AUSTIN – Battling windy and cooler conditions during the second day of the heptathlon at Myers Stadium, Texas A&M senior Jena Hemann produced a trio of career best marks in the final three events to generate a score of 6,002 points as runner-up in the Texas Relays multi-event.
Another pair of victories for the Aggies came in the 4x800 relay as well as the pole vault with Chase Wolfle. Career best marks were set by Austin Cook in the hammer and Aikan Graham in the prelims of the 400-meter hurdles.
Hemann's performance is the best ever score by an Aggie, topping the previous mark of 5,811 set by Daphne Fitzpatrick at the 2011 Big 12 Championships. With a previous best score of 5,531 during the 2013 Texas Relays, Hemann added 461 points in setting her career best.
“That's an outstanding performance by Jena,” said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. “She did some things today she knows she's been able to do. Now she's gained confidence in herself and I think she's ready to score even higher than what she did today.”
Hemann also improved upon the best A&M score set in Austin, which was a 5,642 by Kalleen Madden in the 1993 Southwest Conference meet, as well as the best Aggie total in the Texas Relays, with the previous best being a 5,638 established by Fitzpatrick in 2011.
“I was definitely shocked to score 6,000 points, that's for sure,” noted Hemann. “When people talked to me about scoring 5,800 and possibly breaking the school record I was thinking that's a 300-point difference from my previous best score. That's kind of outrageous.
“Then to score 6,000 points, I started tearing up actually when I heard them announce it. I didn't know I was that close to getting over that barrier.”
Arkansas junior Alex Gochenour won the Texas Relays heptathlon title with a collegiate leading 6,027 points, finishing just 25 points ahead of Hemann. Gochenour and Hemann currently have the second and third best scores on the 2015 world list, trailing a 6,102 from New Zealand's Portia Bing.
In third place was UTEP's Jallycia Pearson (5,527) while the Razorbacks also finished fourth and fifth with Taliyah Brooks (5,482) and Leigha Brown (5,473).
After holding a 247-point lead over Hemann at the end of the first day, Gochenour's lead was whittled down to a scant eight points heading in the final event, the 800 meters.
With a significant tailwind, Hemann long jumped 19-6 ¼ (5.95) for 834 points while Gochenhour went 20-7 (6.27) for 934 points. At that stage of the heptathlon Gochenour led Hemann 4,691 to 4,344.
In the javelin Gochenour managed a toss of 102-2 (31.14) into the wind for 498 points. Hemann, meanwhile, threw an impressive 160-1 (48.80) to tally 837 points. The swing in points had Hemann challenging for the Texas Relays title in addition to threatening the Aggie school record.
“From practices I knew I could PR in the javelin pretty easily this season and to get a mark like that was nice,” said Hemann. “I talked to Coach (Kris) Grimes and Coach (Juan) De La Garza a lot about trajectory and making sure I was slicing through the wind. As long as you don't lose the tip, they say you should do well.
“After the javelin I was excited when I saw my score. I relaxed a bit knowing I could get the school record if I run what I normally run in the 800, but I was wanting to beat Alex so my nerves were kicking in. I was relaxed and focused on what I needed to do to get that done.”
The difference of eight points in the scoring table for the heptathlon 800m is just half a second. Hemann only needed a 2:35.00 to better the A&M record by two points.
“When we started the 800m my thought was to stick with Gochenour, but she has a slower start than I do,” explained Hemann. “So, then I rethought that process and decided to run my own race. She was in front of me right after we broke in on the backstretch of the first lap and she had a teammate right next to her.
“When she started to pick up her pace to finish a bit stronger in the final 200m, I was trying to stick with her and she kind of pulled away from me. She did help me to finish as strong as I did, so there was a plus with that aspect.”
Gochenour clocked 2:18.95 (838 points) in the final event as Hemann followed in 2:20.16 (821 points).
A&M's Annie Kunz had three fouls in the long jump to start the second day of the multi-event and didn't score any points in that event or the javelin. She still ran the 800 in 2:36.21 for 617 points to bring her total to 4,010 with scoring from five of the seven disciplines.
Wolfle cleared 17-8 ½ (5.40) to claim the B division of the pole vault while teammate Audie Wyatt finished third with a 17-4 ½ (5.30) make. Carl Johansson had a no height with misses at 16-6 ¾ (5.05). Wolfle, who had first attempt clearances at a pair of heights until three misses at 18-0 ½ (5.50), had fewer misses than Nick Maestretti, who also cleared 17-8 ½ in placing second.
The Aggie foursome of Efrain Hernandez (1:53.6), Josh Hernandez (1:51.2), Gaines Kinsey (1:51.6) and Hector Hernandez (1:51.2) dominated the field in winning the 4x800 relay in 7:27.57. They bettered runner-up Texas (7:31.53) by four seconds with Oklahoma (7:31.61) in third.
It was A&M's fifth win in the event in the history of the Texas Relays and third since 2011. In 2012 the Aggies set a meet record of 7:15.99.
A brisk wind negated any meet record challenges this time around, but the A&M squad managed to build a 30-meter lead on the field of 16 teams by the time Hector Hernandez received the baton.
Efrain, the younger brother of Hector, led the first lap of the opening leg and handed off the baton to Josh in third place. Josh moved A&M into second place at the end of his first lap and then claimed the lead on the backstretch of his second lap.
Kinsey had the lead when he received the baton and he maintained that advantage over Oklahoma, Texas, Texas State and LSU during his two laps. Hector increased the Aggie lead to 40 meters before a late rush from the Longhorns closed the gap slightly.
Behind the first three teams Texas State (7:36.43) finished fourth followed by LSU (7:38.60), Kansas (7:43.66), Connecticut (7:45.28) and Notre Dame (7:45.96).
Graham won his heat of the 400-meter hurdles in 51.92, bettering the PR of 51.99 he set last week, and placed ninth overall to reach Friday's final. The top qualifier was Desmond Palmer of Pittsburgh with a 49.59 over a 50.28 by UTSA's Keyunta Hayes, a 50.41 from Michael Stigler of Kansas and 50.75 by Florida Eric Futch.
Cook threw in the first flight of the hammer and advanced as the ninth best thrower to the final with a mark of 196-3 (59.82). Then he improved to 203-6 (62.02) in the fifth round to place seventh and improve upon the career best of 201-0 (61.28) he set last week in Tempe, Arizona.
Sixth-place efforts for the Aggies included Ashtin Zamzow in the B division of the javelin with a mark of 149-0 (45.42) and Alex Riba in the 1,500 with a 3:54.18. Running in the B division of the 1,500 for A&M were Nathan Ricketts (3:57.13) and Aaron Murray (3:58.49), who placed eighth and 11th. A time of 9:27.98 placed Colin Stoeber 12th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.