Texas A&M
SEC Championships
Ioannis Kyriazis Captures SEC Javelin Title on the Final Throw
May 14, 2015 | Track and Field
STARKVILLE, Mississippi – Texas A&M freshman Ioannis Kyriazis improved his career best by nearly nine feet to claim the SEC javelin title on his last attempt and defeated the defending champion in the process.
A heave of 257-3 (78.41) moved Kyriazis from fourth to first place in round six of the competition. Then he had to wait for three more throwers before securing his victory. Missouri's MaCauley Garton improved to 254-2 (77.47) on his final throw while Kentucky's Raymond Dykstra, the defending champion, reached a distance of 254-8 (77.63) on his last chance to keep his title.
"I just knew I had to stay focused on the last throw," stated Kyriazis. "Coach told me to get a little faster with the start of my approach. That helped make my approach more fluid. Then I was able to turn my right leg faster and stayed back a little further.
"It was really stressful to watch the next couple of throwers after me. I'm really happy and satisfied to be the SEC champion because I worked so hard. To add another career best is very satisfying as well. Now I'll take care of my back and improve a bit more on my technique."
Kryiazis produced the best winning mark to win the SEC javelin title since Chris Hill of Georgia set the meet record of 261-4 in 2009. Aggie NCAA champion Sam Humphreys won the 2013 SEC javelin with a 257-1.A&M's Devin Bogert finished fifth in the event with a mark of 231-1 (70.66) as the Aggies totaled 14 points in the javelin. Aggie Sam Hardin placed 10th with a season best throw of 212-10 (64.89), which left him less than three feet of advancing to the final three throws.
The series for Kyriazis included marks of 232-11 (70.99), 243-8 (74.29), 234-9 (71.57), 243-11 (74.35) and 257-3 (78.41). The previous best for Kryiazis was 248-6 (75.74) from a mid-April meet in Waco. He moves to No. 2 performer on the Aggie all-time list and cracks into the No. 8 position among the top 10 performances set by school record holder Sam Humphreys.
Dystrka's title defense didn't start out well with a pair of fouls in the first two rounds. However, in round three he produced the leading mark of 253-8 (77.32) that Kyriazis and the rest of the field chased in the final three rounds.
Alison Ondrusek produced a pair of career best marks on her first two throws in the hammer and placed third with a best of 195-4 (59.55) while teammate Brea Garrett finished sixth with a toss of 189-10 (57.86) for a total on nine Aggie points. Also in the competition were Shelbi Vaughan (173-0) and Carissa van Beek (165-7), who placed 11th and 13th.
Kearsten Peoples of Missouri won the hammer title with a 207-8 (63.31) effort while Kentucky's Beckie Famurewa finished second at 200-8 (61.16).
Ondrusek, who placed ninth as a freshman in 2014, opened with a 194-9 (59.37) that bettered her previous best of 193-1 from March of this season. Following her second round improvement to 195-4 the rest of Ondrusek's series included 193-0 (58.83), 158-0 (48.17), 188-6 (57.45) and 193-10 (59.08).
"I'm so excited to have placed third," noted Ondrusek. "Coming into the competition I was ranked eighth. I was just out of scoring last year, so my goal was really to get some points for my team. The fact that I placed third makes me so happy. I loved that we competed in the main stadium instead of a field somewhere and everybody was able to watch us."
The No. 3 performer on the A&M all-time list, Ondrusek added the No. 4, No. 6, and No. 9 performances. The only Aggie marks ahead of her are the school record of 201-4 by Garrett and two marks of 200-0 and 196-2 from Meshell Trotter.
Garrett celebrated after opening with a 186-10 (56.95) as it represented her first mark in the conference hammer after having a string of three fouls the past two years. She improved to 188-1 (57.32) and 189-10 (57.86) in the next two rounds and then fouled the final three attempts.
The Aggies added 11 more points in the women's 10,000 as Hillary Montgomery (34:54.14), Karis Jochen (35:21.37) and Grace Fletcher (35:48.64) placed third, fifth and eighth. Last season A&M had three points in the event when Montgomery and Jochen placed seventh and eighth.
Diane Robison of Arkansas won the 10,000m race in 33:55.12 as the Aggie trio was part of a lead pack of five during the halfway point amid a field of 21 runners. Missouri's Kaitlyn Fischer placed second in 34:10.52.
Ryan Miller scored in the men's 10,000 meters with a seventh-place effort in a time of 30:23.97 while teammate Austin Wells placed 11th in 31:12.38.
In the men's hammer Austin Cook finished eighth with a mark of 205-9 (62.72) to improve upon his ninth place effort in 2014. Cook's series included 202-9 (61.81), 205-9 (62.72), 200-10 (61.22), 198-7 (60.53), 201-2 (61.32) and 199-11 (60.93). Georgia's Alex Poursanidis defended his title with a winning toss of 223-11 (68.24).
Aggie qualifiers to finals included Shamier Little, who led the 400 hurdle field with a 56.54 over a 56.86 by defending champion Kendra Harrison of Kentucky, along with the 200 meter trio of Kamaria Brown (23.17), Ashton Purvis (23.43) and Aaliyah Brown (23.45). A&M's defending SEC 200 champion Olivia Ekpone placed third in her heat with a 23.91 and didn't advance on time.
On the men's side Gregory Coleman (50.75) and Aikan Graham (52.19) advanced in the 400 hurdles while Shavez Hart (20.94) qualified for 200 final.
Missing out on the finals, by an agonizing 0.01 of a second, was Hector Hernandez in the 800. The runner-up in the SEC 800 final a year ago, Hernandez posted a time of 1:47.75 that nearly matched his career best of 1:47.73 set in last year's SEC prelims. The last time qualifier for the final was 1:47.74.
Also missing out of the 800 final was Josh Hernandez, who posted a career best of 1:47.97 was 10th best overall one spot behind Hector. The previous PR for Josh was 1:48.66 earlier this season.
The first day of the heptathlon has Jena Hemann in sixth place with 3,432 points as she produced marks of 14.25 (943 points) in the 100 hurdles, 5-9 ¼ (928) in the high jump, 42-9 ½ (730) and 25.62 (831) in the 200. The leader with an SEC first day record of 3,820 points is Erica Bougard of host Mississippi State.
Aggies in the heptathlon also include Ashtin Zamzow with 3,310 points in ninth place and Shaina Burns with 2,966 points in 11th place. Annie Kunz had score of 2,308 points going into the 200, but did not run. Daniel Martin is currently in 10thplace in the decathlon with 3,527 points. Martin closed out the first day of the multi by posting the fastest time in the 400 with a 48.44.
Players Mentioned
