Aggie senior Fred Kerley runs 43.70 at NCAA West to break collegiate 400m record
May 26, 2017 | Track and Field
AUSTIN – Texas A&M senior Fred Kerley broke a 25-year-old collegiate record in the 400m with a time of 43.70 seconds during the quarterfinals of the event at the NCAA West Preliminary rounds at Myers Stadium on Friday afternoon.
The previous record of 44.00 was set in Austin during the 1992 NCAA Championships by USC's Quincy Watts when the Longhorn track was in Memorial Stadium. Kerley's time also ranks him the sixth best performer on the all-time U.S. list and seventh best performer on the all-time world list.
Kerley was one of 13 Aggies advancing to Eugene on Friday in eight events, joining the seven who advanced on Friday. So far, including Lindon Victor in the decathlon, Texas A&M has advanced 21 athletes to the NCAA Championship field in 14 events.
The breakdown among the Aggies includes 12 athletes in eight events for the men along with nine athletes in six events for the women.
Others heading to Eugene from Friday's competition include Audie Wyatt (pole vault), Carl Johanssen (pole vault), Jacob Wooten (pole vault), Serena Brown (discus), Jaevin Reed (400m), Briyahna Desrosiers (400m), Mylik Kerley (400m), Aaliyah Brown (100m), Brenessa Thompson (100m), Jazmine Fray (800m), Devin Dixon (800m), and Robert Grant (400m hurdles).
Joining Kerley in Eugene in the 400m was his younger brother, Mylik, who clocked a time of 45.55. Just missing advancing was Richard Rose, who clocked 45.99 to place 14th overall. Fred improved his Texas A&M record from the world-leading 44.09 he ran in the prelims of the SEC Championships two weeks ago.
Cruising to a collegiate record performance, with Quincy Watts in attendance to view the effort, Kerley became the first collegian to run sub-44 during the collegiate season. Following his NCAA Championship performance in 1992, Watts went on to win gold at the Barcelona Olympics with a time of 43.50.
"I was running smart yesterday to set up the race for today," noted Kerley. "Coach Francique and I were talking about the collegiate record being set in Austin and it would be wonderful to break it here in front of him. I just want to keep on improving."
Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry added: "That was maybe one of the best collegiate performances in history. You start looking at big-time, huge performances and 43.70 is just one of the greatest performances of all time. He was ready to go, and it's a pretty good day but not a perfect day to run a 400m.
"He set it up real well, maybe a little bit quick at 200m, but it was a really good race. His 300m time was just about what he wanted to do and he looked strong coming down the line. Quincy coaches at USC, so I got to introduce Fred and Quincy underneath the stadium here before the race. Quincy asked him if he could wait one more week to break it."
The second day of the NCAA West meet started with Texas A&M advancing three Aggies in the men's pole vault as a clearance of 17-6 ½ (5.35) sent Wyatt, Johanssen and Wooten to Eugene. While Wyatt, the NCAA Indoor runner-up, has cleared 18-8 ¼ (5.70) this season the clearance of 17-6 ½ were outdoor career bests for Johanssen and Wooten as they now equal the No. 7 position on the Texas A&M all-time list.
"It's a great thing to not only make it myself, but to make it with my teammates," said Wyatt. "At the beginning of the competition I told Jacob and Carl we need to hype each other up so all three of us can make it to Eugene."
Johanssen added: "It's the greatest thing to have all three of us advance. We all kind of push each other, so it will be good having all three of us in Eugene. I think we can all score points at nationals."
Using a shorter approach than his teammates, Wooten navigated the height needed to advance and celebrated his achievement.
"I've been slowing moving back as the season has progressed, getting back into things," said Wooten. "Things are really starting to come together at this time and I'm planning to go back to a longer approach in Eugene. So, that will be an improvement on my current heights."
In the women's discus, Aggie frosh Serena Brown had two fouls among her three attempts. On the final throw she reached a distance of 180-3 (54.95) and placed ninth overall to finish among the top 12 advancing to Eugene.
"Even after I produced that throw in the third round, the display board showed me in 16th place," said Brown. "So, I was devastated. Then my coach called me over and told me I was actually in ninth place. Tears of joy just came streaming down and I was so grateful to make it."
The women's 400m had Jaevin Reed earning an auto qualifier with her third-place finish in 52.70 while Briyahna Desrosiers advanced on time with a 52.86. Kadecia Baird placed 20th overall with a 54.34. Brenessa Thompson earned an auto qualifier in the 100m as she placed second in a windy 11.16 (3.7 wind) as Aaliyah Brown advanced on time with an 11.15 that placed her fourth in her heat.
Jazmine Fray led the 800m with a time of 2:03.65 as she held off the challenge from Boise State's Sadi Henderson (2:03.91) and Oregon's Brooke Feldmeier (2:04.82).
Early jostling in the men's 800m resulted in Devin Dixon hurdling over a fallen runner 180m into the race. Dixon recovered and battled for a top three finish, placing third in 1:48.46. Nate Roese of Minnesota won the heat in 1:48.39 while UC Irvine's Isaiah Jewett was second in 1:48.40.
The final qualifier for Texas A&M was Robert Grant, who won his 400m hurdle heat in 49.52, the fifth best time among the second round.
In first round races the Aggie trio of Diamond Spaulding, Brown and Thompson all advanced to the second round of the 200m as did Elijah Morrow in the men's race.
Spaulding and Brown each won their respective heats in barely windy 22.64. The wind in Spaulding's race was 2.1 while Brown had a 2.2. Thompson claimed her heat in 22.95w (2.2). Morrow won his heat of the men's 200m with a 20.72 (1.3 wind).
Chinyere Njoku had a windy 13.47 (4.3 wind) in the 100m hurdles, placing 20th overall while Infinite Tucker ran 14.14w (2.5 wind) to place 26th overall in the 110m hurdles.
The previous record of 44.00 was set in Austin during the 1992 NCAA Championships by USC's Quincy Watts when the Longhorn track was in Memorial Stadium. Kerley's time also ranks him the sixth best performer on the all-time U.S. list and seventh best performer on the all-time world list.
Kerley was one of 13 Aggies advancing to Eugene on Friday in eight events, joining the seven who advanced on Friday. So far, including Lindon Victor in the decathlon, Texas A&M has advanced 21 athletes to the NCAA Championship field in 14 events.
The breakdown among the Aggies includes 12 athletes in eight events for the men along with nine athletes in six events for the women.
Others heading to Eugene from Friday's competition include Audie Wyatt (pole vault), Carl Johanssen (pole vault), Jacob Wooten (pole vault), Serena Brown (discus), Jaevin Reed (400m), Briyahna Desrosiers (400m), Mylik Kerley (400m), Aaliyah Brown (100m), Brenessa Thompson (100m), Jazmine Fray (800m), Devin Dixon (800m), and Robert Grant (400m hurdles).
Joining Kerley in Eugene in the 400m was his younger brother, Mylik, who clocked a time of 45.55. Just missing advancing was Richard Rose, who clocked 45.99 to place 14th overall. Fred improved his Texas A&M record from the world-leading 44.09 he ran in the prelims of the SEC Championships two weeks ago.
Cruising to a collegiate record performance, with Quincy Watts in attendance to view the effort, Kerley became the first collegian to run sub-44 during the collegiate season. Following his NCAA Championship performance in 1992, Watts went on to win gold at the Barcelona Olympics with a time of 43.50.
"I was running smart yesterday to set up the race for today," noted Kerley. "Coach Francique and I were talking about the collegiate record being set in Austin and it would be wonderful to break it here in front of him. I just want to keep on improving."
Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry added: "That was maybe one of the best collegiate performances in history. You start looking at big-time, huge performances and 43.70 is just one of the greatest performances of all time. He was ready to go, and it's a pretty good day but not a perfect day to run a 400m.
"He set it up real well, maybe a little bit quick at 200m, but it was a really good race. His 300m time was just about what he wanted to do and he looked strong coming down the line. Quincy coaches at USC, so I got to introduce Fred and Quincy underneath the stadium here before the race. Quincy asked him if he could wait one more week to break it."
The second day of the NCAA West meet started with Texas A&M advancing three Aggies in the men's pole vault as a clearance of 17-6 ½ (5.35) sent Wyatt, Johanssen and Wooten to Eugene. While Wyatt, the NCAA Indoor runner-up, has cleared 18-8 ¼ (5.70) this season the clearance of 17-6 ½ were outdoor career bests for Johanssen and Wooten as they now equal the No. 7 position on the Texas A&M all-time list.
"It's a great thing to not only make it myself, but to make it with my teammates," said Wyatt. "At the beginning of the competition I told Jacob and Carl we need to hype each other up so all three of us can make it to Eugene."
Johanssen added: "It's the greatest thing to have all three of us advance. We all kind of push each other, so it will be good having all three of us in Eugene. I think we can all score points at nationals."
Using a shorter approach than his teammates, Wooten navigated the height needed to advance and celebrated his achievement.
"I've been slowing moving back as the season has progressed, getting back into things," said Wooten. "Things are really starting to come together at this time and I'm planning to go back to a longer approach in Eugene. So, that will be an improvement on my current heights."
In the women's discus, Aggie frosh Serena Brown had two fouls among her three attempts. On the final throw she reached a distance of 180-3 (54.95) and placed ninth overall to finish among the top 12 advancing to Eugene.
"Even after I produced that throw in the third round, the display board showed me in 16th place," said Brown. "So, I was devastated. Then my coach called me over and told me I was actually in ninth place. Tears of joy just came streaming down and I was so grateful to make it."
The women's 400m had Jaevin Reed earning an auto qualifier with her third-place finish in 52.70 while Briyahna Desrosiers advanced on time with a 52.86. Kadecia Baird placed 20th overall with a 54.34. Brenessa Thompson earned an auto qualifier in the 100m as she placed second in a windy 11.16 (3.7 wind) as Aaliyah Brown advanced on time with an 11.15 that placed her fourth in her heat.
Jazmine Fray led the 800m with a time of 2:03.65 as she held off the challenge from Boise State's Sadi Henderson (2:03.91) and Oregon's Brooke Feldmeier (2:04.82).
Early jostling in the men's 800m resulted in Devin Dixon hurdling over a fallen runner 180m into the race. Dixon recovered and battled for a top three finish, placing third in 1:48.46. Nate Roese of Minnesota won the heat in 1:48.39 while UC Irvine's Isaiah Jewett was second in 1:48.40.
The final qualifier for Texas A&M was Robert Grant, who won his 400m hurdle heat in 49.52, the fifth best time among the second round.
In first round races the Aggie trio of Diamond Spaulding, Brown and Thompson all advanced to the second round of the 200m as did Elijah Morrow in the men's race.
Spaulding and Brown each won their respective heats in barely windy 22.64. The wind in Spaulding's race was 2.1 while Brown had a 2.2. Thompson claimed her heat in 22.95w (2.2). Morrow won his heat of the men's 200m with a 20.72 (1.3 wind).
Chinyere Njoku had a windy 13.47 (4.3 wind) in the 100m hurdles, placing 20th overall while Infinite Tucker ran 14.14w (2.5 wind) to place 26th overall in the 110m hurdles.
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