COLLEGE STATION – Texas A&M ventures to nearby Waco on Saturday for the Michael Johnson Classic, which has a new home with the Clyde Hart Track & Field Stadium located on the Baylor campus.
The Aggies, with the men and women holding the No. 1 position in the USTFCCCA national team computer rankings for a third week, face a field of teams that includes Angelo State, Baylor, Fresno State, George Mason, Houston Baptist, Oklahoma Baptist, Nebraska, Northern Illinois (w), Stephen F. Austin, Texas, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas Tech, TCU, Tulsa and UT-Arlington.
Ranked teams in the men's field include Texas (No. 6), Texas Tech (No. 9), Baylor (No. 12), and Nebraska (No. 19). Women's ranked teams include Texas (No. 3), Baylor (No. 10), and Texas Tech (No. 15).
Action in the Michael Johnson Classic begins at 11 a.m. with field events. There is an afternoon running session that starts at 1 p.m. and an evening Invitational session that begins at 5 p.m. Admission to the meet is $10 for adults and $5 for youth (age 2-17) with all tickets general admission.
Coverage of the Classic will be available on Flotrack.org through its subscription service. Live results are available on deltatiming.com.
The women's 400 meters will feature a pair of Aggies in Kamaria Brown and Shamier Little running their first outdoor 400 of the outdoor season. Also scheduled to compete is London Olympic champion Sanya Richards-Ross as well as the Texas duo of Kendall Baisden and Courtney Okolo, the collegiate record holder and defending NCAA champion. All-Americans from A&M in the field include Janeil Bellille and Kanika Beckles.
Shelbi Vaughan, named to the April watch list for The Bowerman Trophy, has won four consecutive discus titles this season and is the collegiate leader with a 201-8 best from the Texas Relays. Her winning distances this outdoor season have included 195-2 (Baldy Castillo), 194-2 (Stanford) and 192-7 (Sun Angel).
After winning 400 hurdle races in Stanford and Tempe, Gregory Coleman seeks a third consecutive victory in Waco. Coleman's season best of 50.22 from the Sun Angel Classic ranks him eighth among collegians this season. The hurdle field includes Bershawn Jackson, a bronze medalist at the 2008 Olympics and 2009 World Championships; Hederson Estefani of Brazil, who set a career best of 49.59 in 2014; and Texas Tech's JW Smith, who has run 50.73 this season.
Shavez Hart faces a pair of NCAA champions in the 100 meters with Baylor's Trayvon Bromell (2014 winner) and former TCU sprinter Charles Silmon (2013 winner) in the field. Also competing in the 100 and 200 meters this weekend are Aggie All-Americans Prezel Hardy, Jr. and Michael Bryan.
Jennifer Madu (11.43) and Aaliyah Brown (11.47) are the top pair of collegians in the women's 100 field that includes Aggie All-Americans Ashley Collier and Dominique Duncan as well as former Baylor sprinter Tiffany Townsend. Aggie Ashton Purvis races in a 200 field that includes Texas Tech's Cierra White as well as Trinidad & Tobago's Michelle-Lee Ahye, who ran a career best of 22.77 in 2014.
Collegiate leaders in the 4x100 with a 38.91, the Aggie men will be challenged by three other squads that have times among the top 10 this season. They include TCU (39.15), Baylor (39.22) and Texas (39.75). In the 4x400, where the A&M men are second best collegiately with a 3:02.19, the Aggies will be tested by Texas Tech (3:03.47) and Baylor (3:05.26), who finished second and third to A&M at the Texas Relays.
The Aggie women top the collegiate ranks in the 4x100 relay with a 43.03 and headline a field that includes Texas (43.61) and Texas Tech (44.74). Earlier this season the Longhorns edged A&M for the Texas Relays 4x100 title, 43.70 to 43.72, while the Aggies had the advantage over Texas in the 4x200, 1:32.41 to 1:32.53.
Following career best performances over 10,000 meters a couple of weeks ago at Stanford, Hillary Montgomery and Grace Fletcher will compete in the Invitational 1,500 meters while Karis Jochen races with Laura Craig in the afternoon running session.
Running in the Invitational 1,500 for the Aggie men are Alex Riba, Austin Wells and Aaron Murray. The afternoon session of the 1,500 includes A&M's Nathan Ricketts, Ryan Miller, Colin Slattery and Brett Schmit.
An Aggie crew of five competes in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with Colin Stoeber, Ryan Teel, Austin Geerts, Elliot Farris and Christian Farris. In the women's steeplechase Haley Deakins will race for A&M.
Ioannis Kyriazis, the top freshman in the javelin and fourth collegiately with a 247-7, returns to action this week and will be joined by teammates Sam Hardin and Daniel Martin. As Austin Cook (207-4) continues a trek towards the A&M school record (211-1) in the hammer he will get a test from Nebraska's Will Lohman (216-2).
Vaughan will also compete in the women's hammer with teammates Brea Garrett, Alison Ondrusek and Carissa van Beek. Garrett will contest the shot put as well where her recent career best of 52-7 ¼ tops the entries at Baylor.
Chase Wolfle and Nebraska's Steven Cahoy enter the pole vault with season best clearances of 17-8 ½ (5.40) this season while Aggie Audie Wyatt and Texas Tech's Kyle Thompson have each cleared 17-4 ½. They will compete amid a field of 25 vaulters.
The women's vault field will offer a test for the A&M trio of Emily Gunderson, Sara Kathryn Stevens and Brittany Wooten. Baylor's Annie Rhodes has cleared 14-3 ¼ while Kaitlin Petrillose of Texas has been over 13-11 ¼ this outdoor season.