Despite not stepping foot on a track since Dec. 3, 2021, the Texas A&M track and field team put on a show for their first meet in College Station.
Jan. 14 marked day one of the two-day Ted Nelson Invitational at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium. Three Aggies from the A&M men’s and women’s track and field team broke meet records, one on Friday and two on Saturday.
Sophomore high jumper Lamara Distin cleared an indoor personal best 6-2/1.88m to win the women’s portion, and senior Jake Lamberth jumped a personal best 7-1.75/2.18m to win the men’s portion.
Both high jumpers made the A&M all-time top-12 indoor performer list, with Distin placing second on the list and Lamberth placing fifth.
A&M track and field coach Pat Henry said he was proud of the two jumpers’ performances along with their teammate sophomore Carter Bajoit.
“Carter jumped 7-0.5 as well,” Henry said. “To have two guys jump over 7-0 right now is good, and to have Lamara jump 6-2 is the best she’s ever jumped indoors.” 
As for the track, A&M had multiple runners place first in their races, including sophomore Brandon Miller, an 800m runner from St. Louis. Miller clocked a 1:47.48 to win the men’s 800m. This time placed him seventh on the top-12 all-time list, making him the all-time, third-fastest under-20 American in the indoor 800m.
“As small of a guy that [Miller] is, to put together what he does is amazing,” Henry said.“ [Miller] is a tough little nut. That kid is good, he’s really good and he’s just going to continue to get better.”
A few other Aggies, including a current professional runner, put on impressive performances. Fifth-year long jumper Deborah Acquah won her long jump event with a 21-1.25/6.43m jump. Olympic gold medalist runner Athing Mu won the women’s mile run with a meet record time of 4:37.99.
Henry said with the losses of Deon Lendore and Chance Gibson, the past month has been hard for the A&M athletes.
“As close as those two were to this team, it has been a difficult time and a very difficult week,” Henry said. “It is hard to keep an eye on the target for many of them, so I thought a lot of them did a really good job.”
A&M will return to the track on Saturday, Jan. 22 for the Texas Aggie Invitational in the Gilliam Indoor Stadium.