The Texas A&M track and field team (men No. 1, women No. 9) spent Saturday in Fort Worth at the Horned Frog Invitational, where the Aggies put together a dominant performance in their last meet before the SEC championships. The Aggies notched 18 total victories at the Lowden Track and Field Complex, 13 of which were produced in the field events alone.
Saturday belonged to the Aggie throwers. Sophomore Austin Cook lead the charge by setting a new school record in the men’s hammer. Cook broke the record set a year ago by Casey Strong on his first attempt with a toss of 212 feet, 5 inches. With his record-setting throw, Cook moved up to No. 5 on the SEC conference leaderboard for this season. He is also currently No. 9 in the NCAA Western Region.
“Today my legs were under me and it was the first time in a while that I could really feel the ground and feel the hammer,” Cook said to the media after the meet. “So that’s what I need to work on at SEC, just learn to relax. That’s why my first throws are usually my best because I don’t have any expectations.”
Junior discus thrower Shelbi Vaughn continued her dominant outdoor season with another win in the women’s discus. Vaughn, Weatherford, Texas native, put on a show for her hometown crowd en route to setting a new stadium record and running away from her competition with a 25-foot margin of victory.
“It’s really great to throw here so close to home,” Vaughan said. “A lot of friends and family are here and they did the wave for me. [It was] fun to hear them cheer for me each time I threw.”
Fellow school record holder Brea Garrett won first in the women’s hammer with a mark of 194 feet, 7 inches. Texas A&M also dominated the women’s javelin by taking the top seven spots. Sisters Maggie and Audrey Malone finished first and second in the event for the Aggies. Jeff Bartlett added another victory for the throwers in the men’s shot put with a career best distance of 57 feet.
The Texas A&M track team has the weekend off before traveling to Starkville on May 14th for the SEC Outdoor championships.
