The Aggies will compete for the last time at the Gilliam Indoor Stadium this season as they host the Texas A&M Charlie Thomas Invitational. The two-day meet begins Friday at 2:30 p.m. with the heptathlon and concludes Saturday featuring Olympic development races as well as scored events.
Texas A&M’s men’s team enters the meet ranking No. 2 while the women’s team No. 21. The 11 other attending teams are Abilene Christian, Arkansas, Baylor, Clemson, Houston, Rice, South Plains, TCU, UT-Arlington, UTEP and UTSA.
Starting off the meet with the heptathlon, Daniel Martin and Lindon Victor lead the Aggie men as Annie Kunz and Shaina Burns will compete for the women’s individual title. The 800 will feature two Aggies Donovan Brazier and Hector Hernandez who will be accompanied by UTEP’s Jonah Koech. Brazier looks to continue his success in the 800, as he bettered the U.S. junior indoor record to 1:45.93 last month.
A&M’s Shamier Little will run the 200 while the pair of Aggies, Aaliyah Brown and Jennifer Madu, race in the 60m and 200m. Jazmin Fray will switch to the open 800 after running in the 800m leg of the distance medley relay at the Razorback Invitational. She will run aside teammate Katie Willard and Baylor’s Olicia Williams.
A&M’s top two pole vaulters, Audie Wyatt and Jacob Wooten, hope to reach 17-9 and aim to break the A&M school record of 18-0 ½. In the weight throw field events, A&M’s trio of Carissa van Beek, Shelbi Vaughan and Alison Ondrusek will compete. In the women’s pole vault the Aggie crew of Sara Kathryn Stevens, Emily Gunderson and Brittany Wooten look to challenge Baylor’s Annie Rhodes and Ariel Voskamp of Arkansas.
Coming off a 20.77 victory in the 200m from last weekend, Devin Jenkins will go against stiff competition in the 60 and 200 while the mile run will feature a squad of 10 Aggies, led by Alex Riba, Cameron Villarreal and Austin Wells.
On Saturday, the top collegiate and non-collegiate athletes will compete in three Olympic development events: the 60, 200 and 400 meters.
Athletes from Texas A&M competing include two former Bowerman Award recipients in the 400m — Jessica Beard and Deon Lendore. Demetrius Pinder will also run in the 400m with Lendore and Baylor’s Trayvon Bromell running in the 200m. In the 200m, Bianca Knight who currently holds the women’s collegiate record for the 200, will battle Trinidad’s Michelle-Lee Ahye.
