The Texas A&M men’s and women’s track and field teams brought home four event titles with Bryce Deadmon running a world-leading 400-meter time at the 93rd Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in Austin.
The Aggies had 11 qualifying marks on the first two days of competition at Mike A. Myers Stadium and recorded a total of 11 top-five finishes. Winning two title events in track and one in field brought the event titles to four over the three-day competition after Carter Bajoit won the men’s high jump Friday afternoon. James Smith II in 400-meter hurdles and Deborah Acquah setting a school record in “A” competition triple jump earned the other event titles over the weekend.
Bajoit won the men’s “B” competition with a jump of 2.12m/6-11 ½. Bajoit passed on the opening height of 1.97m/6-5.5 and went on to clear 2.02m/6-7.5 and 2.07m/6-9.5 on his first attempts, which proved to be crucial since it placed him in a tie for first with Micky Ferdinand of A&M-Commerce.
Deadmon won the men’s 400-meter invitational with a personal best and No. 1 in the world time of 44.62. The race marked the first time in his career to run sub-45 seconds in the 400-meter and makes him the No. 3 best performer in program history, according to 12thman.com. Devin Dixon placed fourth in the race at 46.40.
The Aggies brought home first and second place in the men’s 400-meter hurdles. Coming into the race No. 11 on the all-time Aggie top-12 performer list, James Smith II edged a narrow victory at 49.99.
Moitalel Mpoke ran a personal best of 50.01 to place second in the 400-meter hurdles, which was the second time he set a personal best in the meet after running 50.10 in the prelims on Thursday. Mpoke put his name on the all-time Aggie top-12 performer list at No. 12.
Lamara Distin finished as the third overall competitor and second-best collegian in the women’s high jump with a mark of 1.85m/6-0.75. She is currently No. 2 in the nation and has now set personal bests in the last two weeks.
“I thought Lamara Distin looked great in the high jump today,” A&M coach Pat Henry told 12thman.com. “Overall, you have to be pleased with what we did.”
Acquah won the only field event title for the Aggies in women’s triple jump “A” competition with a school record and NCAA-leading jump of 13.86m/45-5.75.
After running a collegiate personal best time of 20.72 in the prelims on Thursday, Devon Achane placed second in the 200-meter final with a new best of 20.31 for a No. 2 NCAA ranking and No. 11 on the Aggie all-time performer list.
Heading into the 400-meter finals, Tierra Robinson-Jones ran the third fastest time in the prelims with a 52.83. Robinson-Jones then ran a sub-52 400-meter for the first time in her career, placing third with a personal best 51.94, making her the No. 9 best performer in program history.
“We get to come back here next weekend at a dual meet with Texas, which hasn’t happened in over 30 years,” Henry told 12thman.com. “It’s obvious that it’s going to be a very close meet.”
A&M will travel back to Austin Saturday, April 3, for a dual meet against the University of Texas.