Texas A&M track and field won the men’s and women’s team titles at the Charlie Thomas Invitational as they broke three school records.
At A&M’s last home indoor track meet, the Aggie men scored 176, nearly double that of second place, to take home the top spot of the invite. The women’s team followed suit with a first place victory tallied at 144 points.
Texas A&M track and field head coach Pat Henry said this was a huge meet for the team and proved they are heading in the right direction.
“Each one of these meets is a contributor to what we’re going to do in the future,” Henry said. “We are trying to run fast in June. We want to run fast indoors — there’s no question about it — and we have the ability to do some things indoors. But it’s to get us where we want to go.”
Texas A&M junior Katie Willard shattered the women’s 800m school record set in 2002 by running 2:05.79, while freshman Donovan Brazier and senior Hector Hernandez gave A&M 18 points by placing first and second, respectively, in the men’s 800m. Brazier ran 1:47.80 for the win while Hernandez edged out UTEP’s Jonah Koech to finish at 1:48.02.
Henry said Willard’s performance was exciting to watch and Donovan’s attitude showed he wants to improve from his performance.
“Today, she [Willard] put it all together and had a great race to do it in, and I am tickled to death for her to break the school record,” Henry said. “Donovan looked good today and he’s not pleased but that’s okay, that’s what being great is all about.”
Senior Annie Kunz also has a school record under her name. She totaled 4363 points in the pentathlon while junior Lindon Victor tallied 5646 points to break the heptathlon school record.
“Annie Kunz and Lindon Victor had a tremendous meet,” Henry said. “Those are great records for them to break because those are great athletes that they defeated. Three school records in one day is big time.”
The crowd came alive during the women’s and men’s 4×400, adding to the highly competitive atmosphere. A&M came up short by .05 second’s in the women’s race as Arkansas took the victory and Baylor pulled away to win the men’s race in 3:06.79 while the Aggies placed third.
Texas A&M track and field will return to Fayetteville, Arkansas for the second time this season to compete at the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville next weekend.
