A road trip to Baton Rouge, Louisiana for the Texas A&M men’s and women’s track and field teams resulted in a top five and top three finish, respectively, against some of the best teams in the nation.
From May 11 through May 13, the A&M men’s and women’s track and field teams competed in the SEC Outdoor Championships at Bernie Moore Track Stadium. The Aggie women entered the meet ranked No. 7, facing off against eight other ranked teams while the A&M men faced off against five of the top six teams in the nation, including No. 1 Arkansas, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 Alabama, No. 5 Tennessee and No. 6 LSU.
On Day 1, sophomore javelin throwers Lianna Davidson and Katelyn Fairchild placed first and third, respectively to add 16 points to the Aggie women’s team point total. Davidson’s personal best throw of 189 feet, one inch/58.65 meters claimed the gold, while Fairchild’s throw of 183-01/55.81m took home the bronze. Davidson and Fairchild are the first Aggie duo since 2018 in the women’s javelin competition to earn podium finishes.
On the men’s side, junior Sam Hankins claimed the first five points for the Aggies in the men’s javelin throw. Hankins placed fourth overall with a throw of 233-04/71.14m.
Sophomore Maddie Livingston brought the women’s point total from 16 to 20 with a fifth place finish in the women’s 10,000-meter with a time of 35 minutes, 45.82 seconds. Livingston was the only Aggie to claim points, with seniors Abbey Santoro and Grace Plain finishing 10th and 11th, respectively.
Junior Eric Casarez added two points to the men’s point total with a seventh place finish in the men’s 10,000 with a time of 30:24.77.
The highlight of Day 2 was a first and second place finish by senior Francesco Romano and junior Teddy Radtke in the men’s 3000-meter steeplechase. The duo claimed 18 points for the men’s team by taking the top two places.
In the women’s 3000 steeplechase, senior Julia Abell added four points for the women’s team by placing fifth with a time of 10:24.30.
In men’s high jump, junior Carter Bajoit placed fourth to claim five points with a season best jump of 7-0.50/2.15m.
The women’s team claimed nine points in the women’s pole vault. Sophomore Heather Abadie claimed eight points with a silver medal by clearing 14-03.25/4.35m. Freshman Ava Riche added an additional point with her eighth place finish.
Junior G’Auna Edwards claimed two points for the women’s side with a seventh place finish in women’s long jump with a season best jump of 20-07.25/6.28m.
In the men’s shot put, sophomore Bryce Foster claimed three points with a sixth place finish with a toss of 63-09.75/19.45m. The throw is a season best for Foster and is the second-best throw of his career.
Day 3 saw multiple Aggies take home medals to give the maroon and white valuable points.
The Aggie men’s team gained 16 points from the pole vaulting team. Freshman Jack Mann III set a personal record clearing 17-08.50/5.40m to take second place. Senior Zach Davis cleared the same height, also his personal record, to take third. Junior Connor Gregston also claimed two points for the maroon and white with a seventh place finish.
Senior Lamara Distin continues to shine for the Aggies in women’s high jump. Distin took home the gold and gave the women’s team 10 points by clearing a height of 6-03.25/1.91m. Junior Allyson Andress also gave the Aggies two points by clearing a season best height of 5-09.25/1.76m.
The men’s 4×100 team gained four points thanks to sophomores Devante Mount, Isaiah Teer, Jordan Chopane and junior Ryan Martin. Despite running a season best time of 39.27, the team placed fifth.
The women’s 400 saw two Aggies place in the top four. Senior Tierra Robinson-Jones ran a personal record time of 50.54 to take the silver while sophomore Jermaisha Arnold took fourth place with a time of 50.98.
The Aggie women gained a few valuable points from sophomore Semira Killebrew and freshman Camryn Dickson in the 100 and freshman Sanu Jallow in the 800.
In the men’s 800, sophomore Sam Whitmarsh gained the Aggie men eight points with a second place finish. Whitmarsh ran a season best time of 1:46.77 and was half a second behind Georgia’s freshman Will Sumner.
In the men’s 400 hurdles, junior James Smith II claimed three points with a sixth place finish with a time of 49.47.
The men’s team gained four points late into the meet thanks to Casarez in the 5000. Casarez ran a time of 14:12.44, just edging out Arkansas’ Myles Richter to take fifth place.
To close out the meet, the men’s 4×400 team comprised of sophomores Ashton Schwartzman and Auhmad Robinson, junior Omajuwa Etiwe and freshman De Marco Escobar finished sixth. The team ran a time of 3:03.48 to claim three points.
On the women’s side, sophomore Kennedy Wade, Jallow, Arnold and Robinson-Jones claimed the gold with a time of 3:26.64. They beat out second place Arkansas by over a second and claimed a crucial 10 points for the women’s team.
The men’s and women’s teams both ended the meet in the top five. The men’s team ended with 73 points to take fifth place and were only two points behind Tennessee. The women’s team took third place with a point total of 86. Although nearly 30 points out from second, the Aggie women convincingly sealed third place by 12.5 points.
Next for the maroon and white is the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds on Wednesday, May 24, through Saturday, May 27 at Hornet Stadium in Sacramento, California. The Aggies will look to advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships to finish off the season.
