Texas A&M Punches 24 Tickets to NCAA Championships

BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M men’s and women’s track & field teams punched 24 tickets to the NCAA Outdoor Championships June 9-12 in Eugene, Oregon, after completing the NCAA West Regional Saturday night at E.B. Cushing Stadium. 

After qualifying five entries to Eugene prior to the final day of competition, Texas A&M advanced an additional 19 entries to the NCAA Championships in the last day of competition of the NCAA West Regional. 

Athing Mu highlighted the day winning the 400m with a collegiate record time of 49.68. Mu bettered her American Under-20 record by .16 seconds and ranks No. 4 on the world U-20 all-time list. 

Fellow Aggies, Charokee Young and Tierra Robinson-Jones punched tickets to Eugene with personal best runs in the 400m. Young became the third fastest performer in school history finishing fourth at 50.85, she also met the Olympic qualifying standard. Robinson-Jones clocked 51.50, she became the seventh best performer in Aggie history. 

The 400m trio was back at it a few hours later, along with Jaevin Reed as the foursome clocked a world-leading 4x400m time of 3:25.84. The quartet became the third fastest relay in school history. 

Prior to the record breaking performance, the Aggies men’s 4x100m team of Emmanuel Yeboah, Devon Achane, Lance Broome and Jace Comick started the day hot as the first event on the track. The relay clocked 38.93 to finish as the top team in the west. Less than two hours later, Achane qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 100m with a personal best time of 10.26, before finishing his day punching his ticket in the 200m at 20.40. Broome also qualified in the 200m with a time of 20.60.

Bryce Deadmon (400m) and Brandon Miller (800m) each finished as the top runner in their respective events. Deadmon clocked 44.57 in the 400m, while Miller ran a personal best 1:45.57 in the 800m. Miller became the fourth fastest under-20 American all-time and set an NCAA West Regional Preliminary record. Devin Dixon gutted out a strong finish in the 800m to advance to Eugene with a qualifying time of 1:47.65. 

Moitalel Mpoke bettered his Texas A&M school record in the 400m hurdles with a time of 48.81, advancing him to the NCAA Championships. Mpoke’s time is currently No. 3 in the NCAA and No. 8 in the world.

Mpoke, Deadmon, Dixon and Omajuwa Etiwe combined to clock 3:03.12 in the 4x400m to finish as the second fastest relay in the west to advance to Eugene. 

In the field events, the women’s jumps trio of Lamara Distin (high jump), Tyra Gittens (high jump) and Deborah Acquah (triple jump) qualified for nationals in their respective events. Acquah finished the triple jump as the top competitor with a west prelims record mark of 45-0.25 (13.72m). Distin and Gittens cleared 5-11.5 (1.82m) to qualify to Eugene. 

Other individual qualifiers include, Kaylah Robinson and Summer Thorpe in the 100m hurdles. Robinson clocked 13.13 to become the ninth fastest performer in school history, while Thorpe ran 13.22. 

The women’s 4x100m relay of Zhane Smith, Robinson, Rachel Hall and Laila Owens secured the last qualifying spot with a time 44.65.

Next Up
Texas A&M travels to Eugene, Oregon, to compete in the NCAA Outdoor Championships beginning June 9-12 at Hayward Field. 

Texas A&M Quotes
Head Coach Pat Henry
on advancing all four relays:
“I think anytime you advance all four relays, you have to be pleased with that. We are trying to do that. That is a yearlong plan. For us to be able to do that today, I am happy with that. It’s not just about qualifying, it’s about going to Eugene and doing something there. I think we have the athletes that can do some things.”

on hosting the NCAA West Regional:
“I’m proud of Texas A&M and I’m proud of everyone that helped run this track meet. We had a lot of people around the community give me a call or send me a note expressing how happy they were to have this many people in town. When you bring all these people to town, it has a great impact on the local businesses and restaurants.”

Aggies Advancing to the NCAA Championships
Men (10 Qualifying Entries)
4x100m Relay
4x400m Relay
Devon Achane – 100m, 200m
Lance Broome – 200m
Bryce Deadmon – 400m
Devin Dixon – 800m
Sam Hankins – Javelin
Brandon Miller – 800m
Moitalel Mpoke – 400m Hurdles

Women (14 Qualifying Entries)
4x100m Relay
4x400m Relay
Deborah Acquah – Long Jump, Triple Jump
Lamara Distin – High Jump
Tyra Gittens – Long Jump, High Jump, Heptathlon
Taryn Milton – Long Jump
Athing Mu – 400m
Tierra Robinson-Jones – 400m
Kaylah Robinson – 100m Hurdles
Summer Thorpe – 100m Hurdles
Charokee Young – 400m