Friday, February 24
Fayetteville, Ark.
Texas A&M
at
SEC Indoor Championships
Photo by: Evan Pilat/Texas A&M Athletics
Aggies Sweep High Jump in Final Day of SEC Championships
Feb 26, 2023 | Track and Field
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Ushan Perera and Lamara Distin won SEC titles in the high jump competitions for the Texas A&M men's and women's track & field teams on day two of the SEC Indoor Championships on Saturday.
Perera claimed the victory with a clearance of 7-4.25/2.24m, topping defending champion Roberto Vilches of Missouri. Perera won his second straight high jump competition after making his Aggie debut at the Clemson Tiger Paw Invitational. The mark is his second-best this season and equals the third-best performance in school history.
Two-time defending high jump champion Lamara Distin won her third straight SEC title after clearing 6-4.75/1.95m. Distin led a trio of scoring Aggie women high jumpers, as Ally Andress cleared 5-10.75/1.80m to tie for sixth and Bára Sajdoková placed eighth after going over 5-9.75/1.77m. Distin's mark is the No. 2 jump in school history, second only to her own school record from the Tiger Paw Invitational.
In the women's 400m, Tierra Robinson-Jones earned the bronze medal with a personal best time of 51.27. The time tops her fastest by almost a full second and makes her the fifth-best performer in school history. Jermaisha Arnold took seventh in the event, clocking 52.05 add two points to the Aggies' score.
Connor Schulman added another bronze for the Aggies as he placed third in the 60m hurdles in 7.73. The race came down to a photo-finish but Schulman prevailed, as he claimed his first SEC medal.
In the men's mile, Gavin Hoffpauir placed fifth in the mile, storming down the homestretch to cross the line in 4:05.43.
The freshman heptathlon duo of Landon Helms and Blake Harris placed seventh and ninth, respectively, in the two-day competition. Helms recorded a three personal bests on his way to scoring 5492, the fourth-best performance in school history, while Harris topped five personal bests to score 5472 to make him the No. 6 performer in school history.
Texas A&M has been plagued with injuries this season, as multiple top athletes were unable to compete at the SEC meet. G'Auna Edwards, Sam Whitmarsh and Carter Bajoit, all past SEC medalists, did not compete due to injury. Edwards, the 2021 SEC Indoor bronze medalist, held the top pentathlon mark in the conference leading up to the meet, before being injured at the Tiger Paw Invitational. Whitmarsh, the 2022 SEC Outdoor silver medalist, and Bajoit, the 2022 Indoor bronze medalist, have not competed this season due to injury.
Shot putter Bryce Foster made his return from injury, earning sixth place with a toss of 61-7.75/18.79m, the No. 6 mark in school history. This was Foster's first competition since his ACL reconstruction surgery in October.
The men's 4x400m team of Eric Hemphill III, DeMarco Escobar, Cutler Zamzow and Ashton Schwartzman clocked 3:06.06 to place fifth overall after Arkansas, Florida and Kentucky did not finish.
The women's 4x400m team of Jermaisha Arnold, Kennedy Wade, Jania Martin and Tierra Robinson-Jones was leading the final race of the day before dropping the baton. Arnold got the Aggies started off hot with a 51.91 split to lead the field through the first leg before handing off to Wade, who split 51.90. Martin got the baton and led through 100 meters before having the baton knocked out of her hand twice, ending the day for the team.
In the men's team competition, Arkansas won the meet with 100.25 points, while the Aggies placed 10th with a total of 42 points.
On the women's side, Arkansas won with 130.5 points, as the Aggies finished with 26.5 points to place 10th overall.
Texas A&M Quotes
Head Coach Pat Henry
On Moving Forward from the SEC Meet …
"It goes without saying that I'm extremely disappointed with the overall results of our team. It's obvious that other programs are operating in a different manner in which we are. Change is inevitable, and we are going to have to change. It's going to take help to make this change. Commitment is a big part of being successful. It's not just young people's commitment, it's our commitment as an institution as well. We have a lot of positive things, but we have a lot of catching up to do as well. That's going to be the goal going forward. We have some tremendous athletes on the team, but we don't have any depth. We lost some of the best athletes in the world to the professional ranks. It's difficult to fill those holes, it changes the dynamic of the program. It's going to take some time filling those holes. We were missing three of our best athletes to injury, and three people make a big difference. All of that said, we are Texas A&M and we will bounce back. This program has been strong for a long time, and we will be strong."
To learn more about Texas A&M Track & Field/Cross Country, log on to 12thMan.com and follow @aggietfxc.
Perera claimed the victory with a clearance of 7-4.25/2.24m, topping defending champion Roberto Vilches of Missouri. Perera won his second straight high jump competition after making his Aggie debut at the Clemson Tiger Paw Invitational. The mark is his second-best this season and equals the third-best performance in school history.
Two-time defending high jump champion Lamara Distin won her third straight SEC title after clearing 6-4.75/1.95m. Distin led a trio of scoring Aggie women high jumpers, as Ally Andress cleared 5-10.75/1.80m to tie for sixth and Bára Sajdoková placed eighth after going over 5-9.75/1.77m. Distin's mark is the No. 2 jump in school history, second only to her own school record from the Tiger Paw Invitational.
In the women's 400m, Tierra Robinson-Jones earned the bronze medal with a personal best time of 51.27. The time tops her fastest by almost a full second and makes her the fifth-best performer in school history. Jermaisha Arnold took seventh in the event, clocking 52.05 add two points to the Aggies' score.
Connor Schulman added another bronze for the Aggies as he placed third in the 60m hurdles in 7.73. The race came down to a photo-finish but Schulman prevailed, as he claimed his first SEC medal.
In the men's mile, Gavin Hoffpauir placed fifth in the mile, storming down the homestretch to cross the line in 4:05.43.
The freshman heptathlon duo of Landon Helms and Blake Harris placed seventh and ninth, respectively, in the two-day competition. Helms recorded a three personal bests on his way to scoring 5492, the fourth-best performance in school history, while Harris topped five personal bests to score 5472 to make him the No. 6 performer in school history.
Texas A&M has been plagued with injuries this season, as multiple top athletes were unable to compete at the SEC meet. G'Auna Edwards, Sam Whitmarsh and Carter Bajoit, all past SEC medalists, did not compete due to injury. Edwards, the 2021 SEC Indoor bronze medalist, held the top pentathlon mark in the conference leading up to the meet, before being injured at the Tiger Paw Invitational. Whitmarsh, the 2022 SEC Outdoor silver medalist, and Bajoit, the 2022 Indoor bronze medalist, have not competed this season due to injury.
Shot putter Bryce Foster made his return from injury, earning sixth place with a toss of 61-7.75/18.79m, the No. 6 mark in school history. This was Foster's first competition since his ACL reconstruction surgery in October.
The men's 4x400m team of Eric Hemphill III, DeMarco Escobar, Cutler Zamzow and Ashton Schwartzman clocked 3:06.06 to place fifth overall after Arkansas, Florida and Kentucky did not finish.
The women's 4x400m team of Jermaisha Arnold, Kennedy Wade, Jania Martin and Tierra Robinson-Jones was leading the final race of the day before dropping the baton. Arnold got the Aggies started off hot with a 51.91 split to lead the field through the first leg before handing off to Wade, who split 51.90. Martin got the baton and led through 100 meters before having the baton knocked out of her hand twice, ending the day for the team.
In the men's team competition, Arkansas won the meet with 100.25 points, while the Aggies placed 10th with a total of 42 points.
On the women's side, Arkansas won with 130.5 points, as the Aggies finished with 26.5 points to place 10th overall.
Texas A&M Quotes
Head Coach Pat Henry
On Moving Forward from the SEC Meet …
"It goes without saying that I'm extremely disappointed with the overall results of our team. It's obvious that other programs are operating in a different manner in which we are. Change is inevitable, and we are going to have to change. It's going to take help to make this change. Commitment is a big part of being successful. It's not just young people's commitment, it's our commitment as an institution as well. We have a lot of positive things, but we have a lot of catching up to do as well. That's going to be the goal going forward. We have some tremendous athletes on the team, but we don't have any depth. We lost some of the best athletes in the world to the professional ranks. It's difficult to fill those holes, it changes the dynamic of the program. It's going to take some time filling those holes. We were missing three of our best athletes to injury, and three people make a big difference. All of that said, we are Texas A&M and we will bounce back. This program has been strong for a long time, and we will be strong."
To learn more about Texas A&M Track & Field/Cross Country, log on to 12thMan.com and follow @aggietfxc.
Players Mentioned
Multis
/ Track and Field
Mid-Distance
/ Track and Field
High Jump
/ Track and Field
Jumps
/ Track and Field
Jumps
/ Track and Field
Throws
/ Track and Field
Sprints/Jumps
/ Track and Field
Multis
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Distance
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Hurdles
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Sprints
/ Track and Field
Mid-Distance
/ Track and Field
Sprints
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