Aggie crew in Rio ready to being Olympic track and field this weekend

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Track and field starts on Friday in the Games of the XXXI Olympiad as a crew of 18 Aggies will be in action over the next eight days in the Olympic Stadium. Texas A&M athletes will represent nine countries during the track and field portion of the Olympics, and cover a variety of events from sprints, relays, hurdles, jumps, throws and the decathlon.
 
Coverage of the Rio Games is available through NBC networks as well as live streams on nbcolympics.com. A schedule of times and channels is available at this link: www.ustfccca.org/infozone/broadcast=schedule.php. Heat sheets and results are also available through www.iaaf.org.
 
Aggies in action this Friday, Aug. 12, in the evening session include Deon Lendore (Trinidad & Tobago) and Bralon Taplin (Grenada) in the first round of the 400m. Fabrice Lapierre (Australia) goes through the qualifying round of the long jump. In the women's 100m the first round will include Jennifer Madu (Nigeria) and Brenessa Thompson (Guyana).
 
Through seven heats of the 400m the top three finishers in each prelim race plus the next three fastest times advance to the semi-finals. Taplin races in the second heat from lane four while Lendore is in lane five of the fifth heat.
 
Lapierre is in the second qualifying group of the long jump, where a leap of 26 feet, 9 inches (8.15) automatically advances to the final amid the top 12 marks overall. Lapierre finished second at the most recent World Championships, outdoors in 2015 and indoors in 2016, and will seek his first Olympic final.
 
Saturday's morning session will include the women's 400m first round with Kanika Beckles (Grenada) as well as the men's 100m first round with Shavez Hart (Bahamas) and Gerald Phiri (Zambia). The evening session will have the men's long jump final, the semi-final and final of the women's 100m and the semi-final of the men's 400m.
 
Qualifying in the men's triple jump takes place Monday, Aug. 15, for Latario Collie (Bahamas) along with the first round of the women's 200m with Simone Facey (Jamaica) and Thompson. The evening session events that day have Shelbi Vaughan (United States) in discus qualifying while Janeil Bellille (Trinidad & Tobago) runs in the first round of the 400m hurdles.
 
The men's 200m first round, on Aug. 16, will include a trio of Aggies with Hart and Demetrius Pinder (Bahamas) along with Ameer Webb (United States). In the evening session Maggie Malone (United States), the Olympic Trials and NCAA champion, goes through the javelin qualifying round.
 
NCAA champion Lindon Victor (Grenada) starts the decathlon on Aug. 17. His score of 8,446 from winning the SEC title ranks fourth among decathlons in 2016 and is sixth best when factoring in career best scores among the field.
 
Olympic Track & Field Schedule – Texas A&M athletes
(times listed in Rio de Janeiro, which is two hours ahead of CT)
 

Day 1 - Friday, August 12
Evening Session
9:05 pm – 9:54 pm	400m	Men	1st Round	Deon Lendore, Bralon Taplin
9:20 pm – 10:28 pm	Long Jump	Men	Qualifying	Fabrice Lapierre
10:40 pm – 11:22 pm	100m	Women	1st Round	Jennifer Madu, Brenessa Thompson
Day 2 - Saturday, August 13
11:00 am – 11:49 am	400m	Women	1st Round	Kanika Beckles
12:00 pm – 12:42 pm	100m	Men	1st Round	Shavez Hart, Gerald Phiri
Evening Session
8:30 pm – 8:45 pm	400m	Men	Semi-Finals	(Deon Lendore, Bralon Taplin)
8:50 pm – 10:10 pm	Long Jump	Men	Final	(Fabrice Lapierre)
9:00 pm – 9:15 pm	100m	Women	Semi-Finals	(Jennifer Madu, Brenessa Thompson)
10:35 pm – 10:36 pm	100m	Women	Final	(Jennifer Madu, Brenessa Thompson)
Day 3 - Sunday, August 14
Evening Session
8:35 pm – 8:50 pm	400m	Women	Semi-Finals	(Kanika Beckles)
9:00 pm – 9:15 pm	100m	Men	Semi-Finals	(Shavez Hart, Gerald Phiri)
10:00 pm – 10:01 pm	400m	Men	Final	(Deon Lendore, Bralon Taplin)
10:25 pm – 10:26 pm	100m	Men	Final	(Shavez Hart, Gerald Phiri)
Day 4 - Monday, August 15
9:30 am – 10:38 am	Triple Jump	Men	Qualifying	Latario Collie
9:35 am – 10:11 am	200m	Women	1st Round	Simone Facey, Brenessa Thompson
Evening Session
8:30 pm – 9:22 pm	Discus	Women	A – Qualifying	Shelbi Vaughan
9:30 pm – 9:54 pm	400m Hurdles	Women	1st Round	Janeil Bellille
9:50 pm – 10:42 pm	Discus	Women	B – Qualifying	Shelbi Vaughan
10:45 pm – 10:46 pm	400m	Women	Final	(Kanika Beckles)
Day 5 - Tuesday, August 16
9:50 am – 11:15 am	Triple Jump	Men	Final	(Latario Collie)
11:20 am – 12:40 pm	Discus	Women	Final	(Shelbi Vaughan)
11:50 am – 12:26 pm	200m	Men	1st Round	Shavez Hart, Demetrius Pinder, Ameer Webb
Evening Session
8:35 pm – 9:23 pm	Javelin	Women	A – Qualifying	Maggie Malone
9:10 pm – 9:25 pm	400m Hurdles	Women	Semi-Finals	(Janeil Bellille)
9:50 pm – 10:38 pm	Javelin	Women	B – Qualifying	Maggie Malone
10:00 pm – 10:15 pm	200m	Women	Semi-Finals	(Simone Facey, Brenessa Thompson)
Day 6 - Wednesday, August 17
9:30 am – 9:50 am	100m	Men	Decathlon	Lindon Victor
10:35 am – 11:39 am	Long Jump	Men	Decathlon	Lindon Victor
12:15 pm – 1:03 pm	Shot Put	Men	Decathlon	Lindon Victor
Evening Session
5:45 pm – 8:21 pm	High Jump	Men	Decathlon	Lindon Victor
9:20 pm – 9:40 pm	400m	Men	Decathlon	Lindon Victor
10:00 pm – 10:15 pm	200m	Men	Semi-Finals	(Shavez Hart, Demetrius Pinder, Ameer Webb)
10:30 pm – 10:31 pm	200m	Women	Final	(Simone Facey, Brenessa Thompson)
Day 7 - Thursday, August 18
9:30 am – 9:50 am	110m Hurdles	Men	Decathlon	Lindon Victor
10:25 am – 11:13 am	Discus	Men	A – Decathlon	Lindon Victor
11:20 am – 11:26 am	4x100 Relay	Women	1st Round	Simone Facey (Jamaica), Olivia Ekponé (Nigeria), Jennifer Madu (Nigeria)
11:40 am – 12:28 pm	Discus	Men	B - Decathlon	Lindon Victor
1:25 pm – 4:25 pm	Pole Vault	Men	Decathlon	Lindon Victor
Evening Session
6:35 pm – 7:20 pm	Javelin	Men	A – Decathlon	Lindon Victor
7:45 pm – 8:30 pm	Javelin	Men	B – Decathlon	Lindon Victor
9:10 pm – 10:20 pm	Javelin	Women	Final	(Maggie Malone)
9:45 pm – 10:55 pm	1500m	Men	Decathlon	Lindon Victor
10:15 pm – 10:16 pm	400m Hurdles	Women	Final	(Janeil Bellille)
10:30 pm – 10:31 pm	200m	Men	Final	(Shavez Hart, Ameer Webb)
Day 8 - Friday, August 19
Evening Session
9:10 pm – 9:18 pm	4x400 Relay	Men	1st Round	Deon Lendore (Trinidad), Demetrius Pinder (Bahamas)
10:15 pm – 10:16 pm	4x100 Relay	Women	Final	Facey (Jamaica), Ekponé (Nigeria), Madu (Nigeria)
Day 9 - Saturday, August 20
Evening Session
10:35 pm – 10:38 pm	4x400 Relay	Men	Final	Lendore (Trinidad), Pinder (Bahamas)