No. 5 A&M men, No. 20 Aggie women travel to Arkansas for SEC Indoor Championships

Friday, February 26

Fayetteville, Ark.

All Day

Texas A&M

SEC Championships

Photo by: Errol Anderson

Feb 24, 2016 | Track and Field

FAYETTEVILLE – Texas A&M's indoor track and field season has reached the championship stage as the Aggies return to the Randal Tyson Track Center for the SEC Indoor Championships, which will be hosted by the University of Arkansas on February 26-27.

Since Texas A&M joined the SEC, the Aggie men have placed third in each of the three SEC Indoor Championships they have contested while the A&M women have finished third twice, in 2013 and 2015, with a runner-up team performance in 2014.

"We are going to have to be at our best to be successful, but that's the way it is at a conference or national meet," noted Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. "Our depth is better on the men's side than on the women's side right now.

"The team that is at their best has the best opportunity of being successful. Sometimes you can be really good, but not have enough bullets to shoot. You kind of find that out as the meet goes on and when the meet is over you kind of figure out we did everything we could do, but we still couldn't win. That's happened from time to time. It's about who is ready on this day."

Coverage of the SEC Indoor Championships will air live on the web via the SEC Network + on Friday from 3:55 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. CT and Saturday from 2:55 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. CT. ESPN will air a two-hour show Sunday at 6 p.m. CT. Links for the webcast during the weekend follow – Friday: http://es.pn/1SyyG9f, Saturday: http://es.pn/1SyyG9h.

The men's SEC field includes six conference teams that are ranked among the top 10 in the national rankings this season – No. 1 Arkansas, No. 3 LSU, No. 4 Tennessee, No. 5 Texas A&M, No. 8 Georgia and No. 10 Florida – while there are four women's conference teams ranked in the top 10 – No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 Arkansas and No. 8 Tennessee – as well as a total of seven among the top 25, including No. 12 LSU, No. 15 Kentucky and No. 20 Texas A&M.

While the national rankings reflect how a team may perform at the NCAA Indoor, schools at the SEC Indoor will have a maximum of 27 entries per gender as team depth plays a role.

Host Arkansas is favored to win both team titles, which they last achieved together in 2013, based on season marks heading into the conference meet. Challengers for the men's team title include the Aggies along with Mississippi, LSU and Florida. In contention for the women's team title are Florida, Georgia and Kentucky.

"Arkansas should be favored on both sides, especially when you look at the national rankings," stated Henry. "They have two tough squads and there are some other tough squads in the conference.

"This is a very difficult championship, the best teams in the United States are in the SEC. You can be fourth, fifth or sixth in this meet and still be fourth, fifth or sixth in the national meet. It shows you the level of competition at this meet is just tremendous."

Shamier Little is the lone returning gold medalist for the Aggies in previous SEC Indoor Championships as she won the 400m in 2015 after earning bronze as a freshman in 2014. Latario Collie claimed silver in the triple jump a year ago while Chase Wolfle finished in the bronze medal position for the second consecutive year in the pole vault.

In relays the Aggie men have won three consecutive SEC Indoor 4x400 titles while the A&M men placed second in the distance medley relay last season following a third-place effort in 2014. The Aggie women were third in the 4x400 last year.

Little has raced in the 400m twice this indoor season, producing times of 52.96 in the Texas A&M Quadrangular and 52.43 at the Tyson Invite, as she finished second in both races to Oklahoma's Daye Shon Roberson (52.62) and Kyra Jefferson of Florida (52.19). Little finished fifth overall at Tyson with Razorback Taylor Ellis-Watson winning in 52.18 while a couple of Florida sprinters – Robin Reynolds (52.27) and Claudia Francis (52.39) – placed behind Gator teammate Jefferson.

Collie challenged Florida's Marquise Dendy last season in placing runner-up in the triple jump at the SEC Indoor, SEC Outdoor and NCAA Outdoor meets along with a fifth-place effort in the NCAA Indoor. This season an indoor best of 52-3 ¼ (15.93) by Collie ranks fourth in the SEC behind a pair of 54-foot performances from Jeremiah Green of Alabama (54-8 ¾) and Clive Pullen of Arkansas (54-3 ¼).

Wolfle equaled the school record of 18-0 ½ (5.50) in the pole vault in the SEC Indoor meet last season and matched the height for fifth place in the NCAA Indoor two weeks later. The Aggies scored 15 points in the SEC off a 3-4-5 finish in the event with Audie Wyatt and Carl Johansson following Wolfle.

That trio returns with the addition of freshman Jacob Wooten, who leads the A&M crew and is the top freshman in the nation with a 17-11 clearance this indoor season amid three victories, one of which included a jump-off with Wyatt.

The Aggie vault crew will attempt to challenge current collegiate leader Jake Blankenship of Tennessee, who cleared 18-9 ¼ (5.72) this season and has a best of 19-0 ¼ (5.80) from his runner-up performance in the 2015 NCAA Indoor meet. Heading into the SEC Indoor meet the A&M vaulters rank 2-3-4-6 with the order of Wooten (17-11), Wyatt (17-9), Wolfle (17-5) and Johansson (17-1).

Texas A&M also has a talented newcomer in freshman Donavan Brazier, who broke a 34-year-old U.S. indoor junior record in the 800m with a 1:45.93 in his first race at that distance in an Aggie uniform. The mark by Brazier remained the world leader for a full month until a 1:45.63 was posted last week by professional Adam Kszczot of Poland in Stockholm.

Brazier, who also broke the A&M 800m record, remains the U.S. and collegiate leader. The next best mark within the SEC is a 1:47.37 by Mississippi's Ryan Manahan. Brazier leads a talented Aggie middle distance crew that includes brothers Hector Hernandez (1:48.02) and Efrain Hernandez (1:50.36) along with another freshman in JaQwae Ellison (1:49.60). Hector placed fourth a year ago after a fifth-place finish in 2013.

In the women's sprints Jennifer Madu claimed the bronze medal position in the 60m as a freshman in 2013, then placed fourth in 2014 ahead of teammate Aaliyah Brown. This past year Brown finished fourth with Madu fifth.

As a veteran trio leads the A&M women in the sprints with the combination of Little, Brown and Madu, a crew of younger sprinters will seek to add depth for the Aggies with sophomore Briyahna Desrosiers along with freshmen Krsytal Sparling and Diamond Spaulding.

Spaulding sports the top freshman time in the SEC at 200m with a 23.23, which ranks seventh best in the conference overall. Desrosiers has the top sophomore 400m time in the conference with a 53.35 while Sparling's 7.41 in the 60m is the second best by a freshman in the SEC.

Scoring potential for the Aggies in the women's 800 will come from the tandem of school record holder Katie Willard (2:05.79) and freshman Jazmine Fray (2:07.05) as they rank fourth and fifth in the conference.

Returning indoor conference point scorers for the men include Devin Jenkins (200m – sixth), Cameron Villarreal (Mile – seventh), Sam McSwain (High Jump – seventh), Collie (Long Jump – seventh) and Lindon Victor (Heptathlon – seventh).

Jenkins has improved his indoor best in the 200m to 20.58, which is second best in the SEC, fourth in the world and the current U.S. leader this season. McSwain, who also tied for eighth in 2014, has cleared 7-0 ¼ twice this season.

Victor recently broke the A&M school record with a score of 5,646 in the heptathlon. He will be joined in the SEC multi by Nathan Hite (5301) and Daniel Martin (5282), who produced the seventh and eighth best scores in Aggie history. The A&M trio ranks 6-7-8 among current scores in the conference.

A couple of newcomers for the Aggie men include Will Williams in the long jump and Fred Kerley in the 400m. Williams, who produced a season best of 25-9 ¼ on his first leap for A&M that currently ranks third in the SEC. Kerley clocked 46.48 in the 400m on the Tyson track and ranks fourth in the conference.

Joining Villarreal in the mile are Alex Riba and Ryan Teel. Villarreal ran a season best of 4:05.66 to win the Texas A&M Quadrangular while Riba has posted a trio of 4:08 times this year, with his best effort being a 4:08.09.

Returning indoor conference scorers for the women include Brown (200m – sixth), Karis Jochen (5,000m – seventh), Brittany Wooten (Pole Vault – eighth), and the weight throw pair of Alison Ondrusek (sixth) and Carissa van Beek (eighth).

Joining Wooten in the pole vault are Emily Gunderson and Sara Kathryn Stevens. Wooten also placed fifth in the 2014 SEC meet while Madu added an eighth-place finish in the long jump that season.

Pentathlon school record holder Annie Kunz placed fifth in the 2013 SEC meet and finished ninth in 2014. This season her career best score of 4,363 ranks third in the conference behind Georgia's Kendall Williams (4,558) and Taliyah Brooks of Arkansas (4,457). Kunz will be joined in the multi by teammate Shaina Burns.