Dominance was the theme of the day for the Aggies as they hosted Arizona State, Baylor and Texas at the Texas A&M Quadrangular at the Gilliam Indoor Stadium on Saturday.
The No. 1 A&M women’s team scored 150 points to defeat the competition by 20, while the No. 5 men’s squad edged out the field by three-and-a-half points, scoring 164.
“It’s a rehearsal again for a play we’re going to have here in about five or six weeks,” Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry said to 12thman.com. “Today we were better than we were a week ago. That’s what this is about. Our focus is on each individual getting better each week. That makes a good team.”
The women won five events on the track. Junior Brenessa Thompson and sophomore Amber Ivy took the top two spots in the 60m, recording times of 7.43 and 7.48, respectively. Sophomore Danyel White won the 200m with a time of 23.10.
“Honestly it was a blessing coming from an injury last year, coming out and running a good time in the 200,” White said to 12thman.com. “Everything is about getting ready for SECs and the NCAA. I expect better for the rest of the season. I’m ready.”
Jaevin Reed won the 400m with a time of 53.56, a personal best for the sophomore, while fellow sophomore Ashley Driscoll ran a 9:34.85 to win the 3000m, also a personal best.
“I focused on racing, not the time,” said Driscoll to 12thman.com. “Right before the race coach was telling us the team score could come down to our race, and I was just trying to help the team out. It’s been fun to do more speed work and it’s been a good transition from cross country to indoor track. I knew others in the race would take it out fast, and I hoped to hang on and finish as high as I could.”
A meet record fell when junior Jazmine Fray recorded a time of 2:04.97 in the 800m. Fray already holds the collegiate indoor 800m record, a title she claimed in 2017 at the Tiger Paw Invitational with a time of 2:00.69.
The women’s squad also won two field events. Victory first came in the high jump when freshman Tyra Gittens and sophomore Kirby Matocha took the top two spots, both setting personal bests with leaps of 1.80m and 1.67m, respectively. Sophomore Lajarvia Brown claimed the long jump title with a leap of 5.94m.
The men finished on top in two track events. Senior Mylik Kerley took top spot in the 400m with a time of 46.10, followed by fellow senior Robert Grant who finished in second with a personal best time of 46.22.
“It’s good that we both (with Grant) ran fast, but I feel like I could have run a bit quicker in the open today,” said Kerley to 12thman.com.
The 4x400m relay team set a meet record with a time of 3:04.38 and cruised to a win, finishing more than five second ahead of the field. Running for the Aggies was Grant, Kerley, Devin Dixon and Ilolo Izu.
“I know that this team is fast and we are capable of great stuff,” Kerley told 12thman.com. “The competition wasn’t really there today in the relay, so to run 3:04 was good for the team…It was a really good meet for all of us. I strive to do good in the big moments, when the pressure is on.”
Another meet record was set in pole vault as junior Jacob Wooten and senior Audie Wyatt both recorded heights of 5.52m. The jump was a personal best for Wooten, who won the event based on fewer misses.
“It’s great, I’m on an emotional high,” Wooten, who won his third consecutive meet of the season, said. “This meet was so much fun. Audie and I were definitely in a competition mode, going back and forth. Today was just going back to seven steps and getting on as big a pole as I could. We’re here to try and score points, and it’s a good feeling to do that.”
Both with heights of 2.08m, senior Garrett Cragin and sophomore Alstian Walker claimed the top two spots in the high jump. Another personal best was set, this time for Walker.
Texas A&M will be back in action on Jan. 26-27 when they travel to the Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas.