LSU Invitational next adventure for Aggies prior to SEC Championships

Saturday, April 21

Waco, Texas

9 a.m.

Texas A&M

Michael Johnson Classic

Photo by: Errol Anderson

Apr 26, 2018 | Track and Field

Final Schedule LSU Invitational 4 28 18 Entries - LSU Invitational 2018

BATON ROUGE – The final meet of the outdoor season prior to the conference track and field championships will have Texas A&M competing in the LSU Invitational at Bernie Moore Stadium on Saturday.

The meet, which is free to attend, will begin at 9 a.m. with field events while running events start at 10:45 a.m. and should conclude at 3 p.m. Results from the meet will be available online: http://results.deltatiming.com/lsu/tf/2018-lsu-invitational.

"It's always a good meet at LSU, and normally we have good weather and good competition," said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. "We look forward to going down there, LSU has a real good team and their women are ranked No. 1 right now.

"They are not going to score the meet, which changes things up a little bit, and they will have post-collegians competing as well. We're still going to put a lot of people on the track and do the best we can. This is our last competition before the SEC Championships."

In addition to LSU and Texas A&M, the field of teams will include Akron, Alabama, Auburn, Houston, Mississippi and North Carolina A&T.

Among the men's national team computer rankings from USTFCCCA, the Aggies are ranked No. 4 this week along with No. 3 Alabama, No.6 Houston, No. 12 LSU, No. 18 North Carolina A&T, and No. 19 Mississippi.

In the women's field there are five teams nationally ranked among the top 25. They include No. 1 LSU, No. 8 Texas A&M, No. 19 Mississippi, No. 23 Alabama and No. 24 Akron.

Last year, when LSU hosted the SEC Relays on this weekend, the Aggies produced a pair of collegiate records in the men's and women's sprint medley relays. This time only the 4x100 and 4x400 relays will be contested.

LSU currently sports the collegiate leading time in both sprint relays heading into this weekend, with times of 38.84 for the men and 42.50 for the women, while Texas A&M men have the U.S. leading time in the 4x400 relay at 3:02.19. In all, the LSU Invitational will feature current NCAA or SEC leaders in 12 events.

The Aggies have a trio of conference leaders in Devin Dixon (400m – 45.22, 800m – 1:47.00), Audie Wyatt (pole vault – 18-4 ½) and Will Williams (long jump – 26-4 ½).

Collegiate leaders, under all-conditions, for LSU also include Aleia Hobbs (100m – 10.86w) and Kymber Payne (400m hurdles – 55.92). Other conference leaders include Alabama's Ketavious Walters (100m – 10.12), Tonea Marshall of LSU (100m hurdles – 12.73w) and Mississippi's Brian Williams (discus – 200-9).

After lowering his career best in the 400m to 45.22 at Baylor, Dixon returns to the 800m. He leads the SEC with a 1:47.00 that also ranks third among all collegians this season. The 800m field at LSU will include Texas A&M's Alex Riba, who recently broke the school record in the 1,500 for a second time this season.

Williams and Tahar Triki will both long jump at LSU. In addition to leading the SEC, Williams ranks second among collegians and is fifth when including wind-aided marks. Wyatt and teammate Jacob Wooten currently rank first and second in the SEC pole vault, and are fifth and 13^th among all collegians.

Mylik Kerley will race in the 400m for the first time this outdoor season. Aggies joining Kerley in the event will be Kyree Johnson, Richard Rose and Colby Zamzow.

Kerley split 44.6 as the opening leg of the Aggie 4x400 that bettered the facility record at Baylor with a 3:02.19 victory last week. Kerley's last open 400m race was during the NCAA Indoor Championships when he placed third in 45.16.

Sammy Watson races at 800m this weekend after her foray in the 400m at Baylor. Watson has produced a time of 2:03.94 during the outdoor season, which ranks eighth among collegians and makes her the third fastest freshman during the outdoor campaign.

A loaded 110m hurdle field awaits Texas A&M's Tyler Guillory. Athletes ranked 2-3-5 among collegians are scheduled to compete. That trio includes Alabama's Ruebin Walters (13.31), LSU's Damion Thomas (13.43w), and Michael Dickson of North Carolina A&T (13.72).

In the women's 100m hurdles, Gabrielle McDonald leads a crew of five Aggies among a field that includes LSU's Marshall (12.73w), who ranks third among collegians, and Kayla White of North Carolina A&T, who ranks ninth with a 12.91.

Lauren Lawless and McDonald will pair up in the 400m hurdles for Texas A&M. Lawless set a career best of 58.82 in winning the Michael Johnson Invitational last week. The field includes collegiate leader Payne of LSU as well as Aggie alum Janiel Bellille.

Maddy Stulce (173-6) and Kristen Clark (170-11) currently rank second and third in the SEC javelin as well as 12^th and 13^th among all collegians. They will face a former SEC champion in LSU alum Rebekah Wales, who won the SEC title last year with a career best of 191-0.

Aggie freshman Gabe Oladipo will contest the shot put and discus at LSU. He produced season best marks of 57-2 and 186-6 as runner-up in invitational sections in both events last week at Baylor. In the discus, Oladipo is the U.S. junior leader with the collegiate discus and ranks fifth on the world junior list.

The discus field at LSU will include Williams of Mississippi, who set the Bernie Moore Stadium record with a 210-4 winning effort at the 2017 SEC Relays, as well as Alabama's Kord Ferguson, who ranks second in the SEC and seventh among collegians with a season best of 197-6. Williams has a best of 200-9 in 2018 that currently ranks fourth among collegians.