Aggies sweep team titles at Texas A&M Quadrangular

Saturday, January 23

College Station

All Day

Texas A&M

Texas A&M Quadrangular

Photo by: Errol Anderson

Jan 23, 2016 | Track and Field

COLLEGE STATION – A sweep of team titles in the Texas A&M Quadrangular on Saturday had the Aggie men improving their perfect record in home dual meets to 14-0 while the women's record is now 11-3.

With 172 points the A&M men defeated Texas Tech (121.5), Oklahoma (121.5) and Arizona State (104). The Aggie women totaled 143 points to better Oklahoma (135), Texas Tech (121), and Arizona State (116).

"We're going to have closer meets than this one coming up pretty quick," said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. "This is a good setup to start thinking about their contribution to the team, and that's important."

Texas A&M generated three meet records among the 13 victories the Aggies enjoyed on the day. The meet records were set by Hector Hernandez (800m), Austin Wells (3,000m) and Audie Wyatt (pole vault).

Hernandez clocked 1:48.35 to better the previous meet record of 1:48.72 set in 2009 by Jacob Hernandez of Texas. Hector's time moves him to No. 4 on the A&M all-time list with the No. 9 performance.

A comfortable win by Hernandez put him a second and a half ahead of the field as Charles Jones of Texas Tech (1:50.02) placed second with Oklahoma's Jacob Burcham (1:51.03) in third. Aggie frosh JaQwae Ellison finished fourth in 1:51.96.

Austin Wells led the 3,000 from the start and cruised to an 8:09.90 victory to take down the 8:10.80 meet record set by former teammate Isaac Spencer a year ago. Wells moves to No. 8 on the A&M all-time list. A pair of Oklahoma runners, Dylan Blankenbaker (8:14.79) and Dan Schubert (8:18.22), placed second and third.

"I'm really good friends with Isaac so it's fun to get his meet record," stated Wells. "I wanted to go out harder this week and see what I could do. I knew there was a good OU guy who I wanted to run with. I'm excited because I run the 5K next week and this is a good stepping stone for that."

Wyatt challenged the A&M school indoor record in the pole vault after his 17-9 (5.41) clearance surpassed the meet record of 17-3 ½ (5.27) established by Kevin Lazas of Arkansas in 2013. Wyatt missed on three attempts at 18-1 (5.51) trying to break the Aggie standard of 18-0 ½ (5.50) that is shared by three athletes – Greg West, Richard McDonald and Chase Wolfle.

The Aggie tandem of Wolfle and Jacob Wooten both cleared 16-11 in placing third and fourth behind Texas Tech's Brandon Bray, who cleared 17-5 (5.31).

The debut of Will Williams in the long jump almost generated another meet record. On his first trip down the runway at Gilliam, Williams produced a leap of 25-9 ¼ (7.86) to threaten the meet record of 25-10 ¼ (7.88) set by LSU's Damar Forbes in 2011. It moves Williams to equal No. 3 on the Aggie all-time list and equal to the No. 6 performance. A&M's Latario Collie placed second with a mark of 23-0 ¾.

"It was very unexpected," noted Williams. "I came in looking to set the indoor record but everybody else is satisfied with the jump. I'm a different kind of competitor. Every time I step on the runway I am competing against the world. I'm always checking the marks around the world to see where I rank.

"Normally my first jump is my best jump and this was my first competitive jump on this runway. I was very focused on Marquise Goodwin's jump yesterday at Kentucky, when he went 26-2 ¾ (7.99). I wanted to be the first 8-meter jumper (26-3) in the world this year."

Henry said: "Will Williams came in at midterm and this is the first time we let him compete, and he jumped 25-9, which is a huge jump. He has a lot of talent and is going to be a big contributor over the next three years."

Devin Jenkins posted a double sprint victory in claiming the 60 and 200 meters with times of 6.71 and 20.95 seconds to tally 18 points as the leading scorer among the men. Runner-up to Jenkins in the 60 was Traveyon Armstrong of Oklahoma (6.80) while Texas Tech's Andrew Hudson (21.25) finished second in the 200. A&M freshman Edward Davis ran 21.43 to place third in the 200.

"I feel like the tight schedule is good for me when I double," said Jenkins. "I didn't have to warm up again, and my body didn't have a chance to cool down so I was still warm. I felt good today. The 200 is my favorite race. People think the 200 isn't a sprint, but it's a sprint all the way around. It feels good to win at home."

Jennifer Madu ran 7.38 to win the women's 60 over Aaliyah Brown (7.41) while Diamond Spaulding improved her indoor best to 23.58 to lead an Aggie sweep in the 200 as Briyahna Desrosiers (23.79) and Madu (23.96) followed in second and third place.

A strong effort in the middle distance events continued for the Aggies as Cameron Villarreal claimed the mile in 4:05.66, just a second off the meet record Henry Lelei set in 2012. Villarreal held off the challenge from Texas Tech's Benard Keter (4:06.88) and Arizona State's Ryan Herson (4:09.62). Ryan Teel finished fifth for A&M in 4:10.72.

Katie Willard won the women's 800 in 2:09.81, which was the No. 9 performance on the A&M all-time indoor list. She established an early lead and claimed the win by a comfortable margin over Oklahoma's Belle Wallace (2:11.15) and A&M freshman Miah Nelson (2:15.51).

In the 400 Fred Kerley posted a time of 46.70 to defeat Joseph Richards of Texas Tech (47.18). Aggies also finished fourth and fifth with the duo of Ilolo Izu (47.65) and Kris Brander (48.28).

Shamier Little clocked the second fastest time in the world this indoor season with a 52.96 in her opening effort in an open 400. Oklahoma's Daye Shon Roberson won the race in a world-leading 52.62. Last season when Little ran her first indoor 400 at the quadrangular she finished fifth in 54.35.

"I wanted to have a better opener than I had last year," noted Little. "I accomplished the goal, so I'm pretty happy how it turned out for me. I was a little bit nervous because of the hype from my previous seasons. In the coming weeks we are working on putting our relay together and I am putting my 200 together, too."

Henry added: "Shamier Little looked good. She got beat by a good one today. We have to remember Shamier is an intermediate hurdler who runs the quarter, so she did very well."

After matching his indoor best of 6-11 last week, Sam McSwain celebrated a clearance over seven feet to win the high jump. His effort over 7-0 ¼ (2.14) moves McSwain to No. 6 on the A&M all-time list with the No. 10 performance. Runner-up was Oklahoma's Carl Williams at 6-11.

The Aggie women won the 4x400 in 3:40.43 with the foursome of Jazmine Fray (55.83), Diamond Spaulding (56.19), Aaliyah Brown (54.60) and Briyahna Desrosiers (53.73).

In the men's 4x400 Texas Tech edged A&M for the victory, 3:07.40 – 3:07.95. The Aggies ran with a crew of Robert Grant (47.39), Donavan Brazier (47.14), Ilolo Izu (47.15) and Fred Kerley (46.28).

A close encounter in the distance medley relay had the A&M squad placing second with a 9:58.69 behind Oklahoma's 9:58.28 and ahead of Texas Tech's 9:58.72. The Aggie foursome included Aaron Murray (3:02.54), Gaines Kinsey (48.64), Ryan Teel (1:53.29) and Nathan Ricketts (4:14.24).

Shelbi Vaughan improved in the weight throw as she placed third with a mark of 61-5 ½ (18.73), which moves her to No. 5 on the Aggie all-time list. Alison Ondrusek placed sixth (58-8 ½) and Carissa van Beek finished seventh (58-1 ¼).

Sabrien Wheeler placed third in the 60 hurdles (8.31). Sara Kathryn Stevens cleared 12-8 ¼ (3.87) for third in the pole vault as Emily Gunderson placed fourth with the same height.

A busy day for Annie Kunz had her scoring in three events and contributing a team-high 12 points to the Aggie victory. Kunz finished second in the high jump (5-7 ¾), fourth in the long jump (17-8 ¾), ninth in the shot put (41-10 ¾), and also ran second leg of A&M's distance medley relay (56.01) that placed third.