EUGENE – Texas A&M sophomore Tahar Triki won the triple jump at the NCAA Championships with a leap of 55 feet, 1 inch (16.79) on Friday in front of a Hayward Field crowd of 11,644. The Aggies wrapped up the men's portion of the meet with a runner-up finish in the 4x400 relay with a time of 2:59.91.
Triki, a native of Algeria, became just the second Aggie to win the NCAA Outdoor triple jump, joining Latario Collie (2016). Triki is also the second Texas A&M jumper to score in the long jump and triple jump in the same NCAA Outdoor meet, joining Julian Reid (2009, 2011).
With 29 points the Aggie men placed seventh in team scoring, producing Texas A&M's 11th consecutive top 10 finish in the NCAA Championships.
Georgia won the national team title with 52 points, Florida was runner-up at 42 while Houston placed third with 35. The rest of the top 10 included USC (34), Alabama (33), Texas Tech (33), Texas A&M (29), Stanford (28), LSU (28) and Mississippi State (28).
The Aggie foursome earning a silver medal in the 4x400 relay included Bryce Deadmon (45.6), Kyree Johnson (45.0), Ilolo Izu (45.42) and Devin Dixon (43.92). Dixon recorded the fastest anchor split ever by a Texas A&M sprinter, topping the 43.96 (semi) and 43.99 (final) set by Fred Kerley in last year's NCAA meet.
Opening with a 53-0 ¼ (16.16) in the triple jump, Triki led the field of 24 through the first round as the jumpers were split into two adjacent pits. Passed by a couple of jumpers at the start of the second round, Triki responded with his 55-1 to take over the lead for good.
"With the weather, rain and cold conditions, we didn't search for a good mark," noted Triki. "We just searched for a mark that would win the gold medal. It was a really good competition with KeAndre Bates as well as the guys from Texas Tech and TCU. When they passed me in the second round that excited me to do better.
"Yesterday, in the long jump, my runway approach was the best it's been this year. My goal in the long jump was to get a place in the top three, but I wasn't able to do that since my last step was bad. I will fix it for next year, and I will win both events next year."
The rest of the series for Triki included marks of 52-10 ¼ (16.11), 53-9 (16.38), 54-7 ½ (16.65) and 55-0 (16.76). Runner-up in the event was Texas Tech's Odaine Lewis at 54-10 ¾ (16.73) with defending champion KeAndre Bates third with a 54-6 ¾ (16.63). Bates was runner-up in 2016 behind Collie.
Triki's winning mark is the No. 7 performance on the Aggie all-time list, while his 55-0 equals the No. 9 performance.
USC won the 4x400 final in a collegiate record time of 2:59.00 to break the 2:59.59 set by LSU in 2005. The Trojans also bettered the facility record of 2:59.60 set by Texas A&M in 2014. Finishing third in the race was LSU (3:00.56), followed by Florida (3:01.83), Houston (3:04.03), Arkansas (3:04.54), Baylor (3:04.54) and Stanford (3:05.50).
The U.S. leading 2:59.91 runner-up time for the Aggies ranks second on the school's all-time list behind the 2:59.60 set in winning the 2014 title.
Dixon also placed fifth in the 800m final with a time of 1:45.86, the fifth fastest performance on the Texas A&M all-time list. Penn State's Isaiah Harris claimed the victory in 1:44.76 with Marco Arop of Mississippi State runner-up in 1:45.25 as both registered career bests. Collegiate record holder Michael Saruni of UTEP finished third in 1:45.31.
Leading the field through the first lap of the race, Dixon split 24.4 at 200m and 51.09 at 400m. The field started to pass Dixon with 300m remaining in the race. As the leaders passed 600m, Dixon had dropped back, splitting 1:18.4. A strong finish, though, enabled Dixon to pass a couple of runners and claim fifth as he ran the second lap in 54.77.
Running in lane eight, Infinite Tucker finished eighth in the 400m hurdles with a time of 50.76. USC's Rai Benjamin won the race in a collegiate record of 47.02, equal to the second fastest time ever in the world, as he broke the previous collegiate standard of 47.56 set in 2005 by Florida's Kerron Clement.
Through the first day of the heptathlon, Tyra Gittens is in third place with 3,548 points while Shaina Burns is 18th with 3,353 points. The event leader through four events is Georgia's Louisa Grauvogel with 3,752 points followed by Georgia Ellenwood of Wisconsin with 3,668 points.
Gittens opened with a 13.31 in the 100m hurdles, just a .10 of second off her career best, for 1,078 points. In the high jump a clearance of 5-7 ¾ (1.72) earned 879 points while a 40-9 (12.42) shot put added 689. Completing the first day with the 200m, Gittens ran 24.83 for 902 points.
Burns started with a 14.27 (941 points) in the 100m hurdles, and cleared 5-5 ¼ (1.66) in the high jump for 806 points. Producing the top shot put mark of 45-1 ¾ (13.76) scored 778 points and moved Burns into eighth place. Finishing with a 25.98 in the 200m added 799 points to Burns total.
The final day of the NCAA Championships includes the continuation of the heptathlon along with finals for Texas A&M in the 4x100 relay and 800m on the track. In field events, the Aggies are will contest the discus and triple jump.
Texas A&M Schedule – NCAA Championships – Eugene, Oregon
(times listed in Pacific time)
Saturday, June 9
Triki, a native of Algeria, became just the second Aggie to win the NCAA Outdoor triple jump, joining Latario Collie (2016). Triki is also the second Texas A&M jumper to score in the long jump and triple jump in the same NCAA Outdoor meet, joining Julian Reid (2009, 2011).
With 29 points the Aggie men placed seventh in team scoring, producing Texas A&M's 11th consecutive top 10 finish in the NCAA Championships.
Georgia won the national team title with 52 points, Florida was runner-up at 42 while Houston placed third with 35. The rest of the top 10 included USC (34), Alabama (33), Texas Tech (33), Texas A&M (29), Stanford (28), LSU (28) and Mississippi State (28).
The Aggie foursome earning a silver medal in the 4x400 relay included Bryce Deadmon (45.6), Kyree Johnson (45.0), Ilolo Izu (45.42) and Devin Dixon (43.92). Dixon recorded the fastest anchor split ever by a Texas A&M sprinter, topping the 43.96 (semi) and 43.99 (final) set by Fred Kerley in last year's NCAA meet.
Opening with a 53-0 ¼ (16.16) in the triple jump, Triki led the field of 24 through the first round as the jumpers were split into two adjacent pits. Passed by a couple of jumpers at the start of the second round, Triki responded with his 55-1 to take over the lead for good.
"With the weather, rain and cold conditions, we didn't search for a good mark," noted Triki. "We just searched for a mark that would win the gold medal. It was a really good competition with KeAndre Bates as well as the guys from Texas Tech and TCU. When they passed me in the second round that excited me to do better.
"Yesterday, in the long jump, my runway approach was the best it's been this year. My goal in the long jump was to get a place in the top three, but I wasn't able to do that since my last step was bad. I will fix it for next year, and I will win both events next year."
The rest of the series for Triki included marks of 52-10 ¼ (16.11), 53-9 (16.38), 54-7 ½ (16.65) and 55-0 (16.76). Runner-up in the event was Texas Tech's Odaine Lewis at 54-10 ¾ (16.73) with defending champion KeAndre Bates third with a 54-6 ¾ (16.63). Bates was runner-up in 2016 behind Collie.
Triki's winning mark is the No. 7 performance on the Aggie all-time list, while his 55-0 equals the No. 9 performance.
USC won the 4x400 final in a collegiate record time of 2:59.00 to break the 2:59.59 set by LSU in 2005. The Trojans also bettered the facility record of 2:59.60 set by Texas A&M in 2014. Finishing third in the race was LSU (3:00.56), followed by Florida (3:01.83), Houston (3:04.03), Arkansas (3:04.54), Baylor (3:04.54) and Stanford (3:05.50).
The U.S. leading 2:59.91 runner-up time for the Aggies ranks second on the school's all-time list behind the 2:59.60 set in winning the 2014 title.
Dixon also placed fifth in the 800m final with a time of 1:45.86, the fifth fastest performance on the Texas A&M all-time list. Penn State's Isaiah Harris claimed the victory in 1:44.76 with Marco Arop of Mississippi State runner-up in 1:45.25 as both registered career bests. Collegiate record holder Michael Saruni of UTEP finished third in 1:45.31.
Leading the field through the first lap of the race, Dixon split 24.4 at 200m and 51.09 at 400m. The field started to pass Dixon with 300m remaining in the race. As the leaders passed 600m, Dixon had dropped back, splitting 1:18.4. A strong finish, though, enabled Dixon to pass a couple of runners and claim fifth as he ran the second lap in 54.77.
Running in lane eight, Infinite Tucker finished eighth in the 400m hurdles with a time of 50.76. USC's Rai Benjamin won the race in a collegiate record of 47.02, equal to the second fastest time ever in the world, as he broke the previous collegiate standard of 47.56 set in 2005 by Florida's Kerron Clement.
Through the first day of the heptathlon, Tyra Gittens is in third place with 3,548 points while Shaina Burns is 18th with 3,353 points. The event leader through four events is Georgia's Louisa Grauvogel with 3,752 points followed by Georgia Ellenwood of Wisconsin with 3,668 points.
Gittens opened with a 13.31 in the 100m hurdles, just a .10 of second off her career best, for 1,078 points. In the high jump a clearance of 5-7 ¾ (1.72) earned 879 points while a 40-9 (12.42) shot put added 689. Completing the first day with the 200m, Gittens ran 24.83 for 902 points.
Burns started with a 14.27 (941 points) in the 100m hurdles, and cleared 5-5 ¼ (1.66) in the high jump for 806 points. Producing the top shot put mark of 45-1 ¾ (13.76) scored 778 points and moved Burns into eighth place. Finishing with a 25.98 in the 200m added 799 points to Burns total.
The final day of the NCAA Championships includes the continuation of the heptathlon along with finals for Texas A&M in the 4x100 relay and 800m on the track. In field events, the Aggies are will contest the discus and triple jump.
Texas A&M Schedule – NCAA Championships – Eugene, Oregon
(times listed in Pacific time)
Saturday, June 9
| 11:30 a.m. | Heptathlon | Long Jump | Tyra Gittens, Shaina Burns | |
| 12:45 p.m. | Heptathlon | Javelin | Tyra Gittens, Shaina Burns | |
| 3:05 p.m. | Women | Discus | FINAL | Serena Brown |
| 3:32 p.m. | Women | 4x100 Relay | FINAL | Texas A&M |
| 3:40 p.m. | Women | Triple Jump | FINAL | Lajarvia Brown, Ciynamon Stevenson |
| 4:44 p.m. | Women | 800m | FINAL | Jazmine Fray, Sammy Watson |
| 5:13 p.m. | Heptathlon | 800m | Tyra Gittens, Shaina Burns |