Texas A&M
Reveille Invitational
Jazmine Fray breaks Texas A&M 1,000m record in defending Reveille title
Dec 10, 2016 | Track and Field
COLLEGE STATION – In breaking the Texas A&M school record she just missed a year ago, Aggie sophomore Jazmine Fray posted a winning time of 2 minutes, 43.15 seconds in the 1,000 meter to equal the 10th fastest time ever by a U.S. collegian during Saturday's Reveille Invitational held at Gilliam Indoor on Saturday.
Fray, who clocked a meet record of 2:50.39 last December, dominated the race from the start and came through 800m in 2:09.46 on the way to her victory. In the process she bettered the facility record of 2:46.51 set by Baylor's Nichole Jones in 2009 as well as the Texas A&M school record 2:49.01 set in 2003 by Angeles Pantoja.
"I knew that this was my first race and I wanted to gauge myself," noted Fray. "Me and Coach Francique talked a lot about times and splits to hit, and I wanted to focus on that. I wanted to come through my 800 in 2:10, and I came through in 2:09, so that was a really good sign.
"It makes me excited for the rest of the indoor season. Last year coming in, my best time in the 800 was 2:09, so to run that coming through in a 1000 is really great."
Fray's effort was one of six collegiate leading marks established by the Aggies in the early indoor season meet, which included meet record performances from Fred Kerley (20.85) in the 200m and Devin Dixon (2:24.82) in the men's 1,000m. Diamond Spaulding (23.37) also set a collegiate leading time as did a pair of Texas A&M 4x400 relays, with times of 3:36.10 for the women and 3:10.72 for the men.
"Jazmine Fray is just a sophomore, and she had a great outdoor season last year and closed out feeling good about herself and she is training well," said Texas A&M Coach Pat Henry. "Coach Francique is working her hard, she looks good, and she was ready to run today. She comes through at 2:09 and that set her up to run well. She's not afraid to go out and run fast.
"We took a final today. We got to see some things today, see what our training is doing for us, what we need to continue to work on, what we need to get better at. It showed us a lot about ourselves today, and that's why we have this competition at this time of the year."
Dixon's 1,000m time bettered the 2:25.60 meet record set in 2014 by Texas A&M's Isaac Spencer and moved the freshman to No. 3 on the Aggie all-time list. Following Dixon were teammates JaQwae Ellison (2:25.97, No. 11 A&M), Efrain Hernandez (2:26.33) and Gaines Kinsey (2:28.45).
Finishing behind Fray in the women's 1,000m were Aggies Brittany Parker (2:57.32, No. 8 A&M), Danielle Haas (2:59.18) and Nadia Pakes (2:59.41).
Kerley was unchallenged in his circuit of the 200m track, taking down the meet record of 20.95 set by TCU's Sam Watts last year as well as the post-collegian mark of 20.93 run in 2014 by Antoine Adams.
Spaulding led a 1-2-3 sweep in the women's 200 with Danyel White (23.69) and Jaevin Reed (23.94) each claiming separate sections. Spaulding's time improved the meet record of 23.66 set by Aggie Aaliyah Brown in 2015.
The women's 4x400 unit of Reed (54.37), Kadecia Baird (53.00), White (53.78) and Glorilisha Carter (54.95) won in 3:36.10 over a second crew of Aggies, who clocked 3:40.06 with the foursome of Amber Ivy (56.07), Briyahna Desrosiers (52.59), Spaulding (56.36) and Jarra Owens (55.04).
In the men's 4x400 the Aggie foursome of Deon Hickey (48.77), Kerley (46.43), Bryce Deadmon (48.26) and Richard Rose (47.27) clocked 3:10.72 in finishing runner-up to a post-collegiate squad that ran 3:09.73 and included Daniel Harper (50.81), Carlyle Roudette (46.91), Donavan Brazier (45.95) and Bralon Taplin (46.06).
A pair of collegiate leading miles were set as those meet records fell to Clemson's Grace Barnett (4:35.66) and Houston's Brian Barraza (3:58.66), who produced a rare sub-four-minute mile in the month of December.
Barraza broke the meet record of 4:07.86 set by Donavan Brazier last year. A pair of Aggies followed in second and third with Ian Cazares (4:15.14) and Taylor Clayton (4:17.25).
Aggie Katie Willard finished second in the women's mile with a 4:51.43, the No. 4 performer and No. 6 performance on the Texas A&M all-time list, with teammate Arin Rice following in third at 4:54.13. Another section of the women's had a slew of career best times set by the Aggies with Hannah Campbell leading the way in 5:03.33 ahead of Haley Deakins (5:04.59) and Valarie Bradley (5:06.57).
Celine Markert improved nearly three feet in the shot put from her indoor season with the Aggies last year. Her winning effort of 47-2 ½ (14.39) moved her to No. 11 on the Texas A&M all-time list. Garrett Cragin attempted 7-1 in the high jump after winning the competition with a 6-11 ¾ (2.13) leap that moved him to No. 9 on the Aggie all-time list.
Winning efforts for Texas A&M included LaJarvia Brown (8.64, 60m hurdles), Brenessa Thompson (7.41, 60m), Jacob Wooten (16-7 ½, pole vault), Emily Gunderson (13-3 ¾, pole vault), Kara Erickson (5-5 ¾, high jump), Devin Norton (17:37.83, 5000m), and Julian Castellano (15:01.55, 5000m).
Top collegiate marks for the Aggies included Alison Ondrusek (62-3 ¾) and Austin Cook (61-8 1/4), respectively in the weight throw. Nike's Amanda Bingson broke the women's meet record in the weight throw with a winning toss of 72-6 ½ (22.10).
Runner-up performances included Infinite Tucker (7.99, 60m hurdles), Aaliyah Brown (7.43, 60m), Augusta Thomason (12-11 ¾, pole vault), Colin Padalecki (15-7 ¾, pole vault), Jeff Bartlett (56-1 ¼, shot put), Jon Bishop (15:04.91, 5000m), Olivia Arriaza (17:44.70, 5000m), Ciynamon Stevenson (18-5 ¼, long jump), Kirby Matocha (5-4 ¼, high jump), and Chinyere Njoku (8.71, 60m hurdles).
Players Mentioned
