In front of a hometown crowd pumped up by the Yell Leaders, Texas A&M track and field recorded an impressive 36 personal bests, including a new No. 1 collegiate time in the country for the men’s 4x400m relay during the Charlie Thomas Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
The men and women entered the final indoor home meet of the regular season on Feb. 7-8 at the R.A. Murray Fasken ’38 Indoor Track & Field facility, ranked No. 2 and No. 8, respectively, in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll.
With only one meet remaining before hosting the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships, coach Pat Henry believes the coaching staff has prepared the teams to peak at just the right moment.
“I think for where we are in the season right now, we had some really good efforts for this time of year,” Henry said. “We’re coming up to a very important meet next week at Clemson, but then it’s the conference championships, so this is one of the last two rehearsals.”
The highlight of the weekend was a record-breaking finish in the men’s 4x400m relay, the final event. Led by redshirt senior Auhmad Robinson, the team held the lead throughout the eight-lap race. Junior Hossam Eddine Hatib picked up the second leg and then passed the baton to senior Antonie Nortje before senior Kimar Farquharson anchored to a new facility and new meet record time of 3:02.88 seconds.
The Aggies competed against 14 other schools: Baylor, East Texas A&M, Houston, Mississippi State, North Texas, Oklahoma Baptist, Rice, SMU, TCU, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas State, UT-Arlington, UTSA and West Texas College.
Freshman Sofia Yakushina made her debut in the collegiate pentathlon, taking second place with 4,234 points, a new No. 3 in the A&M all-time record book. Winning both the long jump with a leap of 6.07 meters and the 800 meters in 2:14.49, Yakushina set personal bests in the 60m hurdles, shot put and long jump to rank No. 5 in the NCAA. Senior Madison Murray picked up fifth place with 3,847 points and three new personal bests.
Junior Blake Harris, the Aggie men’s sole heptathlete, finished third overall with 5,502 points and first place in the 60m hurdles with a time of 7.97.
Out on the track, sophomore Shewaye Johnson won with a personal best and facility record in the women’s 5000m in 16:53.15, while junior Nicole Chastain took third with a mark of 17:16.09.
For the men, sophomore Aiden Gonzalez-Rodiles took second in 14:36.42, while sophomore Noah Willows took fourth with a personal best time of 14:38.05.
Friday closed with the 200m races and more personal bests, including the second-fastest time of the 10 heats, a 20.99 mark run by senior Mason Mangum. Senior Cutler Zamzow and junior DeMarco Escobar had personal bests of 21.23 and 21.73, respectively.
Junior Winny Bii kickstarted Saturday with the win and new meet and facility records in the women’s triple jump. Bii flew to 13.82 meters in her best jump, beating the old 12.95-meter facility record and 13.77-meter meet record. The Aggie men took first and second in the triple jump with sophomore Jaden Harris jumping a season-best 15.23 meters for second.
Senior Heather Abadie wrapped up the field events by tying her own school record in the women’s pole vault at 4.40 meters for a second-place finish.
Senior Jermaisha Arnold pulled the audience’s attention back to the track with a season-best and first-place finish in the women’s 400m with a time of 51.86.
“[I was] definitely playing music, like Michael Jackson to get crunked up, and spending time with my family as well, just laughing and doing funny stuff,” Arnold said after the race. She added she is looking to “PR” before the SEC championship and “looking to win.”
Junior Jaiya Covington kept up the winning streak in 60m hurdles topping the preliminary, semi-final, and final rounds to win at 8.09 after setting a new meet record of 8.04 in the preliminary round.
Junior Ja’Qualon Scott sped to second in the men’s 60m hurdle finals at 7.64 seconds. The women swept the 60m podium with junior Camryn Dickson on top at 7.31, senior Bria Bullard with a personal best of 7.33 for second and senior Jasmine Montgomery in third at 7.40.
Distance running took centerstage with junior Kennady Fontenot taking first in the women’s 3000m with a new personal best and facility record of 9:23.61 to move to second in the A&M all-time record book. Junior Maddie Livingston finished third in 9:33.63 with a personal best and a 12th fastest A&M all-time mark.
Senior Jonathan Chung took first with a time of 8:13.6 to join the crew of personal bests to finish with a 7.45-second margin from the rest of the pack.
In the final minutes of the meet, the Maroon and White pumped up the fans with music and a light show before a top-15 NCAA time and first-place finish by the women’s 4x400m relay team of senior Latasha Smith, freshman Yierra Flemings, senior Kennedy Wade and Arnold at a time of 3:32.52.
The men’s 4x400m relay set a new No. 7 all-time A&M mark.
The Aggie are on the road to South Carolina at Clemson University on Feb. 14-15 for the Tiger Paw Invitational.
