Texas A&M alum Bralon Taplin captured a world-leading time in the 400 meter dash of 44.41 seconds, claiming the title over junior Fred Kerley, who posted the 2016 collegiate-leading mark of 45.10 at the 37th Sun Angel Classic on Saturday.
Taplin broke his previous best mark he set last year at the event of 44.89 that saw him finish runner-up.
“I like Arizona and I like the weather, it’s always hot and track weather,” Taplin said to 12thman.com “It was good to set a PR, but I’ve had enough of fours after placing fourth at World Indoors and now I run 44.4, it would have been nice to run 44.3.”
Kerley has secured a spot on at 8th on the all-time list Aggie and bested his personal record of 46.38 he set in 2014 at Mesa, Arizona. Another member of the A&M team junior Deon Hickey, finished 8th with a time of 47.01 seconds.
““I think I still have work to do,” Kerley said to 12thman.com “I went out too slow, but I feel blessed with the time I ran. I know I can do better for the first part of my 200, so I can push stronger in the last part of the race.”
A&M posted a collegiate-leading time of 39.02 seconds in the 4×100, with a foursome that included sophomore Will Williams, Kerley, sophomore Elijah Morrow and senior Devin Jenkins.
The Aggie foursome placed behind a pair of professional line-ups from Atlis, where the B group won with a record-breaking time of 38.40 run by Akeem Haynes, Andre De Grasse, Wilfried Koffi and A&M alum Ameer Webb.
Teams that finished behind A&M included the Sequoias, Arizona State, Mt. SAC and Kansas.
On the women’s side, junior Shamier Little won in her season debut on, claiming her third consecutive title in the Sun Angel Classic. She won the event in 2014 and 2015 with times of 56.43 and 56.55 respectively.
“I was kind of nervous, but really happy with the outcome,” Little said to 12thman.com “To run 56 is the same to what I’ve been running at this meet the past couple of years. I don’t think about running too fast this early in the hurdles, because now I’m going into the second half of my season. I want to be patient and pace it out.”
Kaila Barber of Notre Dame finished runner-up in 57.85, with Jennifer Grossarth, who represents Italy, finishing third in 58.47. Sophomore Ebony Crear finished 7th with a time of 59.86
Sophomore Robert Grant finished runner-up in men’s 400m hurdles while setting a personal best record of 49.73. He was beat only by professional Jeshua Anderson with a world-leading time of 48.92. Senior Aikam Graham finished 5th, and two freshman Jackson Davis and Dewitt Thomas, finished in 8th and 9th.
Jenkins was the top collegiate finisher in the premier 100m and 200m with times of 10.22 and 20.39 respectively. Atlis runner Wilfed Koffi won the 100m in 10.01 and Jenkins placed runner-up in the 200m behind Canada’s Andre De Grasse at 20.23
“It’s a blessing, overall I feel really good and healthy,” Jenkins said to 12thman.com “Running with post-collegians is good for me, because there will come a time when I need to do it any way. So to do it right now is a real blessing.”
The Aggie women won the 4×100 relay in 43.75 seconds with the second relay team placing third in 44.72 ahead of Notre Dame. The winning group was made of up senior Jennifer Madu, freshman Krystal Sparling, freshman Brenessa Thompson and junior Aaliyah Brown.
The second crew saw redshirt freshman Briyahna Desrosiers, and her freshman teammates Jarra Owens, Diamond Spaulding and Glorilisha Carter take third.
Desrosiers finished runner-up in the premiere 400m hurdles at 52.69 and moved to No. 8 on the all time Aggie list.
Little finished as the top collegian in the 200m field with a time of 23.25 seconds. Her teammates Brown, Spaulding and Thompson finished behind her. The four Aggies finished in places 3-4 and 5-6. Jodie Williams of Great Britain won the race in 22.99.
Senior Hector Hernandez secured a victory in the 1,500m race in 3:48.97 ahead of two Kansas runners, Bryce Richards and Brandon Bernal. Junior Aaron Murray won his section of the 1,500m in 3:53.42 to place 9th overall. Sophomore Ian Cazares finished 15th with a 3:56:02 time.
For discus, senior Jeff Bartlett threw 187-1 and freshman Celine Markert threw 165-11 to finish third in their respective divisions. Markert’s marks moved her to No. 7 on the Aggie all time list.
Javelin throwing saw Junior Sam Hardin finish in third for the men, and sophomore Audrey Malone, senior Krystyn Bradley and sophomore Kristen Clark finish 3-4-5 for the women.
Pole vaulting saw sophomore Sara Kathryn Stevens clear 13-7¼ and finish in third for the women, while freshman Jacob Wooten and sophomore Carl Johansson cleared 17-0¾, securing 4th and 5th place.
Open sections of the 400m saw freshman Donavan Brazier place in 7th overall, and his freshman teammate llolo Izu place 15th overall. For the women, Owens placed in 6th overall.
In the men’s premier over mile races, juniors Austin Wells and Alex Riba placed in 10th and 14th respectively.
Senior Annie Kunz won her section of 100m hurdles with a career best 13.67 and placed 8th overall. She finished in 14th for long jump with an 18-9 mark.
