Collie earns NCAA Indoor bronze, fourth place for Little and Hernandez

Friday, March 11

Birmingham, Ala.

Noon

Texas A&M

NCAA Championships

Latario Collie - NCAA Indoor triple jump

Mar 12, 2016 | Track and Field

BIRMINGHAM – A bronze medal for Latario Collie and a couple of fourth-place finishes by Hector Hernandez and Shamier Little capped the indoor track and field season for the Aggies at the NCAA Indoor Championships held in the CrossPlex facility.

The Texas A&M men placed 10^th with 17 points while the Aggie women had one scorer in Little with five points. Oregon swept the team titles with the men accumulating 62 points and the women scoring 53. Arkansas finished as runner-up in both team chases as the men totaled 39 and the women challenged the Ducks with 50 points.

Among the top 10 schools on the men's side were Tennessee (34), LSU (28), Texas (25), Washington (24), Florida (21), Virginia (18) and Stanford (18). The women's top 10 included Georgia (45), Texas (44), Notre Dame (35), Michigan (31), Tennessee (30), Kansas State (26), Georgetown (21), USC (18) and Oklahoma State (18).

"We had some good efforts today and it's good to see Latario get going again after having a foot hurting him most of the indoor season," said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. "That was a good sign today.

"I was pleased with Hector placing fourth and he had a solid 800, running 1:47 without his cohort in the race. Shamier took a chance and tried to run with the defending champion in the 400. Anytime you can run 51 seconds indoors as a 400 hurdler, that's big time."
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A leap of 53-11 ¼ (16.44) secured the bronze medal for Collie in the triple jump as he improved upon his fifth place position from a year ago at the national indoor meet. In placing third Collie matched the highest finish by an Aggie in the triple jump at the NCAA Indoor meet, joining Zuheir Sharif (2009) and Julian Reid (2011).

"It's been really hard since my season started off rough," said Collie. "I thought I could have won the event, but my takeoff was too far behind the board. The runway was fine and I was able to produce something when I was really pressured. I knew I had to score points for my team."

Collie produced his best marks of the season on three of his six attempts in battling for a top three finish. An opening round of 52-11 ½ (16.14) was followed 53-7 ½ (16.34), 53-8 ½ (16.37), 52-9 ¼ (16.08), foul, and 53-11 ¼. Collie entered the meet with a best this season of 53-3 from the SEC meet.

Clive Pullen of Arkansas won the triple jump with a 54-7 ¼ (16.64) as South Florida's Matthew Oneal (54-5 ½) placed second. In fourth place was the collegiate leader this indoor season, USC's Eric Sloan (53-7 ¾).

Little, the lone scorer for the Aggie women, registered a season best time of 51.74 seconds for fourth place in the women's 400m. She picked up five points for Texas A&M, who tied for 36^th place in team scoring.

It's the third consecutive year for Little, a two-time NCAA Outdoor champion in the 400 hurdles, to place in the NCAA Indoor 400m. Little finished third as a freshman (51.96) and placed fourth last year (52.21). Little's time in this final is her best time on a banked 200m track, and only trails her best indoor time of 51.37 she clocked to win the 2015 SEC title on an oversized track.

Defending champion Courtney Okolo of Texas won the 400m final in 50.69 as she led the second section, which included Little, at the 200m break in 24.12. Little followed in 24.21. Another Texas sprinter, Chrisann Gordon, placed second in the section at 51.69 to finish third overall. Taylor Ellis-Watson of Arkansas won the first section in 51.51 to claim runner-up honors.

"It was a loaded field and I'm pleased I wrapped up indoors with a PR," stated Little. "It shows me that my time outdoors will be faster in the hurdles. So it's all setting me up for what I really need to do. I had to be mentally and physically tough for that race while sticking to my race plan."

Hernandez clocked 1:47.55 in the 800m to finish fourth behind the trio of Akron's Clayton Murphy (1:46.68), Eliud Rutto of Middle Tennessee State (1:46.81) and BYU's Shaquille Walker (1:47.50). Hernandez led the field through 400m at 53.07. On the backstretch of the next lap Rutto moved into the lead with Murphy sliding into second and Hernandez in third.

Rutto remained in the lead at 600m (1:20.10) with Murphy (1:20.18) and Hernandez (1:20.27) just a stride back. With 100m left in the race some tripping in the back half of the pack caused Minnesota's Goaner Deng to fall.

Murphy (26.51 final 200m) moved into the lead and held on for the win over Rutto (26.71) while Walker (26.85) passed Hernandez (27.28). Wake Forest freshman Robert Heppenstall led the rest of the field with a 1:49.06 in placing fifth.

The Aggie 4x400 relay ran 3:07.09 for eighth place as they finished fourth in the opening heat. A&M's foursome included Fred Kerley (46.41), Robert Grant (46.87), Hernandez (47.24) and Eric Age (46.57). LSU won the event in 3:04.28 ahead of Florida (3:05.17), Baylor (3:05.23) and Texas (3:05.26).

Lindon Victor placed 10^th in the heptathlon with 5,510 points. He scored 717 points in the 60m hurdles off a 9.13, then added 760 points with a 14-9 pole vault and capped the event with 718 points from a 2:54.58 in the 1,000m.

Wisconsin's Zach Ziemek won the multi-event with 6,173 points with Arizona's Pau Tonnesen runner-up at 6,027 while Georgia's Garrett Scantling, the SEC champion, finished third with 5,951 points.