BATON ROUGE, La. – The Texas A&M men's and women's track & field teams prepare to compete at the SEC Outdoor Championship meet hosted by LSU at Bernie Moore Stadium starting Thursday and wrapping up Saturday.
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A highly competitive conference, the SEC is home to nine ranked women's teams and seven ranked men's teams. The Aggie women enter the meet ranked No. 7, while their competition includes No. 2 Florida, No. 3 Arkansas, No. 6 LSU, No. 8 Georgia, No. 9 Kentucky, No. 10 Ole Miss, No. 18 Alabama and No. 20 Tennessee. The Texas A&M men will face off against No. 1 Arkansas, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 Alabama, No. 5 Tennessee, No. 6 LSU, No. 16 Georgia and No. 24 Auburn.
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The Aggies enter the meet with 12 competitors ranked in the top three in their respective events, including two conference leaders.
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Lamara Distin holds three consecutive SEC high jump titles to her name and enters as the favorite with her season best mark of 6-4.75/1.95m, which leads the nation. Distin has jumped at two meets during the outdoor season, clearing 6-4/1.93m to finish as the top collegian at the Mt. SAC Relays, and winning the LSU Alumni Gold meet with a clearance over 6-4.75/1.95m.
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Teddy Radtke leads the conference with his 3000m steeplechase time of 8:54.00, which he ran at the Penn Relays. Radtke made a huge breakthrough at the SEC meet last year, finishing fourth in a time of 8:54.70, taking over 10 seconds off his previous personal best. He leads the SEC and is one of only conference two athletes to break the nine-minute barrier this year.
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Other Aggies in the top three of their events include Jermaisha Arnold (No. 2 400m, 50.71), Tierra Robinson-Jones (No. 3 400m, 50.90), Julia Abell (No. 3 3000m Steeplechase, 10:13.74), Heather Abadie (No. 2 Pole Vault, 14-1.75/4.34m), Lianna Davidson (No. 2 Javelin, 187-4/57.09m), Joniar Thomas (No. 3 Heptathlon, 5557), Women's 4x400m (No. 2, 3:25.79), Connor Schulman (No. 3 110m Hurdles, 13.54), Zach Davis (No. 2 Pole Vault, 17-7.75/5.38m) and Jack Mann III (No. 3 Pole Vault, 17-6.5/5.35m).
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The Maroon & White return 14 athletes that scored at the 2022 SEC Outdoor Championship meet. Along with Distin (first, high jump) and Radtke (fourth, 3000m Steeplechase), the Aggies return Ryan Martin (eighth, 100m), Connor Schulman (seventh, 110m Hurdles), Tierra Robinson-Jones (sixth, 400m), James Smith II (second, 400m Hurdles), Sam Whitmarsh (second, 800m), Eric Casarez (seventh, 5000m and sixth, 10,000m), Carter Bajoit (fifth, High Jump), Katelyn Fairchild (second, Javelin), Lianna Davidson (fifth, Javelin), Heather Abadie (eighth, Pole Vault), Zach Davis (fifth, Pole Vault) and Bryce Foster (eighth, Shot Put). On the relay side, the Aggie women's 4x100m squad finished third, the women's 4x400m team placed second, while the men's relay team finished fourth.
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Thursday's action begins at 11:30 a.m. CT with the decathlon 100m, while the running events are slated to start at 5:30 p.m. CT with the men's 800m.
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Fans can follow the live results provided by Delta Timing, or watch the live stream on SEC Network+.
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Texas A&M Quotes
Head Coach Pat Henry
On the Level of Competition at the SEC Meet…
"The SEC Championships is the best track meet in the country. There is no question about that. This is extremely competitive. If you look at the number of top teams in this conference that are among the top 10 in the country, you know people can dominate. This is a very competitive meet, and it's really the first time the teams all see each other to compete. We see each other from time to time, but we never get everybody together all at once except for this meet."
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On How to Compete at the SEC Championship Meet…
"We've had some good competitions as a group and a scattering of good performances, but this is a day where you have to have a whole lot of people have a great day on the same day just to be competitive in this meet. We have young people and a few older people in our group, and we've had a scattering of good performances. It's time to do it on the same day."
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To learn more about Texas A&M Track & Field/Cross Country, log on to 12thMan.com and follow @aggietfxc.
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A highly competitive conference, the SEC is home to nine ranked women's teams and seven ranked men's teams. The Aggie women enter the meet ranked No. 7, while their competition includes No. 2 Florida, No. 3 Arkansas, No. 6 LSU, No. 8 Georgia, No. 9 Kentucky, No. 10 Ole Miss, No. 18 Alabama and No. 20 Tennessee. The Texas A&M men will face off against No. 1 Arkansas, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 Alabama, No. 5 Tennessee, No. 6 LSU, No. 16 Georgia and No. 24 Auburn.
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The Aggies enter the meet with 12 competitors ranked in the top three in their respective events, including two conference leaders.
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Lamara Distin holds three consecutive SEC high jump titles to her name and enters as the favorite with her season best mark of 6-4.75/1.95m, which leads the nation. Distin has jumped at two meets during the outdoor season, clearing 6-4/1.93m to finish as the top collegian at the Mt. SAC Relays, and winning the LSU Alumni Gold meet with a clearance over 6-4.75/1.95m.
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Teddy Radtke leads the conference with his 3000m steeplechase time of 8:54.00, which he ran at the Penn Relays. Radtke made a huge breakthrough at the SEC meet last year, finishing fourth in a time of 8:54.70, taking over 10 seconds off his previous personal best. He leads the SEC and is one of only conference two athletes to break the nine-minute barrier this year.
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Other Aggies in the top three of their events include Jermaisha Arnold (No. 2 400m, 50.71), Tierra Robinson-Jones (No. 3 400m, 50.90), Julia Abell (No. 3 3000m Steeplechase, 10:13.74), Heather Abadie (No. 2 Pole Vault, 14-1.75/4.34m), Lianna Davidson (No. 2 Javelin, 187-4/57.09m), Joniar Thomas (No. 3 Heptathlon, 5557), Women's 4x400m (No. 2, 3:25.79), Connor Schulman (No. 3 110m Hurdles, 13.54), Zach Davis (No. 2 Pole Vault, 17-7.75/5.38m) and Jack Mann III (No. 3 Pole Vault, 17-6.5/5.35m).
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The Maroon & White return 14 athletes that scored at the 2022 SEC Outdoor Championship meet. Along with Distin (first, high jump) and Radtke (fourth, 3000m Steeplechase), the Aggies return Ryan Martin (eighth, 100m), Connor Schulman (seventh, 110m Hurdles), Tierra Robinson-Jones (sixth, 400m), James Smith II (second, 400m Hurdles), Sam Whitmarsh (second, 800m), Eric Casarez (seventh, 5000m and sixth, 10,000m), Carter Bajoit (fifth, High Jump), Katelyn Fairchild (second, Javelin), Lianna Davidson (fifth, Javelin), Heather Abadie (eighth, Pole Vault), Zach Davis (fifth, Pole Vault) and Bryce Foster (eighth, Shot Put). On the relay side, the Aggie women's 4x100m squad finished third, the women's 4x400m team placed second, while the men's relay team finished fourth.
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Thursday's action begins at 11:30 a.m. CT with the decathlon 100m, while the running events are slated to start at 5:30 p.m. CT with the men's 800m.
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Fans can follow the live results provided by Delta Timing, or watch the live stream on SEC Network+.
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Texas A&M Quotes
Head Coach Pat Henry
On the Level of Competition at the SEC Meet…
"The SEC Championships is the best track meet in the country. There is no question about that. This is extremely competitive. If you look at the number of top teams in this conference that are among the top 10 in the country, you know people can dominate. This is a very competitive meet, and it's really the first time the teams all see each other to compete. We see each other from time to time, but we never get everybody together all at once except for this meet."
Â
On How to Compete at the SEC Championship Meet…
"We've had some good competitions as a group and a scattering of good performances, but this is a day where you have to have a whole lot of people have a great day on the same day just to be competitive in this meet. We have young people and a few older people in our group, and we've had a scattering of good performances. It's time to do it on the same day."
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To learn more about Texas A&M Track & Field/Cross Country, log on to 12thMan.com and follow @aggietfxc.