Shelbi Vaughan claims fourth Texas Relays title, Audie Wyatt breaks pole vault record

Wednesday, March 30

Austin, Texas

All Day

Texas A&M

Texas Relays

Photo by: Errol Anderson

Apr 02, 2016 | Track and Field

AUSTIN – A day of impressive performances by the Aggies included four victories on the Saturday portion of the 89^th Texas Relays in front of 21,006 fans as they won two relays and another pair of individual events.

For the weekend Texas A&M registered eight wins, four in relays and four individual events with an attendance total of 43,085 over the four days of the meet. Overall, with the team competing in 11 relay events on the weekend, the Aggies had eight relay squads finish among the top three, with a pair placing fourth and one that did not finish.

"Our people stepped up and competed," said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. "We had a lot of wins, and with four relay wins on the men's side that is a huge couple of days for us."

Audie Wyatt broke the Aggie school record in the pole vault as he cleared 18-6 ½ (5.65) to finish as runner-up in the final event completed at Myers Stadium. Wyatt first equaled the outdoor school record of 18-4 ½ (5.60) set by Greg West in 1990 and then claimed the record for himself to match the indoor record of 18-1 he set earlier this season.

In winning the discus with a mark of 192-9 (58.76), Shelbi Vaughan became the first female to claim four consecutive Texas Relays titles in any throwing event. She also won the discus in her final two years of high school, so her current winning streak at this meet stretches across six years.

"Knowing I have four titles here is great," stated Vaughan. "Coming in here as a three-time defending champion it's nice knowing I've won another title and can move on to the rest of the season. It lifts a lot of pressure off. Now I can keep going forward and continue to pursue the Olympic qualifying standard (200-1)."

Aggie legends Randy Matson (1965-67) and Darrow Hooper (1951-53) each won three consecutive discus titles at the Texas Relays and added the same number of shot put titles.

Vaughan opened with a 170-6 (51.96) and then had three straight fouls. She recorded her winning distance in round five and finished with a 183-11 (56.06). Auburn's Rachel Dincoff placed second with a 181-11 (55.46) while Baylor's Cion Hicks finished third with a mark of 178-0 (54.25).

"At first it was a little scary, since I couldn't get a very good throw in the sector," noted Vaughan. "I had a couple out there, but they were out of the sector on the left side. I struggled a little getting off my left foot out the back. I finally decided to scoot over to the right of the ring a little bit so I could get a good throw down the middle of the sector. Finally I got one for the win."

Wyatt had first attempt clearances at the first four heights he attempted – 17-6 ½ (5.35), 18-0 ½ (5.50), 18-4 ½ (5.60) and 18-6 ½ (5.65) – and then missed three attempts at 18-8 ¼ (5.70), the Olympic Games qualifying standard. Devin King of Southeastern Louisiana won the competition with an 18-8 ¼ make after passing at 18-6 ½.

"Honestly, I came out here today not thinking about the school record, I just wanted to get the standard (18-6 ½) for the Olympic Trials," explained Wyatt. "So I'm happy with that, I'll get to go to Trials and compete with the big boys. There was some great competition out here today.

"I'm just really happy to come out here and do great things. Even though I didn't win it was still a great accomplishment for me, A&M and my teammates."

Finishing behind Wyatt were Torben Laidig of Virginia Tech (18-4 ½) and Princeton's Adam Bragg (18-0 ½). A&M's Jacob Wooten and Chase Wolfle were among four vaulters who missed opening height of 17-0 ¾.

The Aggies 4x800 opened the collegiate portion of Saturday's relay session with a dominating victory as they successfully defended their 2015 title with a collegiate-leading time of 7:18.95, which ranks No. 3 on the A&M all-time list. The winning crew consisted of freshman JaQwae Ellison (1:51.9), senior Hector Hernandez (1:49.1), sophomore Efrain Hernandez (1:51.0), and freshman Donavan Brazier (1:46.9).

"We didn't run as fast as we've run here before, but we've never run it that early in the morning," noted Henry. "That made a difference."

Finishing well back of the Aggies were Arkansas (7:26.52), Stanislaus State (7:28.13), Clemson (7:31.46) and Oklahoma (7:33.22). It was the eighth win in the 4x800 at Texas Relays for A&M and the fourth title since 2011.

In the 4x200 the A&M men captured its 10^th Texas Relays title in a collegiate leading 1:21.11 with a lean at the finish line by Devin Jenkins as LSU's Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake made a strong challenge down the homestretch with the Tigers runner-up in 1:21.14. The top five teams included Arkansas (1:21.98), Texas (1:23.09), and Purdue (1:23.29).

The Aggies foursome included Robert Grant, Fred Kerley and Elijah Morrow on the first three legs of the 4x200. The time is No. 7 on the A&M all-time list with the No. 9 performance. It's the sixth victory in this event by the Aggies since 2009.

A missed second exchange for the A&M women denied them an opportunity to defend the 4x200 title they won a year ago. Instead it was LSU claiming the title in 1:31.30 over Texas (1:32.60) and Purdue (1:33.34).

The Aggie women finished second in the 4x100 with a season best of 43.29 behind LSU's winning time of 43.25 as those two teams posted the two of the top collegiate times this season. The A&M squad included Jennifer Madu, Krystal Sparling, Brenessa Thompson and Aaliysh Brown.

Running in lane two for the final of the men's 4x100 the Aggie crew of Will Williams, Kerley, Morrow and Jenkins posted a time of 39.48 for fourth place. TCU won the race in a collegiate leading 39.08 over Texas (39.18) and Houston (39.31).

The Aggie men clocked a season best of 3:03.34 for third place in the 4x400, finishing behind LSU's 3:01.83 and a 3:02.18 by Texas. Placing behind A&M were Baylor (3:04.24), Akron (3:07.36), Texas Tech (3:07.47) and Arkansas (3:07.66). The Aggie foursome included Deon Hickey (46.3), Grant (45.4), Ilolo Izu (47.1) and Kerley (44.5).

In the women's 4x400 the A&M women finished fifth with a season best of 3:33.33 with a crew of Briyahna Desrosiers (52.7), Diamond Spaulding (54.4), Jarra Owens (53.9) and Shamier Little (52.3). Texas won the race in 3:26.54 ahead of Arkansas (3:32.00), Baylor (3:32.31) and Oklahoma (3:32.95).

A&M freshman Celine Markert won the B division of the discus, hitting a mark of 159-2 (48.52). Runner-up to Markert was a 157-9 (48.09) by Rochelle Frazier of New Mexico JC with Purdue's Chelsie Meeks in third with a 157-8 (48.06).

Williams finished fourth in the long jump with a leap of 25-5 ½ (7.76) as Jarvis Gotch won the event with a mark of 27-0 ½ (8.24), which currently ranks second best in the world for 2016. Trey McRae of Charlotte placed second with a 25-10 ¼w (7.88w) while Monterrey Tech's Alberto Alvarez was third at 25-6 ¼ (7.78). Williams is now equal No. 10 on the A&M all-time list.

Annie Kunz placed ninth in the high jump, clearing 5-8 ½ (1.74), the same height for places third through ninth. Misses separated the places. Kunz needed three attempts to get over 5-6 ½ and 5-8 ½.