It was another tight finish between the men’s teams for Texas A&M and Florida. The No. 3 Aggies edged out the top ranked Gators by half a point, winning the Razorback Invitational with 88.5 points. The No. 7 women’s team finished in seventh place with 45 points, while No. 2 Arkansas ran away with the title, tallying 118 points.
A highlight of the weekend came on the field as junior Jacob Wooten set a new Texas A&M pole vault record, clearing 18-3 to finish in first. Senior teammate Audie Wyatt held the previous record of 18-212.
“I knew that one was a school record and once I cleared it I let out a shout before I hit the mat,” Wooten, who cleared an indoor best of 18-1 ¼ last weekend, said to 12thman.com. “I’m really happy where I am in the season compared to last season. I told myself today to stay calm once I made bars and to see how far I could go.”
Wyatt finished in second place with a height of 17-11, claiming another 1-2 finish for the Aggies in the event.
“We got a lot of good things done today,” Wyatt said to 12thman.com. “I got on my biggest pole and blew through it. I’m looking forward to getting some new poles and clearing some higher heights. Jacob and I were both feeding off each other’s energy.”
Texas A&M finished on top in the distance medley relay and set a collegiate-leading time of 9:39.78. The team included Taylor Clayton (3:00.03 1,200m), Richard Rose (46.19 400m), Ian Cazares (1:51.11 800m) and Alex Riba (4:02.45 1,600m). Riba managed to pass Florida’s Jack Guyton with half a lap remaining in the race.
2017 SEC Champion Devin Dixon won the 800m in his season debut for the event with a time of 1:49.95, and would follow up by running the third leg of a winning effort for the 4×400 team.
The Aggies, who bettered their collegiate record in the 4×400 at this meet last year, closed out the meet by winning the event with a time of 3:03.95. On track for Texas A&M was Robert Grant (46.16), Ilolo Izu (46.18), Dixon (46.16) and Mylik Kerley (45.45).
“After our 400m races I was telling the guys on the relay you have to get that out of your mind and go to the next race,” Kerley said to 12thman.com. “In big meets like this that is what you have to focus on. We’re still running fast. The guys put it out there for me to finish it off.”
On the women’s side of the competition, only one athlete had a first place finish. It was collegiate record holder Jazmine Fray who won the 800m with a time of 2:02.30, confirming an event sweep for the Aggies.
“It’s still early, so I was trying the best I could,” Fray said to 12thman.com. “I definitely wanted to take out in the lead, because that’s when I know I’m going to do my best and control the race. That was the strategy going into the race.”
There were several other notable finishes for the Aggie women.
Making her pentathlon debut, Tyra Gittens finished in third, tallying 4,009 points. The total was good enough to set a new national record for Trinidad and Tobago.
Senior Alison Ondrusek claimed fourth place in the weight throw with a distance of 19.49, while the 4×400 team took second place in their competition with a time of 3:32.61. Running for the Aggies was Danyel White (53.73), Glorilisha Carter (53.09), Jarra Owens (53.73) and Fray (52.06).
The Aggies will be back on the track next weekend (Feb. 2-3) when they host the Charlie Thomas Invitational in College Station.