The Aggie track and field team will host the Texas A&M Quadrangular dual track meet Saturday in the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium.
The Aggies are coming off a strong showing last weekend at the Texas A&M Team Invitational, where the men took first place by a commanding 71-point margin and the women finished 16.5 points behind Baylor in second place.
“We had a good start, I was very pleased with our first time on the track,” said head coach Pat Henry. “We held some people out. We didn’t double some people like we usually do, we did some things differently. We don’t like getting beat like we did on the women’s side, but we felt like we did the right thing with our personnel. With the men, we won really handily and we did some good things.”
One of those “good things” mentioned by Henry was the performance by senior sprinter Shavez Hart. Hart took first place in the 200 meters with a time of 20.76. That mark is the fastest time recorded in the 2015 season and is just one tenth away from Hart’s personal best. In recognition of this feat, Hart was named the SEC Sprinter of the week.
“Shavez Hart is starting the season where he ended last year,” Henry said. “That’s kind of your goal, that’s what you shoot for. If you’re doing things at a certain level and you worked all year to get to that point, you don’t want to start all over and then try to hit that three quarters of the way through the next season.”
The Aggie squad’s ability to carry past momentum into the current season was enough for Track & Field News to rank the women No. 1 and the men No. 2 in their inaugural dual meet indoor rankings. However, improvements need to continue in order to sweep this weekend’s meet. Henry listed three teams particularly that he was on the lookout for.
“Texas Tech is nationally ranked on both sides,” Henry said. “Tech has always had a good program and they’ll be ready to go. Arizona State has been competitive in our sport for years and years. And it’ll be good to have Coach VanHootegem and his Oklahoma team back in here.”
Texas A&M fans will want to look out for senior sprinter Deon Lendore’s match debut. Lendore won last year’s Bowerman Award — the highest honor in track and field. He is only the second Aggie to ever win the award, and he will be looking to make an impression in his first action this season. This weekend will also serve as a sort of homecoming for VanHootegem, who served as an assistant under Henry for two years in College Station before accepting his current position with the Sooners.
“Every time you line up in track, it’s you against someone else. You can’t hide,” said Henry. “Our track season is kind of like a ladder. We took the first step last week; we take the second step this week.”
The Texas A&M Quadrangular meet will take place Saturday from 12-3 p.m. in Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium. The meet will be broadcast on SEC Network Plus.