The Aggies produced outstanding individual performances at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas — a highly anticipated meet as teams are two weeks from the conference championships.
The two-day meet at Randal Tyson Track Center started on Friday and featured Audie Wyatt who attempted the A&M pole vault record but fell short, completing 17 feet 9 inches to win the event. The second and final day of the Tyson Invitational was highlighted by the Aggies winning both the men’s and women’s distance medley relays in 9:48.41 and 11:54.95, respectively.
Jennifer Madu jumped 20-7 ½ into second place for long jump. After last week’s school-record performance in the women’s 800, Katie Willard ran a strong race and was the runner-up in 2:07.15, between a pair of post-collegiate Arkansas runners. A&M’s freshman Jazmine Fray ran a blazing time of 2:10.31 to take fifth. Another freshman, JaQwae Ellison, clocked 1:49.60 for for second place in the men’s 800m behind the 1:48.79 by Texas Tech’s Charles Jones.
Shamier Little ran the women’s Invitational 400m in 52.43 for 4th place overall while Aggie Fred Kerley ran 47.27 to place 13th. Devin Jenkins posted 6.72 to finish sixth in the men’s 60m dash final. In the women’s 60m, Aaliyah Brown and Madu both ran 7.42 in the prelims, but Brown advanced after photo finish showed her beating her teammate across the line. Brown finished fourth in her section of the semifinal in 7.38.
The women’s Invitational mile had A&M’s Katie Watson finish second in a personal-best of 4:53.01 and teammate Arin Rice clock 4:58.05. The trio of Aggies in the men’s Invitational mile included Alex Riba who placed third with a 4:08.87, Ryan Teel finished fifth in 4:10.38 and Nathan Ricketts posted a 4:11.84 for eighth.
The squad of Aggies competing in the weight throw was led by a season best of from Alison Ondrusek posting a 61-1 ½ to place sixth women’s weight throw. Shelbi Vaughan placed eighth in the weight throw with a mark of 60’4 ½’’ and in the men’s long jump, Will Williams leaped to a mark of 24’ 5 ½’’ to place seventh. Deon Hickey won his section of the 400m with a 47.32 — putting him in seventh overall.
The Aggies ran 9:48.41 and 11:54.95 for men’s and women’s in the distance medley relay to claim both victories. In the men’s relay race, Ryan Teel ran the 1200 in 3:01.08, Donavan Brazier the 400 in 46.97, Gaines Kinsey the 800 in 1:51.55 and Alex Rib the 1600 in 4:08.81. In the same distance for each leg, the women’s squad consisted of Jazmine Fray (3:35.61), Glorilisha Carter (57.52), Katie Willard (2:12.31) and Arin Rice.
Diamond Spaulding won her heat of the Invitational 200m with a time of 23.23 to take seventh as Jeff Bartlett advanced to the finals and posted a throw of 56’ 8’’ to finish in seventh place.
Brittany Wooten cleared 13’ 1 ½’’ to finish seventh in the pole vault while Edward Davis decreased his time in the men’s college 200m to 21.33, finishing fifth. Jeffrey Prothro captured fourth place in the triple jump while Sam McSwain tied for sixth in the high jump.
The Aggies faced a highly-competitive field in the 4×400 relay as the A&M men finished fourth and women placing seventh. The Aggie men ran their best time this season to post a 3:06.73 behind Texas Tech’s 3:04.98 in their section. The A&M women were runner-up to LSU in their heat with a time of 3:34.90 — to place seventh.
Texas A&M track and field will next compete at the SEC Championships back in Fayetteville, Arkansas on Feb 26th and 27th.
