Brea Garrett wins Tyson Invite with collegiate leading mark
Feb 13, 2015 | Track and Field
In the 400 meters Deon Lendore continued his winning streak with a 45.38 victory that just held off teammate Bralon Taplin's 45.39, which claimed another section in the seeded event. It marks the 16 consecutive win for Lendore at 400 meters dating back to a perfect 2014 season.
Lendore and Taplin produced the second and third fastest times in the world this season, just behind the 45.34 set by Florida's Najee Glass on this same Randal Tyson Track at the end of January. Lendore's mark is the No. 7 performance on the A&M all-time list while Taplin set an indoor career best, moving to No. 3 performer with the No. 8 performance on the Aggie all-time list.
Shamier Little finished third in the women's seeded 400 after winning her section in 51.92, just off her indoor career best of 51.86. Aaliyah Brown set a career best of 7.28 to place fourth in the 60-meter final. Little's effort is the No. 8 performance on the 400m all-time list while Brown moves to No. 8 performer in the 60m all-time list.
A pair of marks in Garrett's series, which measured 73-1 ¼ and 73-0, are the second and third best performances on the A&M all-time list, only trailing the school record she holds at 74-4 ½ (22.66). The Tyson field included five of the top seven collegians this season. Garrett, who was seventh on the 2015 collegiate list prior to the meet, claimed her fifth consecutive win of the season.
Missouri's Kearsten Peoples, the collegiate leader at 72-8 (22.15) coming into the meet, finished second with a toss of 71-5 ¼ (21.77) while Kentucky's Beckie Famurewa placed third with a 70-10 ½ (21.60).
“This was like a pre-nationals,” stated Garrett. “A lot of the top 16 are going to come into this arena for NCAAs. It was so exciting to win and I did not want to lose. I have something to prove at SECs next. I came in second last year and I was very devastated. I'm really hungry and I'm not going to let anyone take my gold.”
With a best of 69-9 in the first three rounds, Garrett was in second place to Peoples going into the final three rounds. A third round foul for Garrett negated a big mark, but paved the way for her final three throws. She improved to 70-4 ½ (21.45) in round four and took over the lead with a 73-0 (22.25) effort in round five. Then a sixth round 73-1 ¼ (22.28) sealed the victory over a strong field.
“I haven't had a throw like that all season,” said Garrett of her third round foul. “To know that I could do it, then it all clicked. I'm excited that I was so consistent with my last three throws.”
In a practice session this week Garrett was able to correct an issue of standing on her right foot too long when she was turning. Assistant coach Juan De La Garza noted she hit it correctly on each of her throws during the competition.
“It was needed,” said Garrett. “I needed to put in the time and I needed to buckle down to fix the problem. Coach De La Garza stayed and let me throw as much as I wanted to. My legs were dead, but I wanted it. It paid off tremendously today. If I can continue with this momentum I'm trying to go 75 feet.”
Taplin ran in the third section of four in the 400, leading the field at the break with a 21.31 through 200m. He pulled away to record a comfortable 45.39 section win over Zack Bilderback of Texas (45.98), Florida's Nick Uruburu (46.33) and Joseph Richards of Texas Tech (46.62).
With a time to chase Lendore sped to the break and equaled the 21.31 by Taplin at 200m. Lendore managed to edge the leading mark with a 45.38 as be bettered his section by over a second with Marqueze Washington of Arkansas (46.63) and Florida State's Michael Cherry (46.81) giving chase.
Lendore claimed the overall win with Taplin a very close runner-up. Bilderback and Uruburu placed third and fourth overall. A&M's Gregory Coleman clocked 46.92 for third in his section of the 400, placing 13th overall.
Little defeated two-time NCAA Outdoor 400m champion Ashley Spencer of Texas, who ran 52.46 for third in the section behind a 52.28 by Florida's Kyra Jefferson. The overall winner of the event was current collegiate leader Courtney Okolo of Texas in 51.65 with Taylor Ellis-Watson of Arkansas runner-up with a 51.72.
“There was some good competition in my section with Ashley as well as a 200m specialist in Kyra,” noted Little. “I knew I had to get the break first at 200m. It's really exciting to run that time at this point of the season. It lets me know I'm stronger and faster than I was last year.
“I was pretty nervous about the race, but everyone around me was pretty confident so I took that confidence with me in the race. I just got out and did what I do best.”
Brown, who posted times of 7.36 and 7.33 during the prelims and semifinals, set a career best 7.28 behind the trio of Alabama's Remona Burchell (7.14), Morolake Akinosun of Texas (7.21) and Florida's Shayla Sanders (7.24). The rest of the field included Auburn's Shekara Martin (7.35), Keilah Tyson of Kentucky (7.36), LSU's Mikiah Brisco (7.36) and Stephanie Kalu of SMU (7.38).
The men's 60 final was trimmed down to four entrants as Shavez Hart posted a 6.68 for third place. Houston's Cameron Burrell won the race in 6.60 ahead of a 6.65 for Christian Coleman of Tennessee while Auburn's Teray Smith was fourth in 6.71. In earlier rounds Hart clocked a pair of 6.70s in the prelims and semifinals.
Olabanji Asekun added eight inches to his previous indoor best as he placed fifth in the seeded long jump with a mark of 25-2 ½ (7.68), which moves him to No. 7 on the Aggie all-time list. Asekun equaled his previous indoor best of 24-6 ½ (7.48) in the third round and then improved it to 24-7 (7.49) in round four. Down to his final jump, Asekun produced an effort over 25 feet.
Defending NCAA Indoor champion Jarrion Lawson won the event with a 26-4 ¼ (8.03). Current collegiate leader Jarvis Gotch of Louisiana Tech placed second at 25-9 ½ (7.86) while Alabama's Cameron Hudson finished third with a 25-8 ¾ (7.84). Florida's Marquis Dendy, the 2013 NCAA Indoor and 2014 NCAA Outdoor champion, had three fouls.
Alex Cook finished ninth in the men's weight throw, producing a best of 64-1 (19.53) in the second flight of three. The men's pole vault had Carl Johansson and Audie Wyatt both clearing 16-8 ¾ (5.10) to place sixth and 11th based on misses.
In the men's mile the Aggie tandem of Alex Riba (4:12.12) and Ryan Teel (4:13.10) placed fourth and fifth, running in separate heats, while Aaron Murray (4:19.17) was 13th overall.
Riba led the first section for a majority of the race until Kentucky's Lou Styles took over the lead with 1 ½ laps remaining. Styles won the race in 4:05.54 over a 4:11.00 by Georgia's Bryan Kamau. Riba's splits as the leader included 1:00.64, 2:02.43 and 3:05.59.
In the second section Teel moved from fourth to first with two laps remaining and pulled away with a convincing win over a 4:14.60 from Kansas State's Lukas Koch. Teel had splits of 1:04.93, 2:09.92 and 3:13.64. When Teel moved into the lead he used a 29.05 lap and then closed with a 30.42.
The women's 800 meters produced a section win for Katie Willard in 2:10.61 as she placed seventh overall. Willard led the field through each split of 31.71, 1:04.64 and 1:37.99 as she held off the challenge from Clemson's Brianna Blanton (2:10.84) and Iowa's Mahnee Watts (2:11.16).
The earlier sections of the 800 meters had improvement from all three of the Aggie entrants. Karina Buerk lowered her indoor best to 2:11.86 as she won her heat and placed seventh overall. Buerk improved her No. 7 position on the A&M all-time list.
Gaines Kinsey and Efrain Hernandez both challenged for heat wins in the men's 800. Gaines ran 1:51.03 as runner-up in his heat while Hernandez posted a 1:51.48 for second place in his heat. Gaines moves to No. 12 on the Aggie all-time list while Hernandez chopped a full second on his previous best.
Emily Gunderson and Brittany Wooten both cleared 12-9 (3.89) in their section of the pole vault, placing sixth and seventh, while Sara Kathryn Stevens has a no height at 12-1 ¼ (3.69). For Gunderson her clearance was an indoor best, which kept her at No. 4 on the Aggie all-time list with an improved mark over her 12-5 ½ (3.80).
In an earlier section of the women's weight throw Alison Ondrusek led the first flight of competitors with a career best toss of 60-8 ½ (18.50). She topped the group of 13 by three-plus feet and moved to sixth place when the second flight was completed and finished 15th overall after the third flight. Carissa van Beek was 11th in the first flight with a 52-6 (16.00) while Shelbi Vaughan had three fouls.
WASHINGTON HUSKY CLASSIC
Aggie Hillary Montgomery set an indoor career best of 16:05.03 for 10th place in the 5,000 meters at the Husky Classic hosted by Washington. Montgomery moves to No. 3 on the A&M all-time list with the No. 6 performance as she improved on her previous best of 16:12.97. Also racing in the 5,000 were teammates Grace Fletcher (16:52.44) and Karis Jochen (16:59.19).
Players Mentioned
