Aggie women sweep 4x100, 4x200 relays on final day of Texas Relays

Wednesday, March 29

Austin, Texas

All Day

Texas A&M

Texas Relays

Photo by: Errol Anderson

Apr 01, 2017 | Track and Field

AUSTIN – Four more wins attained by the Aggies on the final day of the 90^th Texas Relays, in front of a crowd that numbered 21,120 fans, had Texas A&M collecting 10 victories over the span of the four-day meet with five of the first-place efforts coming in relay events.

The overall performance had the Aggie men being named the most outstanding team of the Texas Relays while Lindon Victor garnered the top individual honor for his collegiate record in the decathlon. This marks the third consecutive year for Texas A&M to receive the most outstanding team award and the seventh time in the past nine years.

"To open with a decathlon collegiate record, Lindon did a great job starting us off," said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. "I'm extremely pleased with the performances we had this weekend. We couldn't have had too much better of a meet. Our kids did a great job."

The Aggie women swept the 4x100 and 4x200 titles for the first time since 2010 while the Texas A&M men claimed the 4x400 for the fourth time since 2010 and 12^th time overall.

"It was a great time here at the Texas Relays," noted Aaliyah Brown, who anchored both of the women's relay victories on Saturday. "I love this track. I just wanted to come out here and give everybody a great show. I finished strong on both of my legs in the 4x200 and 4x100. Our goal was to get the baton around as fast as we could."

Texas A&M women broke the meet record in the 4x200 as they clocked a 1:29.89 for the victory. It's the third fastest collegiate time ever, trailing the collegiate record 1:29.42 set by Texas A&M in 2010 and a 1:29.78 run by LSU in 2003. The previous Texas Relays meet record was 1:30.01 set by LSU in 2012.

Running on the 4x200 relay for the Aggies were Diamond Spaulding, Brenessa Thompson, Jaevin Reed and Aaliyah Brown. Finishing behind Texas A&M were USC (1:32.45), Purdue (1:34.66), Houston (1:34.84), Northwestern State (1:35.70) and LSU (1:36.06), who dropped the baton.

Brown also anchored the Aggies to victory in the 4x100 as Texas A&M produced a winning time of 42.82, which equals the No. 8 performer on the Texas A&M all-time list. Running the first three legs were Spaulding, Danyel White and Brenessa Thompson.

"I told the ladies, bring that baton to me and I promise you I've got you guys," said Brown. "That's what I did, I finished really well and it was one of the best finishes I've ever had. I made sure I finished with another gear."

Finishing behind the Aggies were LSU (42.86), Texas (43.99), Houston (44.29), USC (44.46) and Baylor (44.70).

This marks the fifth time for the Aggies to win the Texas Relays sprint relay and each has been with a sub-43. It's also the third time Texas A&M has swept the women's 4x100 and 4x200 relays.

"Aaliyah just flat out won the last 100m in the 4x100," noted Henry. "She is running fast right now. She ran 11.21 this weekend and is starting to step it up and run. In the 4x200, if we would have had some competition today we might have set the collegiate record. We were right at the collegiate record we have in the event."

A time of 3:01.74 secured the victory for the Aggies in the men's 4x400 over Baylor (3:03.11), Texas Tech (3:03.28), LSU (3:06.10), Clemson (3:06.13) and USC (3:06.49). The foursome for Texas A&M included Richard Rose (46.0), Fred Kerley (44.0), Devin Dixon (46.28) and Mylik Kerley (45.43).

"It's a blessing to always win a race, but at the end of the day it's still just a starting point for the outdoor season," noted Fred Kerley. "We want to win at the end when it's all said and done.

"I couldn't pay attention to the crowd's reaction during my leg, because I have a tunnel vision in getting the baton around to my teammate."

Henry added: "It was a big day for Fred. I'm just glad he was able to overcome some soreness and I was a little concerned about it earlier today. Fred is a good communicator and he lets me know exactly what's going on. So, I trusted him in the mile relay, and you can tell, you can't run 44-flat hurt. You might run that time sore, but you can't run 44 hurt."

In the women's 4x400 the Aggies were runner-up in 3:29.18 behind a 3:26.27 by USC, who broke the collegiate record indoors when they won the NCAA Indoor title in College Station. Finishing behind Texas A&M in the race were Texas (3:31.55), Baylor (3:33.03), Purdue (3:35.55) and Clemson (3:36.79).

The relay squad for Aggie women included Briyahna Desrosiers (53.2), Reed (51.8), White (51.80) and Jazmine Fray (52.41).

Thompson and Brown later raced in the final of the 100 meters and both clocked 11.45 with Thompson (11.442) having the edge over Brown (11.446). LSU's Kortnei Johnson won the race in 11.19 with Baylor's Taylor Bennett runner-up in 11.34.

The Aggie men finished second in the 4x200 with a 1:22.28 behind a 1:20.82 for LSU. Running for Texas A&M were Robert Grant, Deon Hickey, Mylik Kerley, and Elijah Morrow. The Aggie men opted not to run in the 4x100 final.

Serena Brown claimed the B section of the discus with a throw of 169-7 (51.68) and defeated the defending champion in the process. Teammate Celine Markert, who won the B division last year, placed third with a 161-4 (49.19). Markert also contested the shot put, placing 12^th in the main division with a mark of 46-4 ¾ (14.14).

Brown, who opened with a foul and a 148-4 in round two, moved up from ninth place to first place with her best effort in the third stanza. She added a 169-2 in the fourth round.

In the men's 4x800 relay the Aggies challenged for the win, but a time of 7:29.16 left them trailing Clemson's 7:28.89. Kansas (7:29.96) finished third and Baylor (7:33.97) was fourth. The relay foursome included Blake Chiuminetta (1:54.86), Efrain Hernandez (1:52.25), Kinsey Gaines (1:51.45) and JaQwae Ellison (1:50.60).

A bit of traffic at the first exchange zone had Hernandez running into the back of a Wayland Baptist runner just a stride after receiving the baton. Hernandez managed to move the Aggies from sixth place to third when he passed along the baton.

Will Williams jumped 26-1 ¼ (7.96) twice as he finished second in the long jump. He recovered from a pair of fouls to start the competition, getting a mark of 25-0 ½ to move into fourth place. In rounds four and five Williams registered the same distance of 26-1 ¼ with a 1.6 and a 1.5 wind reading. Winning the event was Charles Brown of Texas Tech with a leap of 26-8 ½ (8.14).

Audie Wyatt cleared 18-0 ½ (5.50) for sixth place in the pole vault. Wyatt missed at 18-4 ½, passed and then had two misses at 18-8 ¼. Virginia Tech's Torben Laidig won the event with by clearing 18-8 ¼ (5.70).