Texas A&M
SEC Championships
Aggie Men Set to Defend SEC Title, Women Eager to Reclaim 2013 Title
May 13, 2015 | Track and Field
STARKVILLE, Mississippi – No. 1 Texas A&M men enter the SEC Championships, being held this Thursday through Saturday on the Mississippi State campus, as the defending team champion while the No. 9 Aggie women return from a third-place finish after claiming the 2013 SEC team title.
The Aggie men and women each face a field with nine conference teams ranked among the top 25 in the nation. Coverage of the SEC Championships will be available online through the SEC Network + while a taped highlight show of the meet will air on ESPNU on May 21 from 7 to 9 p.m. CT.
Links for the online coverage on SEC Network + follow: Friday, 3:40 p.m. to 6:50 p.m. CT (http://es.pn/1zOkMYL), Saturday, 2:50 p.m. to 6:50 p.m. CT (http://es.pn/1IRzMqw).
In the men's competition the nation's top three teams are from the SEC with No. 1 Texas A&M, No. 2 Florida and No. 3 LSU while three more schools rank among the top 12 with No. 8 Arkansas, No. 9 Georgia and No. 12 Alabama. The three remaining ranked men's teams include No. 18 Mississippi State, No. 22 South Carolina and No. 24 Tennessee.
No. 1 Arkansas headlines the women's field in the SEC that features six teams ranked in the top 10. The Razorbacks lead a pack of conference schools that includes No. 3 Georgia, No. 4 Florida, No. 6 Kentucky, No. 8 LSU and No. 9 Texas A&M. The three other ranked women's teams include No. 16 Alabama, No. 19 Mississippi State and No. 25 Missouri.
"We have some depth as far as people who have been there before, but we have a young group too," said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. "We will see how they respond in this kind of situation. That's what we've done all year. We tried to put people in good competitions and environments so that it's conducive to this kind of competition. Now we'll see if we can all do it on the same day.
"On the ladies side last year we were third, but it was only a 10 point spread between first and third. One or two places can make all the difference. You kind of wait and see, and hope the group are really prepared for everyone to have a great day on the same day."
Last season the Aggie men totaled 155.5 points in claiming its first SEC conference title as they stopped a three-year run by Arkansas, who scored 116 as runner-up. Texas A&M became the first conference school in the history of the SEC to sweep all seven events in the sprints, hurdles and relays with victories in the 100, 200, 400, 110 hurdles, 400 hurdles, 4x100 and 4x400.
The Aggies return individual champions in the 400 with Bowerman Award winner Deon Lendore and the 400 hurdles with Gregory Coleman. A&M is the current collegiate leader in the 4x100 at 38.91 over LSU (38.93) and second best among collegians in the 4x400 with a 3:02.19 that only trails a 3:01.78 by Florida.
Lendore is seeking a fourth consecutive conference title in the 400 after winning the Big 12 title in 2012 followed by a pair of SEC titles in 2013 and 2014. Last season Lendore set the A&M school record in winning the SEC 400 in 44.36 seconds, taking down a 45-year-old record set by Curtis Mills when he won the 1969 NCAA title.
Challengers for Lendore, who posted a 45.14 best this season in Waco, include LSU's Vernon Norwood, the NCAA Indoor champion and collegiate leader this season at 44.44, along with Najee Glass of Florida, the SEC Indoor winner who has clocked 44.79 outdoors.
Another threat in the event is teammate Bralon Taplin, who placed fourth in the 2014 SEC final and clocked a career best 44.89 earlier this season as runner-up to defending Olympic champion Kirani James at the Sun Angel Classic. The SEC meet will be the first race for Taplin, though, since he fell during the third leg of the 4x100 at the Michael Johnson Classic at Baylor in April.
"I just want to be sure Bralon and Olivia can get through this competition," noted Henry. "This is a big test, so if each one is able get through this weekend ok then I know they will be better in another couple of weeks. Then we are on our way back with them. But competition is different than training so we still have to wait and see what happens."
The Aggie women totaled 113 points in placing third a year ago behind Arkansas (123) and Florida (116.5). A&M swept the 100, 200, 400, 4x100 and 4x400 last season while Shelbi Vaughan claimed her second SEC discus title.
Last season Olivia Ekponé earned SEC Runner of the Year honors with victories in the 100 (11.11) and 200 (22.23) while Shamier Little, the SEC Freshman Runner of the Year, claimed the 400 (51.06) and placed third in the 400 hurdles (56.01).
An injury has hampered Ekponé this season and limited her racing. The SEC leaders in the 100 and 200 are Alabama's Remona Burchell (11.04) and Kyra Jefferson of Florida (22.65). A&M's Jennifer Madu ranks second in the 100 at 11.12 with Aaliyah Brown fifth with an 11.31. In the 200 Kamaria Brown leads the Aggies with a 23.01 that ranks sixth in the conference with A. Brown eighth at 23.31.
Little will contest the 400 hurdles this weekend and run on the Aggie 4x400. In the hurdles she faces the defending champion in Kendra Harrison of Kentucky, who ran 54.76 on her home track a year ago. Little defeated Harrison for the 2014 NCAA title with a school record 55.07 and went on to claim the World Junior championships.
Harrison is the collegiate leader this season with a 54.94 clocking that ranks second in the world while Little's best of 56.42 is fourth collegiately and second in the SEC. Challengers in this event include another Kentucky hurdler in Leah Nugent (56.46) along with Sparkle McKnight of Arkansas (56.70), who won the 2013 SEC title in 55.71.
Vaughan, the SEC Field Athlete of the Year, broke the conference meet record with a winning throw of 208-8 in the discus last season. She leads the collegiate ranks this season with a 201-8 and three of her closest challengers in the SEC have thrown in the 181 foot range. Vaughan, who has recorded winning distances of 195-2 (Baldy Castillo Inv.), 201-8 (Texas Relays), 194-2 (Stanford Inv.), 192-7 (Sun Angel Classic) and 192-6 (TCU Inv.), recently completed her third regular season without a loss to another collegian in the discus.
In the 4x100 the Aggie women are the current collegiate leaders at 43.03 and are seeking their ninth consecutive conference title after winning six Big 12 titles from 2007 to 2012 and the last two SEC titles. In April A&M claimed its seventh consecutive 4x100 victory at the Penn Relays, achieving the victory from lane three.
Another returning conference winner is Maggie Malone, who won the Big 10 javelin for Nebraska last season with a 181-8 effort. Malone has a season best of 171-10 that ranks third in the SEC as she leads a crew of seven Aggies in the event. Defending SEC champion Fawn Miller of Florida leads the conference with a 183-9 which ranks third nationally.
A newcomer for A&M in the men's javelin is Ioannis Kyriazis of Greece, who is the top freshman in the nation with his career best of 248-6 and ranks fourth among all collegians. In the SEC Kyriazis ranks second behind defending champion Raymond Dystra of Kentucky, who has a mark of 252-1 this season and won the 2014 SEC title with a 250-10 toss.
Returning for the A&M men are three athletes who placed second in the SEC a year ago, including Shavez Hart's dual runner-up performance in the 100 and 200 behind former teammate Prezel Hardy, Jr. Hart leads the conference in the 100 with a 10.10 clocking while his 20.58 in the 200 ranks fifth.
Second place returners for the Aggies include Hector Hernandez (800) and Isaac Spencer (steeplechase), who will each face a defending SEC champion in Brandon McBride of Mississippi State and Stanley Kebenei of Arkansas.
Finishing third in the SEC last season were Aaliyah Brown (200), Little (400 hurdles), Austin Wells (10,000), and Chase Wolfle (pole vault) while fourth-place scorers included Taplin (400), Cameron Villarreal (5,000), Devin Bogert (javelin), and Jena Hemann (heptathlon).
A pair of SEC leaders in the field events among A&M's squad includes Olabanji Asekun in the long jump (26-4 ½w) and Latario Collie in the triple jump (54-8 ¾). They each will square off against Florida's Marquis Dendy, who claimed double titles in the long and triple jump at both the SEC and NCAA Indoor Championships this season.
Three finals will be contested in each gender on the first day of the SEC Championships on Thursday with the hammer, javelin and 10,000 meters. First day action in the heptathlon and decathlon also begin on Thursday while prelims are held in the 800, 200 and 400 hurdles.
The women's distance trio of Hillary Montgomery, Grace Fletcher and Karis Jochen each plan to race in the 10,000 and 5,000 meters this weekend. For the A&M men Austin Wells and Ryan Miller contest the 10,000.
Montgomery and Fletcher finished first and second in the 5,000 at the SEC Indoor back in February with Jochen placing seventh. A year ago Montgomery and Jochen placed seventh and eighth in the SEC 10,000, while Wells and Miller finished third and sixth, respectively.
Austin Cook and Brea Garrett, A&M school record holders in the hammer, each have a tough task as they rank fifth and seventh in the SEC. Cook placed ninth as a freshman in 2014 while Garrett fouled three attempts for the second consecutive year in the conference meet.
Cook improved to 212-6 in breaking the Aggie school record to claim a win at TCU two weeks ago while Garrett set the A&M record with a 201-4 effort in 2014 and has a season best mark of 194-7. Alison Ondrusek, who placed ninth a year ago, ranks eighth in SEC with her career best mark of 193-1.
Georgia's Alex Poursanidis is the men's defending hammer champion and he leads the conference with a mark of 229-11. In the women's field Kearsten Peoples tops the conference with a 217-1 mark as three other SEC throwers have surpassed 200 feet.
Jena Hemann leads a group of four Aggies in the heptathlon while Daniel Martin competes in the decathlon for A&M. Martin placed 11th a year ago and has improved his score to 7,101 this season, which ranks fourth among the SEC.
Over the past three seasons Hemann placed fifth in 2012 (Big 12) and 2013 (SEC) while improving to fourth last season as her point total on the conference weekend increased each season with scores of 5,285 (2012), 5,378 (2013) and 5,471 (2014).
This year Hemann enters the SEC battle with an A&M best score of 6,002 from her runner-up performance at the Texas Relays. She ranks third in the conference behind Georgia's Quintunya Chapman (6,146) and Alex Gochenour of Arkansas (6,027), who finished ahead of Hemann at the Texas Relays.
Joining Hemann in the heptathlon are Annie Kunz, who finished eighth in the 2013 SEC meet, as well as two freshmen in Shaina Burns and Ashtin Zamzow. A score of 5,231 ranks Zamzow eighth in the conference while Burns is 10th with a tally of 4,789. Zamzow (162-0) and Hemann (160-1) also rank sixth and ninth in the SEC javelin with Hemann (5-10) equal to seventh in the high jump.
Players Mentioned
