Just mentioning that three top Texas high school hurdlers had their official visit to College Station last week.
I really hope we can get all three to commit.

Norman Grimes Junior
World Youth Champion and Panam Junior Champion
400m Hurdles - 49.11 (US #1)
300m Hurdles - 36.10 (US #1)
100m hurdles - 13.71

Alexis Duncan
World youth championship Finalist - (Hit hurdles in the final)
100m hurdles - 12.95 (US#1) from World youth championship semi finals
300m hurdles - 41.92 (US# 16)

Isaiah Lucas
100m hurdles - 13.37 w
300m hurdles - 36.56 (US #5)
400m hurdles - 53.29 (US #23)

Any one of these three would be great! They all are terrific prospects. I know a while back that Grimes was interested in Oregon. He has also made official visits to Baylor and Arkansas. I am sure that Houston will go after these three also as they had a great "hurdle" recruiting class this past year and they return the top men's high hurdler (Isaiah Williams) from last year's outdoor national championships. We may know by mid November about these three as that is when the early signing period happens. Keep your fingers crossed.

Thank You for the track information! Any and all is appreciated.

I am hoping that Norman Grimes Jr pick us because of
1. The success of 400h Shamier Little over the last year
2. Our 4x400 relay performance over the years. For indoors - he will certainly be involved in 400m and 4x400m relay
3. The transfer the Robert Grant to A&M this year. Grant was the high school no.1 300mh and 400mh hurdler in 2014.

Longhorns is also going after Alexis Duncan. Hope she comes our way.
Really hope all the top Texas high athletes stay in the state of Texas

I think getting the outdoor track can also boost recruiting

OH WELL!!! According to Grime's twitter page he is headed to Texas Tech.

Wow. I really don't understand how the top track and field athletes from the state of Texas over last couple of years have refused to come to A&M despite our track record and performance over the last 7 years. They are going out of state and if they stay in state they are going to Houston, Texas, Texas Tech, Baylor etc. If you look at our 2015 class, the majority of the top athletes we got are from out of state (Donavan Brazier, Diamond Spauling, Krystal Sparling, Brenessa Thompson, Ally Watt, Richard Rose etc)

Early track commitments in the state of Texas.

http://www.ttfca.com/Recruiting.html

I wouldn't start worrying yet since we have a month until signing day. There are two big recruiting weekends left with Alabama and South Carolina for us to make noise. I wonder if scholarship money is an issue, too.

Can't help but think that some recruits are staying away because rival coaches are stressing to them that they may never compete in an outdoor "home" meet. We gotta get moving on a new track!!!!

Another top class group of track recruits visited College station this weekend.

Josephus Lyles (Alexandria, VA)
100m 10.66
200m 20.74 (US #4, World Youth Championship 2015 Bronze)
400m 45.46 (US#2)
Josephus Lyles has a twin brother Noah Lyles who is also a top sprinter (100m 10.14 US #1 and 200m 018 US#1) and Noah did not visit A&M. Both brothers however visited Florida a couple of weeks ago. Not sure if Josephus will part ways with his brother to come A&M.

Mike Norman (Murrieta, Ca)
100m 10.36 (US#6)
200m 20.24 (US#2)
Mike Norman is also considering Houston and LSU

Anna Cockrell (Charlotte,NC)
100m Hurdle 13.21 (US#3)
400m hurdle 56.67 (US#2)

Aaliyah Miller (McKinney, Texas)
400m 54.31 (US#34)
800m - 2.05.94 (US#11)
Aaliyah is also considering Baylor and Oklahoma State

Danyel White (Cedar Hill, Tx)
100m 11.56
200m 23.60
Also visited LSU

Noah and Josephus aren't twins. Noah is a year older (summer baby), but I thought I saw Noah there.

Yeah texaggierm. I realize Josephus and Noah are not twins after my post when I was reviewing Noah stats.

Picture of the recruits this last weekend. Not sure if the second guy from the right is Noah

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CRncsZRUsAA8dOz.jpg:large

Not sure who are the others recruits.

I think that's Noah there in white.

Noah, ????, Aaliyah, ???, Anna, Josephus, Mike and Danyel squatting.

From the pic, it seems like both Josephus and Noah visited A&M.
What a great group of recruits

It would nice to get both Lyles brothers. I read somewhere earlier this year that one brother had already made up his mind but was waiting on the other brother. He indicated that the school of choice would be one with a great relay tradition which fits both A&M and Florida.

Aaliyah Miller is another very good recruit. Her PB of 2.05.92 in the 800m is very close to the A&M 800m record of 2:05.49 by Suzanne Sheffield in 1983. We really need a top 800m runner since haven't had one for a while. It would also boost our medley relays.

Anna Cockrell is another exceptional recruit. I hope Shamier Little success could sway her to Aggieland. I am sure Kentucky is after her also. Kentucky has done well in hurdles recently both sprint and distance. What is good is that she is good in both 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles. Also has the US#2 time in the indoor 60m hurdles. It would be great to have Anna running with Shamier.

If we could even get half of all the recruits that visit would be great

USC is now pushing for Michael Norman


" The No. 1 track athlete in the nation, Michael Norman of Vista Murrieta, is scheduled to complete his five recruiting vists with a stop at USC.

Coach Coley Candaele said Norman has taken trips to Texas A&M, Houston, Baylor and LSU. The Trojans get to make one final recruiting push for Norman, the state champion in the 400 and 200 and the Gatorade national track and field athlete of the year for 2015 "

Getting any of the five that aggipe mentions would be wonderful for the program. Both Noah Lyles (10.14, 20.18) and Mike Norman (45.11) were national high school leaders in '15. They are both stellar performers who services will be highly sought after. My fear is that they will have such great senior season campaigns (they are both world class now) that they will forgo college and jump to the pro ranks. Fingers crossed that they do do well, and also sign with the Ags.

Our first track/cross country commitment for 2016

Ashton Hutcherson
Flower Mound Texas

Personal Records

• 800m - 2:25.62
• 1600m - 5:12.17
• 3200m (xc) - 12:55.29
• 3200m - 11:03.70
• 2 Mile (xc) - 12:20.80
• 3 Mile (xc) - 18:14.40
• 5K (xc) - 18:25.46
• 5K - 18:41.81

trini - you're 4 weeks too slow. ;-)

Ashton is from a good program and should be in our XC top 7. Right now, the bottom end of our XC team is running right around 18:25 over 5K. We were recruiting her teammate Maddy Reed, but she had too many ties to Arkansas - her best friend (Payton Brown) is committed to Ark and her best friend's sister(Sydney) runs for Ark.

Outdoor Track !!!

Isaiah Lucas committed to tu last night.

Wow another top Texas athlete refusing A&M. I am worried that the trend over the last couple of years continues where the top Texas high schoolers just stay away from us and we have to go out of state.
I may be wrong but since Jennifer Madu I don't think we had a top Texas athlete sprinter from Texas coming here.
I know we don't have an outdoor track but we one of best indoor tracks and a pretty good cross country course now.
TU has a good outdoor track but don't have an indoor track. Not sure about Tech's facilities. Is it really the outdoor track that is keeping Texas top athletes away?
Last couple of years many of top male sprinters went to Houston but Houston haven't even had the kind of success at NCCA. I know they have coach Burrell and now Carl Lewis is there but we have some of the best coaches in the world here at A&M.

TU have changed coaches and have now competing with us for recruits. Added to that, recruits are seeing many A&M athletes transferring to TU over the last couple years. We don't know the reason why.

We have done very well at NCAA and developing athletes. Many of them may not have gone on to reach the top on the world scale but some have.

I am just trying to really figure out what is going on with the recruiting in Texas
I would be definitely bias but combining our track record over the years and the level of education one gets at A&M, we are about the best.

Let's wait and see how the recruiting unfolds over the next couple of months

The other day I shared with a California track buddy (writes for several track publications) the photo of the recruits who visited over the weekend. I expressed my hope that they would eventually sign with Ags. While I know he has tremendous respect for both the program and Coach Henry, he tweeted the following:

"I think Mike Norman will sign with USC.


The Lyles will sign with Georgia or Florida followed by LSU.

Sorry, not Texas A&M for these guys. You noticed that Norman Grimes didn't buy into Pat Henry's program either. These guys will go where there is proven wonderful track to train on at their college choice.

Why doesn't A&M want an outdoor track?"

Disagree on Grimes. He's from West Texas with a sister that went to Tech, so I can see him wanting to stay out there rather than coming to A&M. The others I agree the track could be an issue.

Mike Norman commits to USC.

It really seems that many of the top recruits don't want to come to A&M

I don't think it is fair to say recruits don't want to come to A&M or that the lack of an outdoor track is hurting our efforts. That sells short the ability of Coach Henry and his staff to sell their program and what they can do for runners. You have to realize that with track being an equivalency sport rather than a head count sport that we could be "outbid" on some recruits. When you are recruiting elite athletes from out of state there are a number of factors that go in to it. Getting a California sprinter away from USC is tough. The schools we are recruiting against are also big time sprint programs. Not having an outdoor track is a bit of a problem but we have arguably the best indoor track in the country. While Aggies love Texas A&M you have to realize that College Station is not everyone's cup of tea. Coach Henry is getting most of the top track athletes in the country to at least look at A&M and you can bet he will sign his fair share.

He would get more than his fair share if he had a track.

You don't win championships when you get only your fair share. You get championships when you get more than your fair share.

I was on a flight five or six years ago with a parent who was returning home after being in College Station on a recruiting trip with his kid. He pulled out the brochure with the world class outdoor track facility. I am sure they can no longer say it is in the works. Too easy to negative recruit against us by other schools.

No one would be happier than me to see the outdoor track built but too many on here seem to think the athletic department is not supporting track and field in a sufficient manner. The truth of the matter is that the McFerrin Indoor facility costs more than Mike Myers stadium in Austin or the combined indoor/outdoor facility at Arkansas and I believe the entire SEC. I don't have the time to do all of the research but I am guessing only Kentucky with their indoor facility could rival the cost. The outdoor facility that Coach Henry wants will cost almost twice as much as any existing outdoor facility in the SEC. That does not count the money spent on the cross country course. For a sport that cannot generate revenue to offset the cost of running the sport for a year much less repay the cost of building these facilities and maintaining them, that is a significant cost. That A&M is even willing to try and do this demonstrates a commitment to the sport. I hope it gets done and can't wait to see it. We went more than a decade without a locker room and longer than that without resurfacing the track so I do understand having to be patient waiting for these things. I do hope whomever has the money to be the primary donor for the facility will be willing to at least share naming the facility with Coach Henry. He deserves that honor.

Aaliyah Miller committed to Baylor.

Double whammy...Anna Cockrell commits to USC.

When it rains, it pours...Alexis Duncan to tu.

quote:

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He would get more than his fair share if he had a track.

You don't win championships when you get only your fair share. You get championships when you get more than your fair share.

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Agree. Coach knows that the promise of an outdoor facility made to him is not likely going to happen. He is too much of a professional and a gentleman to express his profound disappointment in stronger terms than what he did in the interview posted on this site. To say that not having an outdoor track worthy of world-class athletes is a significant hindrance to recruiting is an hyperbole of understatement. I would not be surprised if the situation has tempered his zeal in recruiting. JMO

There are two main problems holding up the outdoor track imo. First is the money and interest are in football right now. Those projects are winding down so that may help but we are probably going shopping for a high dollar OC after this season.

Second, Hyman is a piece of furniture. If we got a dynamic AD in here, he or she might be able to see the value in an outdoor track and sell it to the BMAs. This may be the biggest issue because Hyman has no real vision for the AD and is waiting out his retirement.

Until then it is not happening.

Sounds like Danyel White is signing with us.

Edit added twitter confirmation.