A&M women finish third in NCAA Championships, Little and Vaughan defend national titles

Wednesday, June 10

Eugene, Ore.

All Day

Texas A&M

NCAA Championships

Jun 13, 2015 | Track and Field

By: Texas A&M Media Relations

TEAMS	SCORE
1. Oregon	59
2. Kentucky	50
3. Texas A&M	47
4. Arkansas	43
5. Georgia	41

EUGENE – A pair of Aggies enjoyed successful NCAA title defenses in front of a crowd of 11,734 at Hayward Field on Saturday. Shamier Little and Shelbi Vaughan were both victorious as they completed undefeated campaigns in the 400 hurdles and discus, respectively, in leading Texas A&M to a third-place finish in the chase to defend their team title at the NCAA Championships.

"Any time you defend a NCAA championship and you're as young as those two, it's a big time performance," said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. "201 feet is a great throw on this day for Shelbi as she defends her title. Shamier Little ran the fastest time in the world right now and she is just a sophomore. That was a tremendous race for her."

Oregon claimed the women's team championship to go along with the men's title the Ducks achieved on Friday. They are the first school to sweep the NCAA Outdoor championships since Texas A&M accomplished an unprecedented run of three consecutive national championships from 2009 to 2011.

In placing third with 47 points the Aggies finished behind Oregon's tally of 59 points and 50 for runner-up Kentucky. It's the ninth consecutive year for the Texas A&M women to place among the top four at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.

The remainder of the top 10 in team scoring included Arkansas (43), Georgia (41), Florida State (35), USC (34), Florida (32), Kansas State & Texas (28), while LSU (26) placed 11^th and was the sixth SEC school to place among the top 12.

"We're right there," noted Henry. "Our team competed very well today. I'm extremely pleased with the way we competed."

Winning the 400 hurdles in an amazing 53.74 seconds Little moved to fourth on the all-time collegiate list, with the No. 4 performance, as she improved her A&M school record of 54.68 from her SEC victory this season. Little also takes over the world lead for 2015 as she bettered the mark of 54.15 set by Jamaica's Kaliese Spencer at a Diamon League meet in Olso, Norway, two days ago.

"It's an exciting feeling to PR again, now I want more" said Little. "When I saw 53 seconds I thought, 'oh my goodness, I'm 20 years old and I ran 53.' They were carrying me back to the warm-up area and I just kept thinking about 53."

Little didn't claim the lead in the 400 hurdles until after clearing the 10^th hurdle. Kentucky's Kendra Harrison, the 2014 NCAA runner-up to Little, led the field through a majority of the race. Little passed Harrison on the run-in to the finish line after the final hurdle.

"I didn't see her until the eighth hurdle," noted Little. "I knew we were pretty close so I knew I had to keep my form. That was the only way I was going to be in contention for the victory. I just went after it and gave it my all. That last few meters after the 10^th hurdle is a killer."

Harrison, who earlier won the 100 hurdles in 12.55, finished second in 54.09, which moves her to No. 5 on the collegiate all-time list. The rest of the hurdle field included Leah Nugent of Kentucky (55.82), Sage Watson of Florida State (55.97), Jade Miller of Harvard (56.68), Arizona's Nnenya Hailey (56.98) and the USC tandem of Amalie Iuel (56.99) and Jaide Stepter (57.12).

On the all-time collegiate list the only hurdlers ahead of Little and Harrison are Stanford's Kori Carter (53.21, 2013), Sheena Johnson of UCLA (53.54, 2004), and Georganne Moline of Arizona (53.72, 2013). Little is the first to defend her NCAA title in the 400 hurdles since Sheena Johnson in 2003 and 2004, and became just the fifth hurdler overall to win consecutive titles since the women's initial NCAA meet in 1982.

Vaughan unleashed her winning throw in round two as her mark of 201-5 (61.39) pushed her ahead of the field by 10 feet over the previous leading mark of 191-5 (58.34) set by Louisville's Emmonnie Henderson in the first flight. Vaughan's mark is the best winning distance since 2004 when Nebraska's Becky Breisch won with a 204-5 (62.31).

"It was really exciting to reach 200 feet again, but it wasn't the series I was hoping for," said Vaughan. "My back was tightening up on me a little bit, so I couldn't get it around much. But I'm really happy with another victory and defending my title."

Vaughan becomes the first NCAA defending champion since UCLA's Seilala Sua won a set of four titles from 1997 to 2000. She is just the fifth thrower to win consecutive titles since 1982. While Vaughan became the first Aggie female to win a NCAA discus crown in 2014, this year she joins legend Randy Matson (1966-67) as the only A&M throwers to capture consecutive NCAA discus titles.

The series for Vaughan included 186-3 (56.76), 201-5 (61.39), foul, foul, 188-5 (57.42), foul. The 201-5 is the No. 7 performance among the A&M all-time list. Runner-up to Vaughan was Kelsey Card of Wisconsin with a 194-10 (59.38) effort that came in round five. Henderson placed third with her second round toss of 191-5. Also surpassing 190 in fourth place was USC's Tera Novy with a 191-3 (58.31).

"The wind was hard today, it was definitely picking up the discus and throwing it down," stated Vaughan. "It seemed like everybody was struggling with it a little bit, probably more in the first flight than the second flight."

The 4x100 relay finished second in 43.08 behind a 42.95 by Florida with USC (43.27), Texas (43.38) and LSU (43.69) completing the top five. Oregon (44.55) finished sixth, but a pass of the baton out of the zone on the second exchange disqualified the Ducks.

A&M ran with a foursome of Jennifer Madu, Ashton Purvis, Kamaria Brown and Aaliyah Brown. The Aggies and Gators were even through each of the handoffs, but a slight delay with K. Brown and A. Brown exchanging the baton on the final pass gave Florida a stride advantage on the run to the finish line.

It's the third time for the Aggies to finish as runner-up in the sprint relay, joining squads in 2011 and 2012. It was also just the second time A&M has not run sub 43 seconds in the NCAA final. The Aggies won their first championship in 2007 with a 43.05.

Seeking a title defense in the 200 meters, K. Brown set a career best of 22.24 (1.9 wind) in placing third in a tight finish. Kentucky's Dezerea Bryant claimed the win in 22.18 with Oregon's Jenna Prandini runner-up at 22.21. Florida's Kyra Jefferson also clocked 22.24, but she finished fourth by 0.008 behind K. Brown.

The 22.24 by K. Brown is the second fastest mark ever by an Aggie sprinter as she just missed the school record of 22.23 set by teammate Olivia Ekponé in winning the 2014 SEC title. The previous PR by K. Brown was 22.50 from the NCAA West preliminary rounds two weeks ago.

A. Brown placed sixth in 22.76 as the Aggies scored nine points in the event, bringing A&M's total in the NCAA Outdoor 200m to 108 points over the past nine seasons. The time by A. Brown is a career best as well, moving her to No. 7 on the A&M all-time list.

The Aggies finished fifth and eighth in the 100 meters as A. Brown ran 11.14 (3.1 wind) and Madu clocked 11.45. This was the third consecutive year for Madu to score in the 100 after placing fifth in 2013 and sixth in 2014. It's also the fourth time in the past five years for A&M to have a pair of scorers in the 100 final.

Prandini claimed the 100 final in a windy 10.96 over a 10.97 by Morolake Akinosun of Texas with Kentucky's Bryant third in 11.01.

Closing the national championship meet with the 4x400 the Aggies finished seventh in 3:34.41 with a foursome of Ekponé (55.0), K. Brown (51.9), Ebony Crear (54.19) and Little (53.33). Florida won the race in 3:28.12 over USC (3:29.97) and Florida State (3:31.78).

Since placing seventh in the NCAA 4x400 back in 2008, A&M had a streak of five years of finishing among the top three in the relay.