Texas A&M
Texas A&M Reveille Invitational
Brea Garrett breaks Reveille records to win shot put, weight
Dec 13, 2014 | Track and Field
COLLEGE STATION – Texas A&M's Brea Garrett broke a pair of meet records in claiming two victories in front of 1,620 fans during the Reveille Invitational held in Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium on Saturday.
In total 10 meet records were bettered in the Invitational that opened the indoor season for the Aggies.
“In this meet over the year's we have tried to have a relaxed atmosphere,” noted Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. “More and more it's becoming a competitive track meet. We got a lot out of ourselves today and we saw some things about ourselves we needed to see. I learned some things about some people today and that's what this is all about.”
Garrett won the shot put with a toss of 51-11.75 (15.84), nearing her career best of 52-2 ¾ (15.92), as she bettered the meet record of 51-9.25 set last season by TCU's Megan Gibson.
In the weight throw Garrett broke her own meet record with a mark of 67-6.75 (20.59). Garrett set the previous meet record of 64-10.5 (19.77) last season. Teammates Alison Ondrusek (57-3.75) and Carissa van Beek (55-1) finished second and fourth.
“I'm excited with the meet records,” stated Garrett. “I wanted to wrap up the fall with good marks in both events and use them as building blocks for the spring semester. We set our foundation. Now we'll come back in January and try to do even better to keep progressing.”
The men's weight throw had Austin Cook finishing as the top collegian and second overall as he produced five marks that bettered his previous career best of 60-10. Cook's best mark was 63-11.75 (19.50) among a series that included throws of 61-4, 61-9.75, 63-11.75, 63-9.75, foul, 63-3.25. Jerome Bortoluzzi, a French Olympian, won the event with a meet record of 73-6.25 (22.41).
“Practice has been getting better lately,” said Strong. “I'm hoping in the next meet I can get a couple more feet so I can qualify for nationals and challenge the school record of 66 feet. I had a great competition today with Jerome, who is a good friend of mine. That helped push me today along with the practice sessions I've had.”
On the track the Aggies hammered away at A&M all-time lists in the 1,000 meters. Katie Willard won the women's race in 2:52.66 with teammates Ashley Chamberlain (2:55.71) and Karina Buerk (2:58.11) in second and third. Willard's time is No. 4 on the A&M all-time list while Chamberlain moved to No.6 and frosh Buerk moved to No. 10.
The men's 1,000 meters was a close finish as Isaac Spencer edged out teammate Josh Hernandez, 2:25.60 to 2:25.69. Spencer produced the No. 7 mark on the Aggie all-time list with Hernandez moving to No. 8. The deep event had A&M claiming the top eight places with Cameron Villarreal (2:26.13), Gaines Kinsey (2:27.57) and Aaron Murray (2:28.23) finishing 3-4-5.
Coming off their stellar cross country seasons, All-Americans Grace Fletcher and Hillary Montgomery both set career best times in the 5,000 meters as they placed second and third to Baylor's Rachel Johnson.
The Gilliam 5,000m record of 15:50.20 set by Iowa State's Besty Saina during the 2012 Big 12 Indoor Championships was broken by Johnson's 15:40.45 victory. Fletcher clocked 16:10.41 to better her PR of 16:10.75 as Montgomery's 16:12.97 topped her best of 16:19.91 as they are the No. 3 and No. 4 performers on the Aggie all-time list with the No. 6 and No. 8 performances.
Jena Hemann, the school record holder in the pentathlon, faced a challenged from Aggie newcomers. While Hemann won the event with a score of 3,898 points, frosh Shaina Burns turned in a tally of 3,701 points as runner-up as Ashtin Zamzow placed third with 3,536 points. Lauren Bedrich, returning this season from a knee injury, finished sixth with 3,339 points.
“It's definitely great having this many teammates in the multi-events,” noted Hemann. “It's more beneficial having that many people working together in practice, we pick each other up. I'm happy with the win and kind of shocked since its December. I'm in a pretty good place and I know I can improve in a lot of things.”
The men's pentathlon was won by Daniel Martin with a score of 3,638 points. Martin capped his victory by scoring 978 points in the 1,000 meters as he clocked 2:30.82 in his fifth event of the day. That time would have placed him eighth in the open 1,000m.
Newcomers also made a presence in the pole vault. The women's vault had a pair of freshmen each clear 12-4.5 (3.77) as Emily Gunderson placed second and Sara Kathryn Stevens finished third. They are equal No. 5 on the A&M all-time list.
The men's vault had Aggie frosh Audie Wyatt clearing 16-7.25 (5.06) to defeat teammate Chase Wolfle, who made the same height but had more misses. As Wyatt missed the next height of 17-1 (5.21), Wolfle passed to 17-9 (5.41) and missed his three attempts. Taking third at 15-7.25 (4.76) was another A&M newcomer, Carl Johansson, while Kevin Stull placed fifth at 15-1.5 (4.61).
“Some of freshmen and new people joining our group really looked good,” said Henry. “Audie Wyatt was one of the better performances in the pole vault. That's a heck of a performance for the first time indoors for a freshman.”
Long jump victories were attained by Olabanji Asekun (24-4.25) and Jennifer Madu (19-1.5). In the high jump Sam McSwain placed second with a height of 6-9.75 (2.08), which moved him to No. 9 on the A&M all-time list, as frosh Garrett Cragin finished third at 6-8.25 (2.04).
In the sprints Aaliyah Brown posted a time of 7.32 as she placed second to Trinidad & Tobago's Michelle Lee Ahye, who won in 7.23 seconds to equal the meet record, while Madu finished third in 7.39. Ahye equaled the meet record set in 2010 by TCU's Jessica Young.
The men's 60 meters had a meet record set with Houston's Cameron Burrell running 6.66 to clip the 6.67 run by TCU's Charles Silmon in 2009. Antoine Adams of St. Kitts & Nevis finished second in 6.72 with the Aggie tandem of Shavez Hart (6.74) and Devin Jenkins (6.75) placing third and fourth.
Hart didn't run the 200, but his meet record of 21.03 was bettered by a 20.93 from Adams while Bralon Taplin won a section in 20.99 to place second overall. Jenkins finished third overall as his 21.06 placed second in the same section with Adams. Aggie Deon Hickey won the third section of the 200 in 21.41 to place fourth overall.
Kineke Alexander won the women's 200 in 23.65 to top the meet record of 23.72 set by A&M's Olivia Ekpone last season. Alexander defeated Ahye (23.80) and Allison Peter (24.09) in the first section. The second section was won by A&M newcomer Briyahna Desrosiers (24.11) with fellow frosh Marcquita Stalbert (24.68) second as they finished fourth and sixth overall.
Texas A&M wrapped up the meet with a pair of 4x400 relay victories. The women posted a 3:42.40 win with a second crew of Aggies claiming second place in 3:46.10. The winning squad included Shamier Little (54.88), A. Brown (56.10), Stalbert (54.20) and Willard (57.26). The runner-up team had Desrosiers (54.23), Ebony Crear (56.92), Matilde Alvarez (56.56) and Kamaria Brown (58.40).
A 3:09.85 secured the victory in the men's race for A&M's foursome of Hart (47.61), Gregory Coleman (47.93), Carlyle Roudette (46.85) and Hickey (47.47). A second Aggie crew placed third overall after winning the first section in 3:16.68 with Tarik Tyler, Gaines Kinsey, Cameron Cardwell and Efrain Hernandez.
Ryan Miller challenged for the win in the mile as Sam Houston's Jeffrey Moore improved the meet record to 4:14.22 with Miller runner-up in 4:14.99. A&M also finished 4-5-6-7 with the crew of Ryan Teel (4:16.51), Colin Stoeber (4:17.37), Elliott Farris (4:19.90) and Christian Farris (4:19.98). In the 5,000 meters Julian Castellano finished second in 15:07.83.
Players Mentioned
