It was a good weekend to be a fan of Texas A&M track and field as the Aggies hosted 11 universities during the Feb. 2-3 Charlie Thomas Invitational Indoor meet.
Aggies dominated the two-day running events with both the men’s and women’s 4×400-meter taking first place while setting meet and facility records. The women’s 4x400m team of sophomore Camryn Dickson, junior Jaydan Wood, graduate Nissi Kabongo and senior Jermaisha Arnold finished with a time of 3 minutes, .37 seconds. The men’s 4x400m team of junior Auhmad Robinson, junior Cutler Zamzow, senior Jevon O’Bryant and junior Kimar Farquharson, finished with a time of 3 minutes, 4.35 seconds. Junior Sam Whitmarsh took first and set a new facility record for the men’s 800-meter at 1:47.64, while senior Jermaisha Arnold broke the women’s 400-meter facility record with a blazing time of 52.17 seconds to secure first place.
Coach Pat Henry said while there are more meets ahead to prepare for, he recognized the team’s many accomplishments at the third event in the new R.A. “Murray” Fasken ‘38 Indoor Track & Field facility.
“This one was a very competitive meet, and it’s a step up,” Henry said.
On Friday, Day 1 of the field events started off with freshman Carlie Weiser finishing second in the women’s Shot Put with a distance of 15.48 meters and junior Maci Irons finishing fifth at 14.41 meters. Sophomore Ethan Sanders finished second in the men’s Shot Put at 16.34 meters.
In Day 1 running events, sophomore Gemma Goddard finished third in the women’s 1-mile with a time of 5 minutes, 7.26 seconds, freshman Shewaye Johnson finished first in the women’s 5000-meter at 17:47.50 minutes and senior Joniar Thomas placed third in the women’s 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.46 seconds. Aggie freshman Jack Johnston finished third in the men’s 5000m with a time of 14 minutes, 27.96 seconds, and freshman Arveyon Davis placed fourth in the men’s 60m hurdles with a time of 8.12 seconds.
Day 2 was action-packed with multiple meet and facility records broken in both the running and field events. Both women’s and men’s High Jump garnered first place wins by Kabongo at 1.83 meters for the women and junior Ushan Perera set a new facility record of 2.20 meters for the men. In the men’s Pole Vault, sophomore Jack Mann III, freshman Ryley Klefstad and junior Caleb Murdock all tied for third place with a jump of 5.19 meters. Senior Joniar Thomas finished first in the women’s Long Jump with a distance of 6.54 meters.
The A&M track teams will compete next at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational on Feb. 9-10 in Boston, with the meet broadcasted on Flotrack. The team will also compete at the Tiger Paw Invitation Feb. 9-10 at Clemson, South Carolina, set to broadcast on ESPN.
Youngchan Kang is a journalism sophomore and contributed this article from the course JOUR 359 Reporting Sports to The Battalion.
