Nationally ranked Aggies return to Arizona for 37th Sun Angel Classic

Friday, April 8

Tempe, Ariz.

All Day

Texas A&M

Sun Angel Classic

Apr 07, 2016 | Track and Field

TEMPE – A month into the outdoor season has Texas A&M track and field teams returning to the Arizona State campus for the 37^th Sun Angel Classic this weekend. The nationally ranked Aggies, with the men No. 3 and the women No. 5 in the latest USTFCCCA rankings, opened their outdoor campaign in the same venue during spring break in mid-March.

Teams competing in the Sun Angel Classic include host Arizona State along with Air Force, Boise State, BYU, Illinois State, Iowa State, Kansas, Minnesota, New Mexico, Notre Dame, Oregon State, Washington State, UC-Riverside, UC-San Diego, and UTEP.

Coverage of the meet is available through the Pac-12 Network, http://pac-12.com/live/arizona-state-university.

"This meet gives us the opportunity to see a little different competition following the Texas Relays," noted Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. "Arizona State always does a good job of putting on meets and there is always good competition.

"It's just another work environment for us. It gives us time to try some different situations. Also, we can emphasis individual events this weekend."

Texas A&M junior Shamier Little will make her season debut in the 400m hurdles. In previous Sun Angel meets, Little has won the 400m hurdles in 2014 (56.55) and 2015 (56.43) with it being her second or third race of the season. Little's last race over the barriers came in Beijing last August when she earned a silver medal representing the United States at the IAAF World Championships.

As the two-time defending NCAA champion, Little set a career best of 53.74 last June in winning her second national title to complete an undefeated collegiate season. She added the USATF title a couple of weeks later with a 53.83 in the final. Her summer international competition also included a gold medal at the Pan American Games in Toronto.

A&M's Ebony Crear joins Little in the field of 27 entrants for the 400m hurdles, which includes BYU alum Jennifer Grossarth, who represents Italy, and Notre Dame's Kaila Barber.

Robert Grant returns to the men's 400m hurdles this week with Aikan Graham, DeWitt Thomas and Jackson Davis. Grant set a career best of 50.21 in winning a close race in San Antonio two weeks ago. His time currently ranks third among Division I hurdlers. During the Texas Relays, Grant ran the 400m leg on the winning distance medley relay and led off the 4x200, which posted a collegiate leading time of 1:21.11.

"This will be Shamier's first run over the hurdles this season," noted Henry. "So, it'll be fun to see what Shamier is ready to do at this time. Bobby Grant is not going to run on the 4x400 this weekend and will just concentrate on running the intermediate hurdles. We will have those kinds of situations across the board with what we're going to try to do in this meet."

Hector Hernandez will race over 1,500m this weekend after running 800m legs on winning sprint medley (3:17.62) and 4x800 (7:18.95, collegiate leader) relays during the Texas Relays.

A mile race will be held in the Sun Angel Classic with Aggies Alex Riba and Austin Wells in the field. Riba posted a career best of 3:47.14 in the 1,500 during the Baldy Castillo Invitational on the Sun Angel track, which moved him to No. 12 on the A&M all-time list.

The 400m field will include Fred Kerley, Deon Hickey and Donavan Brazier in the men's race, along with Aggie alum Bralon Taplin. Last season Taplin recorded a career best of 44.89 as runner-up to Kirani James, who won in 44.31. A&M's Briyahna Desrosiers and Jarra Owens are entered in the women's 400m.

A crew of Aggie female sprinters entered in the 100m include Aaliyah Brown, Jennifer Madu, Krystal Sparling and Brenessa Thompson. Sparling won the 100m during the Baldy Castillo meet with an 11.38 that placed her 12^th on the A&M all-time list. Aggie women in the 200m include Brown, Little, Thompson and Diamond Spaulding.

Devin Jenkins, who anchored the A&M 4x200 to a collegiate-leading 1:21.11 victory at the Texas Relays, will contest the 100 and 200. The premiere division of the 100m is scheduled to include A&M alum Ameer Webb along with Canada's Andre De Grasse entered in the 100 and 200m. De Grasse won the 2015 NCAA 100m and 200m titles running for USC and tied for 100m bronze at the World Championships.

A&M will have five pole vaulters in the meet, three for the men and a pair of women. Chase Wolfle, Jacob Wooten and Carl Johansson are in the men's field. The women's field includes Sara Kathryn Stevens and Emily Gunderson.

Aggie throwers in the Sun Angel Classic include Alison Ondrusek and Carissa van Beek in Friday's hammer competition. On Saturday, Jeff Bartlett will compete in the shot put and discus while Celine Markert, who won the B division discus at Texas Relays, throws the discus again this weekend.

The women's javelin includes the A&M trio of Kristen Clark, Audrey Malone and Krystyn Bradley with Sam Hardin representing the Aggies in the men's javelin. Annie Kunz is entered in the 100 hurdles, long jump, and shot put as she prepares for her first heptathlon the following week.