Texas A&M track and field made its final return to E.B. Cushing Stadium this season for the NCAA Outdoor West First Round of the Championship on May 28-31.
The No. 2 women and No. 4 men both punched 12 tickets each to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, at the iconic Hayward Field.
Junior Jaiya Covington — the current NCAA Indoor 60-meter hurdles champion — booked her ticket in the women’s 100m hurdles quarter final after winning her heat in 12.87 seconds, which was only 0.1 off her personal best and a season best NCAA No. 4 mark. The junior heads to her third-straight nationals with the qualification and is one of the eight individual women headed to Eugene to represent the Maroon and White.
“It feels great,” Covington said. “I’m very blessed to come out here and run as fast as I can and to the best of my abilities. I feel confident going into nationals, Oregon is a great stadium to run fast so I’m excited.”
Covington’s mark on the track wasn’t the only race to attract a large crowd as both the women’s and men’s 4x400m relay wrapped up each final day for the teams.
Senior Kennedy Wade, senior Jaydan Wood, junior Camryn Dickson and junior Jasmine Montgomery ran a nail-biting relay where BYU fought until the very end, but the Aggies ended up on top in heat three with a 3:27.67 mark and an overall third-place finish to punch their ticket to NCAA’s.
Senior Hossam Hatib, senior Cutler Zamzow, senior Kimar Farquharson and redshirt senior Auhmad Robinson earned their spot for the men in the same event, with Robinson anchoring the final leg to secure their spot in Eugene. The 3:02.57 time placed the men in fifth overall, bringing the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championship team one step closer to another gold at Hayward.
Junior Alexsandr Solovev — Southeastern Conference Outdoor 2025 pole vault gold medalist — was the first Aggie to secure their ticket to Eugene on Day 1 of the competition. Solovev currently holds the No. 1 vault in the NCAA for this season with a 5.72 meter clearance from his SEC performance and the junior smoothly cleared 5.42 meters to win the west regional qualifier.
The remaining spots were earned on the final day of men’s competition, beginning with the 4x100m relay. Senior Mason Mangum, freshman Ernest Campbell, senior Ja’Qualon Scott and Robinson ran to place third in heat one for an automatic NCAA qualification, finishing fourth overall with a time of 38.96. Campbell ran the men’s 100m dash quarter final later that day in 10.02 seconds, booking his ticket with a fourth-place finish in his heat to earn fifth overall.
Senior Cooper Cawthra placed third in heat one and overall in the men’s 1,500m distance event, earning automatic qualification for nationals with a time of 3:40.15. The men’s 3,000m steeplechase followed and junior Victor Kibiego punched the next distance ticket after finishing second in heat one to place seventh overall in 8:32.83 minutes.
After winning both of the first rounds on Day 1, Scott earned nationals spots in both the men’s 110m and 400m hurdles. Scott won heat two and finished second overall in the 110m hurdles with an all-conditions 13.16 second finish. He returned later that evening to mirror his performance in the 400m hurdles with another win in his heat and a second overall finish in 48.87 seconds. Senior Bryce McCray wrapped up the hurdle group qualifications in the 400m, finishing third in his heat and sixth overall with a time of 49.56 seconds.
The Aggies claimed the most spots in the men’s 400m quarter final, with three athletes headed to Eugene. Robinson ran first, crossing second in heat two and finishing fourth overall in 45.57 seconds. Hatib and Zamzow both ran in heat three to finish third and fourth in 45.85 and 45.93 seconds, respectively, to book their tickets to TrackTown USA.
Senior Sam Whitmarsh — the multi-gold conference title holder in the men’s 800m — held a strong lead throughout the two lap race to finish second overall in a time of 1:46.68, to return to Oregon for the third time in his career.
The men’s team wrapped up on Day 3, but the women were just getting started on the final day of competition.
“The girls team feels great and fired up,” Covington said. “Our boys killed it Day 1 and Day 2. I think we’re piggybacking off of them, and having their drive and motivation for us, it makes us go harder.”
Junior Winny Bii kicked off that motivation on the morning of the fourth day, topping the rankings in the first round of triple jump. Bii leapt to her farthest mark in her fourth and final attempt, landing a wind-aided 14 meters.
Sophomore Jasmine Harmon made her women’s 4x100m relay debut one to remember with Dickson, senior Bria Bullard and Montgomery. The team sprinted a 43.12 second-finish to take fourth overall, claiming one of the 12 national spots.
Freshman Debora Cherono kicked off the women’s distance in the 3,000m steeplechase, running a personal-best and school record in a time of 9:42.55 to finish second in heat one and third overall. Sophomore Kennady Fontenot ran to fourth in the same heat, and her 9:58.13 mark was fast enough to add her to the NCAA roster.
Montgomery and Dickson both punched tickets in the women’s 100m dash, finishing second and fourth in their respective heats. Montgomery ran a personal-best 11.02 time to finish fourth overall, and Dickson ran the 11.17 cut-off time for an 11th overall finish. The duo struck again later that evening in the 200m, with Montgomery topping her heat in 22.26 seconds for second overall and Dickson third in her heat in 22.69 seconds for ninth overall to both qualify for nationals.
Wood ran a 51.88 mark for third in her heat to appoint herself the fourth A&M 400m runner to earn a spot in the NCAA championship.
Freshman Sofia Yakushina did not compete at this weekend’s regionals, as the Aggie’s star women’s heptathlon performer punched her ticket to NCAA’s due to finishing at the top of the national leaderboard rankings, making her the 24th and final qualification of the weekend.
The women will send a team of eight individuals and two relay teams for their eight event qualifications, and the men will send a team of 10 individuals and two relay teams for their 10 event qualifications to the championships.
The Aggies will hit the road for the final time this season on June 11-14 for the NCAA Outdoor Championships at the track capital of the world, Hayward Field, in Eugene, Oregon.
