Track and field is a peculiar sport that mixes individual competition with team play. Team points are accumulated by the success of the athletes’ jumps, runs and throws. Because of the nature of the event, it’s easy for individuals to win while the team as a whole does not.
On Feb. 25-26, Texas A&M had top-three finishes in six events, including a collegiate record, but out of 14 teams in the conference, the Aggies finished seventh in women’s and ninth in men’s in the SEC Indoor Championships.
Day 1 of the championships saw junior pole vaulter Zach Davis sky higher than the rest of his opponents. He set the bar for the rest of the SEC by clearing the bar at 17-3/5.26. Davis’ pole vaulting placed him at 12th all time in A&M program history and brought him the title in the event.
“It was my first win inside Gilliam, and to do it in the last meet I’ll ever have in this building was really special,” Davis said. “It was great to have my teammates competing alongside me. During the regular season we didn’t always get the opportunity to compete together, so for us all to do that today really added to the experience.”
While Davis was the only athlete to secure a title on Day 1, he wasn’t the only one to make history as four other events saw program-top-12 results. Among them, fifth-year jumper Deborah Acquah cleared 21-9.5/6.64m, giving her SEC silver and two top-five all-time A&M long jumps.
The next day saw even more record-setters, none bigger than sophomore mid-distance runner Brandon Miller. The man on the watchlist for The Bowerman set a collegiate record on Day 2 with a 1:45.24 800-meter run. Miller, who won the conference title in both the indoor and outdoor 800s during his freshman season, has now defended his crown for three-straight SEC golds.
His time made him the fourth-fastest American indoors of all time, set an SEC Championships meet record and is currently the second-fastest this year. It was also the fifth-straight indoor-800 SEC title by the Aggies dating back to 2018.
“My mindset was to not rob God of any of the glory that he deserves today. I just wanted to go out there and make a statement,” Miller said. “I believe that I’m one of the best in the nation, and I’m striving to be the best ever. So, why not me? I just wanted to go out there and make a statement.”
Not to be forgotten in the mix of broken records, however, was sophomore jumper Lamara Distin. Before Miller’s race, the Jamaica native claimed the second of A&M’s three SEC wins with an all-time A&M high jump.
Just one-hundredth of a meter short of her personal-best jump, in a display of pure athleticism, Distin cleared the bar set at 6-3.25/1.91m for the third-best performance in A&M program history. She was just shy of her collegiate best, now owning two of the top-three jumps.
The last of the Aggies to find themselves podiumed was the women’s 4×400-meter team. The quartet of sophomore Laila Owens, juniors Tierra Robinson-Jones and Charokee Young and fifth-year Syaira Richardson finished in second place.
Their split of 3:25.43 would have been a collegiate record, breaking the time of 3:26.27 from last season which doubled as A&M’s program record, if not for Arkansas’ 4×400 team running nearly a second quicker. The Aggies didn’t finish with a record but did achieve SEC silver.
After the team earned 13 All-SEC honors, those who qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships will get a short break before traveling to Birmingham, Ala. Competition will take place from March 11-12.