The Texas A&M track and field team heads back to Fayetteville this weekend to participate in the 2015 Tyson Invitational. This weekend’s meet is the biggest so far for the Aggies in terms of both implication and sheer size.
“This is another tune up meet,” said head track coach Pat Henry. “This is an opportunity in most of the events to have as good a competition as you’re going to have anywhere. We’re going to get to see where we are and how we stack up against people this weekend. This meet is a big challenge, this is what you look forward to.”
A pool of 40 different schools is set to participate in the Tyson Invitational. Twelve of those 40 teams are from the SEC, making this weekend an impromptu trial run for the indoor conference championships which loom only two weeks away. Texas A&M has enjoyed a great deal of success so far this season, but the tems knows that everything it has done so far is preparation.
“We’re doing well,” Henry said. “We’re always going to say that we’re not perfect, and we’re never going to be perfect. We still have some areas where we have to make big strides. But the vast majority of the group is doing very well. We’re two weeks away from the conference championships and four weeks out from the NCAAs. These are important weeks right now.”
Including in this vast majority is senior sprinter Kamaria Brown, who was named the SEC Sprinter of the Week after a standout performance at last week’s Texas A&M Aggie Invitational. Brown broke the previous meet record with a time of 52.73 in the 400 meters, a time that currently sits at third best in the SEC and sixth best in the world this season. Brown also ran the opening leg for the 4×400 relay team that finished second in the meet with a time of 3:34.91.
“She’s ahead of where she was last year and she had a tremendous year last year,” Henry said. “I’m real pleased with where she is. Training hard and then working hard in competitions to run well is a balancing act. When you’re training hard, you’re right on the edge of either getting hurt or gaining ground. You’ve got to be careful with that and she’s doing a good job of that right now.”
The Tyson Invitational is the last action the track team will see before Conference Championships. Competition starts at 1 p.m. Friday with the women’s mile and carries on until the men’s 4×400 relay at 4:45 p.m. The meet resumes Saturday at noon. The event can be streamed on SEC Network Plus.