Texas A&M track and field made a memorable return home to E.B. Cushing Stadium on April 11-12 to hit the midpoint of their outdoor season with multiple athletes sliding into the NCAA top-10 rankings.
The current No. 1 men’s and No. 3 women’s teams were honored this week in the Southeastern Conference Runner of the Week awards, where redshirt senior Auhmad Robinson and junior Camryn Dickson earned the men’s and women’s honors, respectively.
Freshman Sofia Yakushina took the weekend by storm in the women’s heptathlon with a new freshman heptathlon and an NCAA No. 1 score. The SEC Indoor and NCAA Indoor silver medalist marked three new personal bests and a season best over the two-day event.
“I’m still not satisfied,” Yakushina said.
Yakushina opened in third place and a personal best in the 100m hurdles in 13.51 seconds. Crossing over to the field, the freshman cleared 1.74 meters for fifth in the high jump and found her farthest throw at 11.85 meters, good for ninth in the shot put. Finishing day one in the 200m, she set a second personal best in 23.48 for the win.
On the second day, Yakushina took to the field with a season-best 6.40 meters in the long jump for first place and a personal-best throw of 43.07 meters in the javelin for second. She secured a top-of-the-podium finish at second place in the 800m in 2:12.72, where she broke records with a 6,260 overall point total.
“That [200m] was insane for me,” Yakushina said. “I wasn’t expecting that. I was expecting a PR, but a sub-24, maybe 23.80, maybe 23.90, but 23.48, I wasn’t expecting because I was so tired, and this heat really killed me yesterday and today. I’m not used to this. I don’t know what happened, but it was good.”
Track events opened on Saturday with the Aggie women winning the women’s 4x100m relay for a new meet record. Senior Latasha Smith, Dickson, senior Bria Bullard and junior Jasmine Montgomery crossed in 43.04, only 0.10 seconds off their NCAA No. 3 time run at the Florida Relays.
Junior Jaiya Covington lowered her season best time for the third week in a row with a 12.77 mark in the women’s 100m hurdles, moving her up to the NCAA No. 3 spot.
Sophomore Austin Owen and freshman Staucie Lees both raced to a top-three finish in the women’s 3000m Steeplechase. Owen ran a personal best for second place, earning her spot with a time of 10:51.87, while Lees crossed the finish line for third in 11:03.65.
The sole title over the weekend for the field events went to junior Winny Bii in the women’s triple jump. She found her furthest mark and a season best in her third attempt at 13.74 meters.
Currently No. 1, the Aggies closed the men’s 4x400m relay on Saturday and did not disappoint, missing their current record time by only 0.14 seconds. Junior Eric Hemphill III, senior Cutler Zamzow, Robinson and senior Kimar Farquharson won the event in 3:02.26, good for the second-fastest time in the NCAA behind their own No. 1 time from the Florida Relays.
Friday’s events saw three Aggie titles. Robinson sped to first place in the men’s 200m with a 20.21 mark and a new NCAA No. 3 time for this season. The final wins fell on the women’s side in the distance events. Senior Elise Smoot took the women’s 1500m title in 4:22.37, sliding her into the No. 6 spot in the A&M all-time list. Teammate sophomore Megan Roberts took third in the event with a time of 4:26.17. Freshman Penelope Gracey won the women’s 5000m in 16:57.46, setting a new personal best and a meet record.
The Aggies will be back on the road April 18-19, heading to the Pacific Northwest for the Oregon Team Invitational at Hayward Field.
