Sammy Watson

Photo by: Russell James/Texas A&M Athletics

Nadia Pakes, Brittany Parker, Sammy Watson, Jean Jenkins, Miah Nelson

Photo by: Russell James/Texas A&M Athletics

Photo by: Texas A&M Athletics

Position:
Middle Distance
Class:
Freshman
High School:
Rush-Henrietta
Hometown:
Rochester, New York

2018 NCAA Outdoor 800m champion
2018 NCAA Indoor 800m bronze medalist
Swept 2018 SEC Indoor and Outdoor 800m titles
Part of five Texas A&M school records in her freshman season: 1,000m (indoor), Distance medley relay (twice indoor), 4x800 relay (outdoor), Distance medley relay (outdoor)

SOPHOMORE (2019) – Indoors: Won 1,000m in 2:50.94 to start season, the No. 6 performance on the Aggie all-time list where she holds school record of 2:42.12 … Raced in the mile at Ted Nelson Invitational, but did not finish … Member of runner-up 4x400 relay (3:39.78) at Texas A&M Triangular … Runner-up in 800m with a 2:06.89 at Texas Tech Classic … Member of third-place 4x400 relay (3:38.49) at Charlie Thomas Invitational.

2018 (FRESHMAN): Won the NCAA Outdoor 800m title, posting a time of 2:04.21 in adverse weather conditions in Eugene, Oregon, as she held off the challenge by Abike Egbeniyi of Middle Tennessee State (2:04.33) … Watson became just the third freshman to win the NCAA Outdoor 800m title, and the first since 2015 when Oregon’s Raevyn Rogers achieved the feat, while the other frosh winner was Oregon’s Rebekah Noble in 2006 … Watson is the first NCAA 800m winner for the Texas A&M women’s program, as she and teammate Jazmine Fray became the first Aggie females to score in the NCAA Outdoor event … Posted a season best time of 2:01.46 to win the USATF Junior title in Bloomington, Indiana, qualifying for the World U20 Championships in Tampere, Finland … Won the SEC Outdoor 800m in a time of 2:03.37, leading an Aggie trio that scored 22 points off a 1-2-5 finish by Watson, Fray and Brittany Parker … Completed a sweep of SEC 800m titles after winning the indoor conference meet in 2:04.25 … After winning SEC Indoor title, placed third at NCAA Indoor with a time of 2:02.65 on the Aggies home track … First race at 800m in an A&M uniform produced a victory in 2:03.42 at Clemson Tiger Paw Invitational.

Produced five times in 800 during outdoor season that rank among the all-time top 10 performances at Texas A&M … Her marks rank No. 2 performer, No. 3 performance (2:01.46 US Juniors) along with performances No. 5 (2:02.20 NCAA West), 6 (2:02.49 LSU Inv.), 8 (2:02.65 NCAA semifinal) and 10 (2:03.37 SEC final) … Indoors, her marks in 800 rank as No. 2 performer, No. 4 performance (2:02.65 NCAA Indoor), along with performances 6 (2:03.42 Clemson), 7 (2:03.55 NCAA prelim), 9 (2:04.25 SEC final), and 11 (2:04.71 NCAA prelim) … Won the 1,500 at UCLA in 4:21.45, making her the No. 3 performer with the No. 5 performance on the Aggie all-time list.

Anchored Aggie 4x800 relay to a school record victory at Texas Relays, splitting 2:05.60 as Texas A&M posted a time of 8:29.45 to shatter the previous school record of 8:42.42 from 2011 as well as edge the Texas Relays meet record of 8:29.77 set by Texas in 1986 and the Myers Track facility record of 8:33.11 set by UCLA in 2011 … Ran opening leg of distance medley relay (splitting 3:25.06 for 1,200m) that placed second in Texas Relays with a school record 11:09.43 to better the previous record of 11:26.60 set in 2015 … Anchored Aggie 4x400 relay to a fifth-place effort in the SEC Championships.

Indoors, was part of two school record performances in the distance medley relay … Anchored Aggies, with a 4:42.97 on 1,600m leg, to an 11:12.06 winning effort at Texas A&M’s Ted Nelson Invitational, to break previous school record of 11:29.89 from 2012 … Bettered that performance with an 11:03.10 seventh-place performance on oversized track at Notre Dame’s Alex Wilson Invitational with Watson splitting 4:38.0 on the anchor leg … Also ran anchor leg on 11:21.86 (4:49.11 split) effort for fourth place in SEC Championships.

Debut race for the Aggies came in the 1,000m in December’s Reveille Invitational … Posted a time of 2:42.12 in the 1,000m which ranks seventh on the collegiate indoor all-time list and bettered the Texas A&M school record of 2:43.15 set last season by Jasmine Fray … Watson’s career best time of 2:40.72 set as a senior in high school during the 2017 season is slightly better than the current collegiate record of 2:40.79, which was also set in 2017.

Named to The Bowerman women’s preseason watch list … One of two freshmen to be named among the 10 athletes selected for the preseason watch list, the first time any freshman in the history of The Bowerman has been selected… At 18 years old, Watson is also the youngest, by age, to be chosen for the watch list.

HIGH SCHOOL: Career best times by Watson from her high school career include 52.69 (400m), 1:27.13 (600m indoors), 2:00.65 (800m), 4:22.09 (1,500m) and 4:47.49 (mile indoors) … In the 800m, her 2:00.65 ranks third all-time in high school and she also produced five of the top 10 all-time performances … During the 2017 indoor season, Watson established national high school records at 600m (1:27.13), 800m (2:01.78) and 1,000m (2:40.72 A) … Her 800m mark broke the 1974 national record of 2:01.8 set by Mary Decker and it is also the U.S. Junior record … A time of 2:43.18 at 1,000m, set at altitude during the prelims USATF Indoor Championships held in Albuquerque, bettered the national high school record of 2:43.43 set in 2005 by Sarah Bowman … In the final she lowered the record to 2:40.72 in placing fourth among a field of professional athletes.

International accolades for Watson include winning a World junior title in the 800m in 2016 while also running on the gold-medal 4x400 relay. In 2015, she was the World youth champion in the 800m … Watson was 15 when she claimed the World Youth 800m title in 2:03.54 … The Youth level includes ages 17 and under … The following year, as a 16-year-old, she won the World Junior 800m title in 2:04.52 after running a then career best of 2:02.91 at the U.S. Junior Championships … The Junior level competition includes ages 19 and under.

In 2015, Watson anchored the Rush-Henrietta high school sprint medley to an indoor high school record of 3:52.68 as she supplied a 2:06.78 800m anchor leg. Outdoors, the Rush-Henrietta squad produced a high school record of 3:47.65 in the sprint medley with Watson clocking a 2:03.07 anchor leg at 800m.