Gittens Finishes NCAA Championships as Top Point Scorer

Texas A&M’s multi-eventer Tyra Gittens finished the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Championships as the meet’s top point scorer with 24 points. 

Over the course of three days Gittens won the heptathlon with 6,285 points, finished second in the open long jump at 21-11 (6.68m) and third in the open high jump 6-1.5 (1.87m). She scored 24 points, the most points ever scored solely in field events at a single NCAA Outdoor Championship meet. During the NCAA Indoor Championships she finished with 26 points, the third most by any female athlete ever at an NCAA Indoor Championships meet.

Gittens started her outdoor meet on Thursday with the open long jump. Jumping on fresh legs, Gittens soared out to 20-10.5 (6.36m) on her first attempt to sit in second place after the first round of jumps. Rounds two and three, she managed to land at 20-5.25 (6.23m) and found herself sitting in third seventh place heading into the finals. It was on her fifth attempt she long jumped to 21-6.25 (6.56m) to move to third overall. On her last attempt, Gittens flew down the runway and soared out to 21-11 (6.68m) to move into second after the series of jumps to score eight points for the Aggies. 

Her mark of 21-11 (6.68m) is the second farthest wind-legal mark of her career. Gittens has a personal best wind-legal mark of 22-10 (6.96m), which surpasses the Olympic Qualifying standard. 

Back in action the next morning, Gittens started her heptathlon running 13.46 in the 100m hurdles to score 1,056 points. She followed by winning the high jump with a clearance of 6-0.5 (1.84m), moving her to first overall with 2,085 points and never looked back. Gittens recorded a shot put mark of 43-8 (13.31m) and ran 23.79 in the 200m to close out the first day with 3,834 points, a 162 point lead. 

The junior started Saturday’s heptathlon competition with a long jump mark of 21-9.5 (6.64m) to extend her lead by 416 points with an overall score of 4,887 after five events. The remaining two events, Gittens stayed in control of the lead as she threw the javelin 135-4 (41.24m) and finished the 800m at 2:28.88. She claimed the national heptathlon title with 6,285 points, the second most points in her career behind her school record mark of 6,418. Dating back to the 2019 season, Gittens has scored over 6,000 points on five occasions owning the top five all-time performances in Texas A&M history. Most importantly, she added 10 crucial points to the Aggie team total. 

Prior to running the heptathlon 800m, the multi-athlete was in a heated high jump battle with fellow Aggie Lamara Distin and Rachel Glenn of South Carolina. Gittens passed on the opening height of 5-8 (1.73m), she followed by clearing 5-10 (1.78m) on her second attempt. The high flyer cleared the next two heights of 5-11.25 (1.81m) and 6-0.5 (1.84m) on first attempts. Gittens cleared 6-1.5 (1.87m) on her second attempt before failing to clear 6-2.75 (1.90m), placing her third overall to score six points for Texas A&M and bring her three day total to 24 points. Distin cleared all six heights on first attempts before bowing out 6-4 (1.93m). The freshman placed second with an all-time personal best height of 6-2.75 (1.90m), making her the third best performer in school history.

Gittens’ 24 points accounted for 38% of the Aggies team total of 63 and would’ve placed her ninth in the team standings.