Aggies improve distance medley school record, Garrett Cragin clears 7 feet indoors

Saturday, February 17

College Station

5 p.m.

Texas A&M

Aggie Twilight

Photo by: Errol Anderson

Feb 17, 2018 | Track and Field

Aggie Twilight - final results Aggie Twilight - final results PDF

COLLEGE STATION – In its final regular season home meet prior to hosting the SEC and NCAA Indoor Championships, the Aggie Twilight Invitational on Saturday served as a chance for some to tune-up for next week's conference meet while others were out to prove they should be on the squad representing Texas A&M.

Earlier in the day, the Aggie women improved upon the school record in the distance medley relay to 11:03.10 while the Texas A&M men ran the second fastest time in school history, 9:32.99, as they competed on the oversized track in the Alex Wilson Invitational hosted by Notre Dame.

"With this kind of meet, you go into it not knowing what you'll get out of it," Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry said of the Twilight Invitational. "This team lined up and we got a lot of things done. We accomplished what we wanted to do.

"We have three or four holes that we felt like we needed to watch this weekend to see who was going to fill those next few spots on the team. That's the value of this meet today."

Garrett Cragin cleared seven feet in the high jump for the first time indoors, winning the event with a height of 7-0 ¼ (2.14) to equal the No. 7 performer on the Aggie all-time list. Austin Cook, the school record holder in the weight throw, produced his fifth best performance on the all-time list with a winning toss of 67-3 ¼ (20.50) to better the meet record he established last year.

"It's a mark I've been trying to get indoors for three years now," noted Cragin. "To finally get it was good, especially at a home meet with conference coming up next weekend. To get the seven-foot barrier out of the way was nice."

In the women's weight throw, Alison Ondrusek challenged the meet record she set a year ago with a winning toss of 65-2 (19.86). Teammate Carissa van Beek (61-3 ½) and Celine Markert (53-8 ¼) placed third and fourth. Markert also registered a victory in the shot put with a season best effort of 50-4 (15.34).

"It was nice to be consistent where I've been this indoor season, which has been a couple of feet farther than past seasons," said Ondrusek. "Now I'm ready to go for next week. I'll have another week of practice, then I'll be ready for some good competition in the SEC Championships."

The Aggie women finished seventh in the distance medley relay at the Alex Wilson Invitational as the time of 11:03.10 was produced by Jazmine Fray (3:25.1), Glorilisha Carter (51.9), Brittany Parker (2:07.9) and Sammy Watson (4:38.0). Earlier this season the same quartet broke the school record with a time of 11:12.06 with splits of 3:27.21, 55.03, 2:06.86 and 4:42.97.

Eastern Michigan claimed the women's relay race in 11:00.51, followed by Indiana (11:00.77), Kansas (11:01.19), Oklahoma State (11:01.55), BYU (11:01.77) and Arkansas (11:02.31). The Aggies finished ahead of Notre Dame (11:03.38), Michigan (11:05.63), Mississippi State (11:12.51), and Washington (11:14.17).

The men's distance medley relay was contested over two sections with Texas A&M racing in the second heat. A time of 9:32.99 by the Aggies was the second fastest time in school history as they placed fourth in the section and ninth overall.

The Texas A&M foursome included Taylor Clayton (2:58.2), Robert Grant (45.1), Devin Dixon (1:49.2), and Alex Riba (4:00.2). The Aggie school record of 9:29.71 was set during the 2012 season in New York.

The fastest times at Notre Dame were produced in the first section with Stanford leading the way with a 9:26.91. They were followed by Oregon (9:27.17), Wisconsin (9:27.72), Indiana (9:28.62), and Notre Dame (9:28.79). Texas claimed the second section in 9:31.80 ahead of Iowa State (9:32.14), Bradley (9:32.31) and the Aggies.

This middle distance crew racing in the Aggie Twilight added some highlights. Valerie Bradley and Ashton Hutcherson led a pack of eight Texas A&M runners with times of 4:56.17 and 4:58.53. Rachel Bernardo placed third with a 5:05.91. Bradley's time ranks No. 13 on the Aggie all-time list.

Miler Hannah Campbell dropped down to the 800m and won in 2:13.46 over teammates Margaret Hoffmann (2:13.67) and Jianni McDole (2:13.70). In the men's 800m, JaQwae Ellison (1:50.49) and Ian Cazares (1:50.49) finished second and third.

Meet records were broken in the men's and women's 60m hurdles. Taryn Milton claimed the women's race in 8.45 over teammates Chinyere Njoku (8.51) and Zharia Moore (8.52). Tyler Guillory broke the meet record in the men's hurdle race with an 8.02 in the prelims. He ran faster in the final, but his 7.98 trailed the winning time of 7.95 by Javier Lopez of Texas A&M-Kingsville.

Brenessa Thompson matched her season best of 7.38 as runner-up in the 60m as Diamond Spaulding won the 200m in 23.46 with Amber Ivy runner-up in 23.53. In the men's sprints a close race had Kyree Johnson (47.13) edging out teammate Bryce Deadmon (47.29).

Karis Jochen won the women's 3,000m in 9:56.32, while Cameron Villarreal ran 8:39.74 to win the men's 3,000m. Brandt Preston led a field of six Aggies in the men's mile with a 4:13.50.

Audie Wyatt improved his meet record in the men's pole vault as he cleared 17-7 ¾ (5.38) and had three attempts at 18-3 (5.56). Tyra Gittens set a meet record in the women's high jump (5-7 ¾), Augusta Thomason bettered the pole vault field (13-5 ¼), Ciynamon Stevenson won the long jump (18-7).