No. 1 A&M men win LSU Invitational, No. 12 Aggie women place fourth

Saturday, April 30

Baton Rouge, La.

All Day

Texas A&M

LSU Invitational

Apr 30, 2016 | Track and Field

BATON ROUGE – Texas A&M men, ranked No. 1 nationally, defeated a field of ranked SEC schools at the LSU Invitational. Meanwhile, the No. 12 Aggie women placed fourth in the seven-team field following at three-and-half hour rain and lightning delay on Saturday at Bernie Moore Stadium.

A total of 171 points had the A&M men winning the team scored meet ahead of Alabama (154), LSU (134), Arkansas (97.5), Florida (56), Miami (53) and Kentucky (48.5).

With 115.5 points the Aggie women finished less than 10 points behind the winning tally of 125 by Kentucky. LSU (119) was runner-up, followed by Alabama (118.5), A&M, Florida (100), Arkansas (89) and Miami (59).

Nine victories were recorded by the Aggies on the day. One of the top performances came from Shamier Little, who claimed the 400m hurdles in 55.14, posting the fifth fastest time in the world this season and the second fastest collegiate time.

"I was excited, dropping down a whole second from my previous best this season," noted Little. "Just getting that push in the race, I know I can handle pressure now. I'm used to chilling during this part of the season and then I come here and got the push I was looking for in the hurdles."

Latario Collie led an A&M 1-2-3 sweep of the triple jump, for 24 points, with a wind-aided mark of 54-10 ¼, which is the second best collegiate mark this season under any conditions.

"When there was a weather delay they were talking about moving us indoors," noted Collie. "I was thinking to myself I would need to get into a different mindset if that happened.

"When we were able to jump outdoors I was ready to compete. Even if it had kept raining I was ready to jump. Reaching 54 feet adds to my confidence heading into the conference meet."

In the women's javelin a winning toss of 190-11 by Maggie Malone paced a 1-2-3-4-5 finish by the Aggies as they tallied 33 points in the event. Shelbi Vaughan dominated the discus field with a 196-1 effort.

After moving the pole vault indoors due to weather concerns, Audie Wyatt and Jacob Wooten finished first and second with clearances of 17-9 and 17-3, respectively. Sam Hardin won the men's javelin with a 228-7 throw and Elliott Farris added a win in the men's steeplechase as he clocked 9:03.79.

Hector Hernandez was the top collegiate finisher in the 800m with a 1:46.64, leading an A&M 1-3-5 finish. In the 400m hurdles Robert Grant finished as the top collegian with a 49.76 as the Aggies placed 1-3-4-5-8. Those two events combined for 46 points for the Texas A&M men.

Winning a close race in the 400m hurdles, Little posted a time of 55.14 to defeat Kentucky's Kiah Seymour, who ran 55.20, the sixth best time on the 2016 world list, while LSU's tandem of Chanice Chase (55.76) and Kymber Payne (56.54) placed third and fourth.

Little and Seymour currently rank second and third among collegians this spring, trailing only a 54.98 by Arizona's Nnenya Hailey.

The Aggie women added season best performances in both relays, clocking 43.20 to match LSU's winning time in the 4x100 while recording a 3:30.12 as runner-up in the 4x400 with Little supplying a 50.6 anchor leg in moving A&M from fourth to second.

"That was a great feeling to run that split today," said Little. "I'm just really proud of the girls that were ahead of me. They set the race up and each ran their best splits as well. They gave me something to work with.

"I'm definitely confident going into conference. I know how to executing my race and now the other girls are coming into form too. Splitting 50 on the relay just builds my confidence even more when I put the hurdles in front of me."

In the women's 4x100, LSU and Texas A&M were credited with the same time of 43.20 seconds. The Tigers were awarded the victory, with a 43.193 to 43.194 decision, over the Aggies. Kentucky placed third (43.33) with Florida fourth (43.37) and Alabama fifth (43.90). The A&M foursome included Jennifer Madu, Krystal Sparling, Brenessa Thompson and Aaliyah Brown as they posted a season best time.

The first three legs on the Aggie 4x400 included Briyahna Desrosiers, Jarra Owens and Diamond Spaulding. With Little's anchor leg A&M closed the gap on leading Florida, who claimed the race in 3:29.80. Finishing behind the Aggies were Kentucky (3:30.59), LSU (3:31.82), and Arkansas (3:32.34).

Collie started the triple jump with a windy 54-3 ¾ (16.55) in the opening round. Passing until the fourth round he fouled on his next attempt. Then in the sixth round he produced his best effort of 54-10 ¼ (16.72) off a 3.7 tailwind.

Lathone Collie had a wind-legal best of 52-2 ½ (15.91) as runner-up to his twin brother while Jeffrey Prothro placed third with a 51-6 ¼ (15.70).

Vaughan opened competition with an early morning victory in the discus as she reached a distance of 196-1 (59.78). Post-collegian Paige Blackburn, who set a career best of 200-8 this season, finished runner-up with a 192-11 (58.80).

Kentucky's tandem of Adriana Brown (180-4) and Beckie Famurewa (173-8) placed third and fourth. A&M's Celine Markert finished seventh with a toss of 162-0 (49.39) and later placed fifth in the shot put with a mark of 46-11 ¾ (14.32).

A 190-10 (58.18) winning throw had Malone finishing ahead of two post-collegians with Kim Hamilton runner-up at 185-8 (56.60) and Fawn Miller, the 2014 NCAA champion for Florida, third with a 162-0 (49.38). The mark by Malone is the third best performance all-time at A&M, following her school record 198-0 and a 193-10.

The rest of the Aggie scoring surge in the event was led by Madalaine Stulce (155-1) and followed by Krystyn Bradley (151-9), Audrey Malone (150-4) and Kristen Clark (150-1).

Hernandez ran 1:46.64, the No. 8 performance on the Aggie all-time list, to finish behind the 1:46.62 by post-collegian Alex Amankwah while finishing ahead of LSU's Blair Henderson (1:47.30). A&M's Donavan Brazier won another section to place third overall among collegians with a 1:47.33, which is No. 5 on the A&M all-time list. Adding a fifth place finish was JaQwae Ellison in 1:49.20.

Grant also had a battle with a post-collegian, former LSU hurdler Quincy Downing, in the 400m hurdles as both stopped the clock at 49.76. The difference in time was 49.755 to 49.760 in favor of Downing. Florida's TJ Holmes (50.46) was the next collegian and the next three places were taken by Aggies – Jackson Davis (52.09), Dewitt Thomas (52.21) and Aikan Graham (52.22) – as they finished 1-2-3 in another section.

Audie Wyatt cleared 17-9 (5.41) to win the pole vault competition, which was moved indoors. Jacob Wooten followed in second place with a 17-3 (5.26) clearance. Chase Wolfle and Carl Johansson both no heighted as they attempted 16-9 ¼ and 16-3 ¼ on opening heights.

Producing a career best time of 3:45.79 in the 1,500m placed Alex Riba second to LSU's Blair Henderson, who won in 3:45.20. Riba moves to No. 7 on the A&M all-time list.

The Aggie men's 4x400 unit place second in 3:07.49 with a crew of freshmen that included Eric Age, Richard Rose, Donavan Brazier and Thomas. LSU won the race in 3:03.25 while a second A&M squad placed third in 3:09.54. That foursome included H. Hernandez, Kris Brander, Ellison and Graham.

Throwing matching marks of 194-5 (59.26) in the hammer placed Alison Ondrusek and Carissa van Beek third and fourth. Ondrusek had the better second best throw of 193-1 (58.86) to finish higher. For Ondrusek it's the No. 9 performance on the A&M all-time list while van Beek moves to No. 4 performer and equals the No. 9 performance.

Other third place efforts included Katie Willard in the 800m with a 2:09.89 and Elijah Morrow in the 100m with a wind-aided 10.47.

The men's discus was competitive with seven feet separating the top five finishers. Jeff Bartlett placed fourth for the Aggies with a toss of 184-8 (56.30). Alabama throwers finished 1-2-3-5, led by winner Joe Williams with a winning mark of 189-11 (57.88). Bartlett later posted a career best mark of 57-1 ½ to place fifth in the shot put.

Annie Kunz finished fourth in the women's high jump with a 5-8 ½ (1.74) clearance. Samuel McSwain cleared 6-9 ½ (2.07) in the men's high jump for fourth place. Second through fifth place all cleared the same height as Alabama's Justin Fondren won the event with a 6-11 ½ (2.12) effort.

The top finisher in a deep women's pole vault for the Aggies was Emily Gunderson, who tied for eighth with a height of 13-3 ¾ (4.06).