Texas A&M track and field had multiple record-breaking performances at the SEC Indoor Championships this weekend.The men’s team finished second and the women’s team seventh.
The host, Arkansas, won both of the team titles, with the men tallying 109 points and the women 110. The top of of the men’s results went Texas A&M (85.83), Mississippi (80.5), Florida (64.33), Georgia (52), Alabama (49) and LSU (49). The women’s results behind the Razorback women were LSU (67), Georgia (65), Florida (64), Tennessee (64), Kentucky (48) and Texas A&M (44).
Texas A&M’s track stars capped off the SEC Indoor Championships with three impressive take-aways. Audie Wyatt won the SEC indoor pole vault title, breaking the A&M school record with a height of 18 feet 1 inch. Texas A&M freshman Donavan Brazier broke the conference meet record as he claimed the 800m race with a time of 1:46.08. Lindon Victor bettered his heptathlon school record placing third with 5,776 points.
Alongside Brazier was teammate Hector Hernandez, who placed third in the 800 with 1:46.32 — a new career best. Another notable athlete, Shamier Little, ran the 400m in 52.15 to be the runner-up to Arkansas’ Taylor Ellis-Watson running 51.84.
The trio of Lindon Victor, Nathan Hite and Daniel Martin added 10 points for the Aggies in the pole vault, while 800 women’s runners Katie Willard and Jazmine Fray went 3-4 to cross the finish line in 2:06.61 and 2:08.79 respectively. The champion of the women’s 800 was LSU’s Morgan Schuetz with a time of 2:05.68.
Chase Wolfle, who was second in the pole vault, jumped 17-9 ¾ as Jacob Wooten placed fourth posting 17-4 ½. Tennessee’s Jake Blankenship who leads collegiate athletes with the best jump this season, placed third with 17-4 ½.
Will Williams jumped to a third-place finish in the long jump posting 24-10 ½ while Sam McSwain jumped to a fourth-place finish in the high jump with a height of 6-11 ½. The pentathlon had A&M’s Annie Kunz place third with 4,277 points, following Georgia’s Kendall Williams (4,420) and Arkansas’ Taliyah Brooks (4,376).
In the women’s long jump, Jennifer Madu posted a mark of 20-2 ¼ to claim eighth and Austin Wells ran in the men’s 3,000m final, crossing the finish line in 8:22.94 to claim 10th. Latario Collie led the Aggies in the long jump placing third with a jump of 53-3. Lathone Collie jumped 52-4 to garner fifth while Jeffrey Prothro finished sixth with a 52-1 ¾.
In the distance medley relay the Aggie women ran 11:39.96 to place 10th, while the women’s 4×400 relay for A&M dropped the baton which prevented them from finishing the race. The men’s distance medley relay finished sixth in 9:46.62 — the runners included Ryan Teel, Robert Grant, JaQwae Ellison and Alex Riba.
Alex Riba also battled Mississippi’s distance ream in the mile run to place sixth with a career best of 4:03.29 — Mississippi went 1-2-3-5 in the mile to score 28 points.
For the women’s sprints, Jennifer Madu ran in the 60m final, clocking 7.27 and garnered fourth place — teammate Aaliyah Brown followed in seventh place at 7.39. A&M freshman Diamond Spaulding ran 23.19 to place fifth as Tennessee’s Felicia Brown won the race in 22.45.
The 4×400 relay had Aggies Deon Hickey, Fred Kerley,Donovan Brazier and Eric Age record the time of 3:09.04 while Florida claimed the title in 3:04.02.
Eric Age placed fourth in the first section of the men’s 400m and finished in eighth overall with a time of 46.72. Austin Wells led the Aggies in the distance category as he placed 10th in the men’s 5,000m clocking 14:17.19. After coming off an injury, Karis Jochen finished 15th in 17:06.49 in the women’s 5,000m.
Alison Ondrusek threw (62-8 ½) and Shelbi Vaughan (62-1 ¾) threw in the women’s weight throw to finish fifth and sixth while Carissa van Beek (59-5 ½) placed ninth.
The Aggies will be back in action for the NCAA Championships on Mar. 11.
