Texas A&M track and field added two more medals to their collection on the final day of the NCAA Indoor Championships, as both 4×400 relay teams took home silver in the final event of the night.
In the final team standings, the Aggie women placed 10th (17 points), while the men placed 11th (19 points). Arkansas (62 points) went on to be crowned national champions on the women’s side, while Florida (55 points) finished on top of the men’s standings.
“We had some really good things happen and then we had some things happen that I would like to try to do again,” Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry said to 12thman.com. “But that is what the national championship is about indoors. It’s about trying to gain ground, pushing yourself and trying to win.”
The women’s 4×400 squad placed second with a time of 3:30.85 to earn the Aggies’ third medal of the championships and first of the second day.
After two legs by Julia Madubuike (53.53) and Tierra Robinson-Jones (51.92), the Aggies sat just behind eventual winner South Carolina. On the third leg, Jaevin Reed (52.94) gave the Aggies the lead by the time she passed the baton to anchor Syaira Richardson.
Richardson (52.47) lost the lead during her leg, falling back to third, but fought her way back on the final straight to beat third-place Arkansas by one-hundredth of a second.
“Our kids competed well,” Henry said to 12thman.com. “We ran good relays and almost won it on the men’s side without one of our best legs … The ladies looked good, although I thought we got fouled pretty good at one point, but Syaira almost caught them anyway.”
The Aggies snatched a silver medal from Florida at the line in the men’s 4×400 relay, winning A&M’s fourth and final medal of the championships.
A&M sat in third after the opening leg from Ilolo Izu (46.95), before Kyree Johnson (46.13) climbed up to second place on the second leg. The third leg by DeWitt Thomas (46.82) saw the Aggies fall back in to third just behind Florida.
Anchor Devin Dixon (45.26) remained in third place until the final straight, where he caught the leading pair and beat Florida to the line by nine-hundredths of a second. A&M clocked a time of 3:05.15.
Dixon also qualified for the 800m final and entered with the best collegiate time of the season, with some expecting him to challenge for the collegiate record. The junior paced the field for the first two laps, but was passed by Marco Arop of Mississippi State and fell to the middle of the pack. Dixon fought back on the final stretch, but was unable to recover, finishing fourth with a time of 1:47.54.
“Devin didn’t run a real smart race in the 800m, and that’s all it is,” Henry said to 12thman.com. “He has a great feel for the race, for him, but there are other people in the race. He lets people sneak away from him and knows he has the speed to catch them. He let them get a little bit too far away today and that’s what got him.”
In the women’s 800m, SEC champion and collegiate record holder Jazmine Fray had a similar race to Dixon. The senior had a strong start but ran out of gas in the second half of the race, falling down the field and finishing in eighth place with a time of 2:07.55.
The Aggies had trouble in the field events on Saturday. In the women’s triple jump, junior Ciynamon Stevenson had three foul jumps to start her day and failed to qualify for the final three rounds of the event. On the men’s side, junior Tahar Triki, the collegiate-leading triple jumper, did not start the event.
The heptathlon came to a close today, with senior Nathan Hite placing 16th with 4,658 points. On day two, the Aggie was disqualified from the 60m hurdles for pushing over a hurdle after taking a fall, which hurt his total score. Afterwards, Hite managed to place fifth in the pole vault and 11th in the 1,000m on Saturday. On day one, he placed fifth in the 60m, 16th in the long jump, eighth in the shot put and 14th in the high jump.
As well as today’s two medals, the Aggies will be going home with hardware from day one. Sophomore Deborah Acquah won a silver medal in the women’s long jump, with a career best leap of 6.46m. Senior Jacob Wooten earned a bronze medal in the men’s pole vault, with a career best performance of 5.73m.
The Aggies now have a quick turnaround, as the outdoor season gets underway at the Baldy Castillo Invitational in Tempe, Arizona on March 15-16.