On April 23-25, Texas A&M track and field traveled to Philadelphia for the Penn Relays, where it secured five first-place finishes and posted several competitive performances throughout the weekend.
Unforgettable opening day
Junior Megan Roberts made school history in the 5,000 meter with a time of 15:50.29, marking the second-fastest attempt by an Aggie. Placing ninth overall, the College Station native moved from No. 4 to No. 2 on A&M’s all-time performers list.
Junior Jack Johnston topped the men’s side of the event, placing 13th with a time of 13:49.19. Soon after, junior Youssef Asslouj followed suit with a time of 13:58.62 to finish 19th overall.
A pair of Aggies secured top-15 finishes in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase, with sophomore Debora Cherono placing ninth and senior Emma Little placing 13th. Only five seconds apart, Cherono finished the event with a time of 10:13.53, while Little crossed the finish line at 10:18.77.
In the men’s section, junior Hunter Jackson placed 26th overall despite running sub-nine minutes for the first time in his career to secure a time of 8:59.52.
Finishing Day 1’s ensemble of events, junior Ondrej Gajdoš and graduate student Elise Smoot led the charge in the 1,500m, as Gajdoš placed 14th overall on the men’s side, clocking in at 3:44.71, while Smoot finished 45th in the women’s section with a time of 4:30.78.
Roaring relays
During the second day of competition, A&M’s women’s 4x200m team, featuring graduate student Aysha Shaheed, senior Jasmine Montgomery, sophomore Anya Jackson and senior Camryn Dickson, grabbed the first hardware of the weekend with a time of 1:31.25.
A&M’s winning time marked the fastest finishing of the women’s 4x200m at the Penn Relays since 2015.
The Aggies’ men’s sprint medley relay squad of sophomore Lawson Jacobs, sophomore Blake Holland, senior Kimar Farquharson and freshman Peter Narumbe placed second overall with a time of 3:14.38, only milliseconds behind Georgetown’s first-place finish at 3:13.96.
Ending the day with the men’s distance medley relay, graduate student Reece Sharman-Newell, senior Eric Hemphill III, junior Grant Ashby and Gajdoš combined to cross the finish line at 9:36.23 to place 7th overall.
Four-title final day
By the end of Saturday’s events, A&M set a new school record, securing four titles during the Penn Relays’ final day of competition.
The men’s 4x800m relay team, made up of freshman Stefon Dodoo, Narumbe, Ashby and Sharman-Newell, placed third overall, setting a new school record with a time of 7:11.64 to destroy the previously set record of 7:13.98 at the Penn Relays in 2024.
After a prelim performance of 43.69, the Aggies’ women’s 4x100m relay squad, consisting of Jackson, Dickson, Shaheed and Montgomery, crossed the finish line in 43.88 to claim the group’s second victory of the weekend. The win marked back-to-back first-place finishes in the 4x100m relay and secured A&M’s 10th all-time victory in the event.
In the men’s section, freshman Matthew Maldima, graduate student David Foster, senior Keanu Jones and Holland placed fourth overall with a time of 40.56 after winning their preliminary heat a day prior with a time of 39.73.
Securing another relay title, the women’s 4x400m team of senior Lacarthea Cooper, graduate student Jahnile Registre, Dickson and Montgomery finished with a time of 3:32.21 for the Aggies’ third all-time win in the event.
As for the men’s squad, sophomore Iliya Dryaba, senior Demarco Escobar, Hemphill and Farquharson came up just short, finishing second with a time of 3:05.86, only 0.01 off first place.
Senior Jaiya Covington and graduate student Ja’Qualon Scott swept the short hurdle titles with a pair of dominant performances. Covington was declared victorious with a time of 13.09, while Scott crossed the finish line at 13.87 to secure his second-straight win in the event, becoming one of just four men in history to claim two-straight 100 meter hurdles titles.
With the wins over the weekend, the Aggies pushed their all-time Penn Relay victory total to 38 while tacking on a pair of individual titles.
A&M will return home to E.B. Cushing Stadium on Friday, May 1-2, to host the Alumni Muster.
