Texas A&M
LSU Invitational
Aggies travel to LSU Invitational to battle five nationally-ranked SEC schools in scored meet
Apr 28, 2016 | Track and Field
BATON ROUGE – In its final regular season meet prior to the conference championships, the Aggie track and field team will compete against five other SEC schools in the scored LSU Invitational on Saturday.
Bernie Moore Stadium will play host to Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Miami, and Texas A&M. Field events begin at 9 a.m. with running events starting at 11:30 a.m. and admission is free.
The Aggies, with the men's team ranked No. 1 and the women No. 12, face a field of top 15 ranked programs. On the men's side that includes No. 2 Florida, No. 3 LSU, No. 4 Arkansas, No. 8 Alabama. The women's field includes No. 1 Arkansas, No. 2 Kentucky, No. 5 Florida, No. 6 LSU and No. 15 Miami.
"It's a good meet and it's a meet that next year on this weekend is going to turn into the SEC Relays, which will be held at LSU and it will be televised," noted Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. "So this year is kind of a lead-up into that meet.
"This will be a very competitive meet, if everyone shows up with their people. I'm looking forward to it. LSU will line up and we will line up, so it will be a good track meet. We always get good performances when we compete there."
In facing a majority of the top-ranked programs from the SEC, the A&M coaching staff will be able to evaluate which athletes on the Aggie squad are ready to compete and score in the conference meet, which will be held May 12-14 at Alabama.
"The SEC meet comes down to us taking 30 athletes for men and 30 athletes for women to the conference meet," said Henry. "That's 60 total and we have 140 people on our team. So, we've got to make some big decisions about certain people. Most of the team has rehearsed all season and we know who the good ones are, but we have a few who are right on the edge. We also look at where we are best capable of scoring in the conference meet."
Shamier Little, a World Championship silver medalist and the defending SEC and NCAA champion, returns to the 400m hurdles this weekend after setting a personal best of 23.17 in the 200m last week. Little has a season best of 56.38 in the hurdles this season and holds a career best of 53.74 when she claimed her second NCAA title last summer.
A solid field of hurdlers in the LSU Invitational includes post-collegian Nickeisha Wilson, who set the LSU school record of 53.97 in 2007, current Tigers Chanice Chase (56.17) and Kymber Payne (56.60), Kentucky's Kiah Seymour (56.10) and A&M alum Janeil Bellille, who set a career best of 55.41 in 2014.
Robert Grant leads a crew of five A&M hurdlers in the men's race. Grant, who is currently third in the collegiate ranks with a 49.73, will be joined by teammates Kris Brander (51.86), Jackson Davis (51.14), Aikan Graham (51.34), and DeWitt Thomas (51.86).
The hurdle field also includes Florida's tandem of TJ Holmes (50.48) and Maurice Dix (52.38) as well as Larry Donald (50.90) and Kemar Mowatt (50.66) of Arkansas. Post-collegians in the hurdles include A&M alum Greg Coleman and LSU alums Quincy Downing and Isa Phillips.
Hector Hernandez returns to the 800m after setting a school record of 1:46.29 during the UCLA dual meet two weeks ago. He will be joined by teammates Donavan Brazier, who set the A&M indoor record of 1:45.93, JaQwae Ellison (1:48.54), Efrain Hernandez (1:48.90), Gaines Kinsey (1:49.81) and Daniel Martin (1:49.88).
In the women's 800m, Katie Willard (2:06.23) is the lone Aggie entry as she faces a field that includes current conference leader Morgan Schuetz of LSU (2:02.29), along with Kentucky's Ariah Graham (2:03.24), Kimberly Ficenec of Alabama (2:05.96) and Ceara Watson of Arkansas (2:06.87).
Throwing events will have Shelbi Vaughan headlining the discus while Maggie Malone is the top entrant in the javelin. Vaughan threw a season best of 199-3 (60.73) last week in Waco and holds the Aggie school record with a 211-8 (64.52) from winning her third SEC title last May. Malone broke the A&M javelin record this season with a 198-0 (60.36) mark that placed her on the all-time collegiate and U.S. list.
Joining Malone in the javelin are teammates Krystyn Bradley (160-7), Kristen Clark (164-11), Audrey Malone (171-7), and Madalaine Stulce (162-2). Post-collegians in the javelin include Kim Hamilton, who threw a career best 193-8 (59.04) in 2015, and Fawn Miller, the former Gator who won the 2014 NCAA title with her PR of 190-8.
The women's discus field includes post-collegian Paige Blackburn, who has thrown a career best of 200-8 this season, along with eight of the top 12 throwers in the SEC. Joining Vaughan is teammate Celine Markert (167-7), who ranks second among freshmen in the conference.
The SEC group in the discus includes Kentucky's tandem of Beckie Famurewa (184-3) and Adriana Brown (183-2), Florida's pair of Lloydricia Cameron (180-11) and Jontavia Dykes (165-1) along with Haley Teel (177-3) and Holly Julilfs (160-9) from Alabama.
Chase Wolfle and Audie Wyatt, who currently share the Aggie school record of 18-6 ½ in the pole vault, currently sit atop the SEC, rank second among collegians and are fifth on the 2016 world list. Teammates Carl Johansson and Jacob Wooten, who have both cleared 17-2 ¾, rank fourth in the conference.
The top three triple jumpers in the conference this season go head-to-head at LSU with A&M's Latario Collie (53-8 ½) leading the way against Alabama's Jeremiah Green (53-0 ¾) and KeAndre Bates of Florida (52-7 ½). Joining Collie for A&M are Jeffrey Prothro (51-3 ¾) and Lathone Collie (51-2 ¼).
In the long jump the LSU Invitational features six of the top nine conference jumpers this season with Aggie Will Williams leading the pack with a windy 25-9 ¼ followed by Bates of Florida (25-6), Kentucky's Fred Dorsey (25-1 ¼) and the Razorback trio of Rubin Owens (25-4 ¾), Andreas Trajkovski (25-0 ¾) and Kurt Jenner (25-0 ½).
Relays will showcase the top squads in the nation. The women's 4x100 includes four of the top five teams this season with Florida (42.85), Kentucky (43.14), LSU (43.23), and Texas A&M (43.29) while Miami (43.75) and Alabama (43.76) rank 11th and 12th. In the men's sprint relay the top two squads in the nation are LSU (38.94) and A&M (39.02) followed by Arkansas (39.41), Kentucky (39.85) and Alabama (40.13).
Meanwhile, in the 4x400 relay the Florida women are current collegiate leaders at 3:26.28 followed by Kentucky (3:28.35), LSU (3:31.66), Miami (3:31.73), Arkansas (3:32.00), Texas A&M (3:33.33) and Alabama (3:34.67).
LSU men are the current collegiate leaders in the 4x400 with a 3:00.38 recorded on its home track this past week. The Aggies follow with a 3:02.96 set in Waco along with Arkansas (3:07.66) and Alabama (3:11.02).
A majority of the sprinters racing in either relay will be competing in the 100, 200 and 400 meters as well. For the Aggie women the quartet of Aaliyah Brown, Jennifer Madu, Krystal Sparling and Diamond Spaulding are in the 100m with Madu, Spaulding, Brenessa Thompson and Glorilisha Carter in the 200m. The 400m will include Briyahna Desrosiers, Jazmine Fray and Jarra Owens.
Entries for the A&M men in the 400m include Eric Age, Deon Hickey and Richard Rose while Elijah Morrow and Aaron Sims race in the 100m and 200m.
A crew of seven Aggies will race in the 1,500m with Alex Riba, Nathan Ricketts, Christian Farris, and Aaron Murray lining up for the men while the women's trio includes Lauren Fontana, Katie Watson and Laura Craig. In the men's 3,000m steeplechase A&M will have Elliott Farris and Colin Stoeber racing.
Aggie multi-events will contest a variety of events on Saturday to prepare for the heptathlon and decathlon at the SEC Championships. The group includes Annie Kunz (200m, high jump, javelin), Shaina Burns (100mH, long jump, shot put, javelin), Lindon Victor (400m, discus, javelin) and Daniel Martin (800m, discus, javelin).
Players Mentioned
