevin Burnett, in the 5,000 (14:04.53). Then a tie for seventh in the high jump had Tyler Lee and Cameron Alexander sharing 1.5 points as each cleared 6-9.
Other scoring for the women included Flemings running 57.99 from lane eight in the 400 hurdles to place sixth. Haley Gooch placed fifth in the triple jump with a windy mark of 40-7 while Annie Kunz produced a 39-0 ½ leap for eighth place.
Players Mentioned
