Athing Mu broke an American under-20, 400-meter record with a time of 49.84 to win the SEC title Saturday night at E.B. Cushing Stadium.
The Aggies claimed six event titles across the three-day meet that finished with the women’s team placing fourth in overall team points with 82 and the men’s team placing seventh with 67 points. Winners included Deborah Acquah in the long jump, Moitalel Mpoke in the 400-meter hurdles, Tyra Gittens in the heptathlon, Brandon Miller in the 800-meter, Mu in the 400-meter and the women’s 4×400-meter relay team. The Aggies will practice next week to prepare for the NCAA West Prelims at E.B. Cushing Stadium.
Mu won the women’s 400-meter in record-breaking fashion, more than a full second faster than all other runners to set an American under-20, SEC meet, facility and Texas A&M program record. She now is the third fastest collegian all-time and ranks fifth on the all-time world under-20 list. Mu usually runs the 800-meter but opted to run the 400-meter this week.
“There is no reason to overrun the 800-meter when I’ve already ran a fast time,” Athing Mu told 12thman.com. “I came in this weekend with the plan to run a secondary event and help continue to keep my legs moving without doing the 800-meter.”
The time was the second American under-20 record Mu set this outdoor season as she broke the 800-meter record at 1:57.73 in April at the Michael Johnson Invitational. This time she was able to set it in front of a near-capacity crowd, a first for this outdoor season.
“When I was cheering on the men’s 800-meter, I thought, ‘Wow, it’s actually feeling like track and field again,’” Mu told 12thman.com.
Miller won the men’s 800-meter title with a personal best time of 1:45.95 to become the fourth fastest American on the under-20 all-time 800-meter list. This is Miller’s second SEC Championship this year as he won the 2021 SEC Indoor 800-meter Championship in February.
Mpoke became the first athlete in school history to run a sub-49 in the 400-meter hurdles with a collegiate-leading time of 48.89. The previous record was held by Craig Calk and stood for 34 years. Mpoke met the Olympic qualifying standard by .01 seconds.
“I don’t think there was a poor event in the whole championship and this meet will probably stick out as one of the best meets in the country this year,” A&M coach Pat Henry told 12thman.com.
Bryce Deadmon clocked a personal best time of 44.50 in the men’s 400-meter to make him the third best performer in school history and ninth best all-time. He also ran the anchor in the men’s 4×400-meter with a 43.82 split as he, Mpoke, Omajuwa Etiwe and Devin Dixon finished second at 3:01.73, good for the No. 5 time in the NCAA this season.
Acquah placed second in the triple jump at 14.13m (46-4.25) after claiming the women’s long jump SEC title at 6.80m (22-3 ¾). Gittens placed second in the women’s high jump at 1.93m (6-2.25) after winning the SEC heptathlon title. Lamara Distin finished third in the women’s high jump at 1.93m (6-2.25), but because she failed her first two attempts, she dropped to third overall. It was her first top-three finish in an SEC event.
Lance Broome, Ryan Martin, Emmanuel Yeboah and Devon Achane placed third in the men’s 4×100-meter with a time of 39.08 as they all earned their first career All-SEC honors.
The Aggies will compete in the NCAA West Prelims May 26-29 at E.B. Cushing Stadium to prepare for the final meet of the season, the NCAA Outdoor Championships.