Aggie sprinters earn gold and bronze in 4x100 final at World Championships

LONDON – Texas A&M sprinters earned a pair of 4x100 relay medals Saturday, the ninth day of the IAAF World Championships at London Stadium, with Aggie senior Aaliyah Brown leading off the winning United States squad as alum Simone Facey ran the third leg of Jamaica's bronze medal effort.
 
In the men's javelin final, Aggie senior Ioannis Kyriazis, representing Greece, finished sixth with a throw of 277-3 (84.52), his sixth-best performance on the Texas A&M all-time list.
 
Brown led off the 4x100 relay for the United States in the prelim and final while Facey raced in the final for Jamaica.
 
In the final, the Americans cruised to a world-leading time of 41.82 seconds as Great Britain placed second in 42.12 with Jamaica third in 42.19. The final also included Germany (42.36), Switzerland (42.51), Trinidad & Tobago (42.62), Brazil (42.63) and the Netherlands (43.07).
 
Brown handed the baton to Allyson Felix while Morolake Akinosun and Tori Bowie completed the final two legs. During the prelim the foursome of Brown, Felix, Akinosun and Ariana Washington posted a then world-leading time of 41.84.
 
"It's definitely a blessing to be on a gold medal relay on my first world championships team," said Brown. "For me to set the tone on the first leg and give the baton to Allyson Felix, one of the greatest track athletes, was a great feeling. I was confident in my job, I knew I could set the tone on the first leg, close the gap and get us in the race.
 
"This was my goal for this season, to get to the World Championships. Then to top it off with a gold medal in the relay is great. As Texas A&M we were doing our thing out here today. It's really great to be another Texas A&M person that people can talk about getting a medal in these championships."
 
Joining Facey on the Jamaica sprint relay were Jura Levy and Natasha Morrison on the first two legs with Sashalee Forbes anchoring.
 
"It's always great to get a medal," stated Facey. "We were looking forward to winning gold, but it wasn't meant to be. Getting the bronze medal means a lot to us since it's a young team. I'm just happy for this bronze medal and I'm happy for the younger ladies.
 
"After the race, I told Aaliyah congrats. It's always good to represent our school. For both of us to come out with medals is a great feeling."
 
The third round javelin toss of 277-3 moved Kyriazis from 10^th place to fourth place and he ended up in fifth place as the field of 13 was trimmed to eight for the final three rounds. Kyriazis opened with a 261-0 (79.57) after his effort was slightly delayed with the start of the men's 5,000m final. Then he improved to 267-11 (81.68) in round two.
 
"Obviously, I was kind of stressed out going into the third round," noted Kyriazis. "I tried to calm down. I knew I had the meters, I knew I could throw further. So, I just focused and had a good throw. It kind of worked, but I'm not happy with sixth place. Although, I can't be sad either."
 
In the fourth round Kyriazis threw 271-7 (82.79), the eighth best performance on the Aggie all-time list, then fouled his fifth round effort and finished with a 260-8 (79.47).
 
World leader Johannes Vetter of Germany won the javelin title with a throw of 294-11 (89.89) in the first round. The Czech Republic claimed silver and bronze with Jakub Vadlejch (294-4 | 89.73) and Petr Frydrych (289-9 | 88.32) both producing career best throws.
 
Thomas Rohler of Germany (289-6 | 88.26) finished fourth. Also finishing ahead of Kyriazis was Finland's Tero Pitkamaki (285-3 | 86.94) in fifth place. Placing behind Kyriazis was 2012 Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad & Tobago (277-2 | 84.48).
 
"I should be super excited with my performance, since I beat some people like Olympic champion Walcott, and a couple of guys who have thrown over 90 meters," said Kyriazis. "The thing that matters is who is better on a specific day."
 
The second day of the decathlon started with a time of 15.36 for Lindon Victor in the 110m hurdles, scoring 807 points to increase his total to 4,999. However, three fouls in the discus resulted in no score that event.
 
The 16^th IAAF World Championships conclude on Sunday with Fred Kerley part of the United States 4x400 relay.
 
2017 IAAF World Championships – Schedule for Texas A&M Athletes
(London time listed first, followed by Central time)
 
Sunday, August 13
      9:15 p.m.      3:15 p.m.           M 4x400    FINAL            (Fred Kerley – relay pool)