Texas A&M Women's Preview

We all know we have a shot to compete for a national championship on the women's side. We have less entries than USC, Arkansas, and LSU, but I still believe we are the favorites to win! I projected every event and have us sitting as the favorites at 69 points. This meet might come down to a handful of points so every event, every place, every inch, every .01 seconds will matter! I projected wins from Tyra in the Heptathlon, and High Jump, wins in the 400 by Mu, and 4x400! Our key athlete in this meet to me is Deborah Acquah!! On PB's she's ranked 4th in both event, and some sites having her place 4th and 6th, but not me! We know she's always produced well in huge meet (besides indoor long jump this year) but we know as Pat Henry has said she does what it takes to win! We saw her have almost a 2 foot PR at the championships indoor in the triple jump! And we saw her win the SEC long jump. If she can place top 3 in both that would be huge, or even a 2nd may seal the deal! Charokee Young is another athlete who can change the trajectory of this meet. She has the 4th fastest time in the NCAA but I projected her 5th but if she were to medal or place 4th that would be enormous for our title hopes. Lamara Distin will be needed tremendously in the high jump. She's tied for 3 in the rankings but easily beat Abigail O'Donaghue of LSU at conference as she's been struggling. Anna Hall has been struggling in the high jump as well. I'm nervous because we saw Distin struggle indoors but she's healthier and much more fierce now. If she can secure a 3rd and take down LSU it would be huge! There's always an outlier like Tierra Robinson-Jones in the 400 or one of the hurdlers where if they place it will be a cherry on top! I also really like how the schedule is set up. Tyra will do long jump FRESH on the first day! She can secure a 2nd behind Tara Davis or maybe even win if Tara is having a rough day! Then on Day 3 she will begin her heptathlon and on day 4 she will do the events long jump and javelin, then head straight to the open high jump so hopefully those two field events didn't wear her down too much and can win. Her and Rachel Glenn will be battling for first so hopefully a 6'3 clearance can win it for Tyra and the meet can conclude swiftly. Then hopefully she will have so much of a lead in the hep that the 800 afterwards won't matter so much. Then it's our 4x4's time to shine and I think the meet may come down to that race and we can win there! All in all I like our chances, there's less room for error than the other schools who are relying on many contributors to place. We have our elite girls and they are hard to beat. Gittens, Mu, Acquah, Distin, Young... I'll take those 5 over anyone!!!!!!!!

LSU Team Preview

I expect LSU to be right behind us. I projected them to score 64 points with wins in the pole vault and the 100 hurdles. A second in the 4x100, and scoring 12 points in the 400 hurdles, and 3rd in the 200. Expect Dwight Stones and ESPN to be calling them the favorites with the most entires in the field BLAH BLAH BLAH, they lack the elite talent we do and leaning on widespread production with lots of 5th-8th places, where in a championship those place are always up for grabs by any of the qualifiers. Tones Marshall should dominate the hurdles, but we need to hope that Lisa Gunnarson loses in the pole vault, and the 400 hurdlers have a hard time advancing to the finals or run poorly there. They have Symone Mason in the 100/200 and we need her to only score in one (preferably none lol). And Favour Ofili to get worse than 3rd in the 200, which is possible. I believe they will lose in the 4x100 relay to USC, and that they will be second in the team standings, they have the quantity but not the quality we do.

USC Team Preview

Right behind LSU I have USC in 3rd with 63 points, mostly coming from Anna Cockrell, Tee Tee Terry, and their relays. I expect Cockrell to easily win the 400 hurdles, and place 3rd in the 100 hurdles. She's more likely to place worse in the 100 hurdles so we need to hope she runs poorly there and does not get 6 points there. I have the same for Terry a 1st in 100 and a 3rd in the 200! We have to hope Kemba Nelson of Oregon, Tamara Clark of Alabama, and Cambrea Sturgis can beat Terry and help USC lose out on points. I have them upsetting LSU in the 4x100 as I think Terry, Tava-Thomas, and Annelus will just be too much to handle. We also need to hope their 400 group doesn't do as well. I have Roberts in 2nd and Constantine in 6th, with the 400 as follows, Athing Mu, Kaelin Roberts, Stacey Ann Williams, Natasha McDonald, Charokee Young, Krya Constantine, Talitha Diggs, and Aliyah Abrams. We need to hope 2 or less of them qualify in the 400. They have a hammer thrower, a triple jumper, and a high jumper competing as well, and we need top hope they score around 2-3 points combined, or there's a chance they score none at all. USC has their stars in Terry and Cockrell but their supporting cast isn't as strong. Tava-Thomas and Annelus have not looked as strong as they did in years past, and they won't contribute as they could have years ago. Cockrell in the 100 hurdles and Terry in the 200 could be the difference in them upsetting us or us beating them by more than 10 those will be two events to monitor closely.

agAngeldad said:

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The freshman from baylor could help us by taking #1 in 100h and 100. She looked good at regionals.

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great point, we need her to at least beat Cockrell in the hurdles and maybe Symone Mason in the 100! That's why I'm a little upset Brissett and Davis didn't advance in the hurdles cause they could have best Cockrell and maybe Brissett could have best Tonea Marshall. The 100 could be a surprise hopefully Tamara Clark and Kemba Nelson can beat Terry and Mason!

Heptathlon Preview

Tyra Gittens. That's it, end of preview. Okay if you really want to know more about event I'll write it out lol. For novices the heptathlon is a combined scoring of 7 different track and field events that will take place 2 separate days! Day one begins with the 100 Hurdles, then the High Jump, Shot Put and concludes with a 200 Meter Dash. Then the next day begins with Long Jump, Javelin, and ends with an 800 meter run! Tyra Gittens will be the favorite in this event and possibly the first 5 events lol in the heptathlon. She has a career best score of 6419, which is more than 300 than anyone else. Her nemesis (which she's blown away the past two times) Anna Hall of Georgia will not be competing at the meet. There will still be some athletes pushing in each individual event, but none overall! Duke's Erin Marsh, Miami's Michelle Atherley, and Georgia's Aysa Reynolds will be fighting for 2nd! Usually the heptathlon is completed before other events are scored, but here the meet will conclude less than an hour before the mile relay, so we will add 10 points right before it and have momentum to finish! Tyra will compete in the open long jump one day before she begins the heptathlon, and will do the open high jump in between the javelin and the 800 of the heptathlon!

Decathlon Preview

No Lindon Victor, no Nathan Hite, no Aggies but for those following along it will still be a fun competition to follow. The Decathlon is 10 events over two days, with the same 7 as the girls but the 800 is a 1500, and added is the 400, Discus, and the Pole Vault! The competition should be won easily by Georgia's Karel Tilga of Estonia. His competition would have been Kyle Garland of Georgia but he too scratched like Anna Hall. But ahead of them both would have been Johannes Erm of Georgia (yes all of them go to Georgia lol) but he injured himself during indoors. Ayden Owens of Michigan may come close, and the Arkansas guys multi coach resigned a week ago. So Tilga barring scratches or no heights should walk away from it. I always like to see how many quit the event lol!

Also wow! You must have so many track stories to tell!! Hopefully you can witness another Aggie title this year!

10,000 Preview

Hopefully the camera isn't only focused on Wesley Kiptoo as he'll sprint the first mile to break away from everyone lol. His plan has worked most times but in the cross country championship 10k others caught him, including Connor Mantz of BYU who I think is the favorite in this event! The question will be is who has the guts to try to stay close to Kiptoo or run their race and risk not catching him! A championship will be on the line, so don't expect everyone 200 meters from Kiptoo! Abdihamid Nur of Northern Arizona really put no effort in regionals to qualify but I expect him to be near the top along with Vincent Kiprop of Alabama and Alex Masai of Hofstra. The over/under on commercial breaks during the race is 2.5 :-)

On the women's side it'll be a fun battle between Alabama's Mercy Chelengat who is Vincent Kiprop's sister, Grace Forbes of Rice, and Carmela Cardama Baez or Oregon and Amanda Vestri of Syracuse! This one will be way more tactical with Chelangat, Vestri, and Forbes all taking turns leading, but Chelengat will make the race hers whenever she wants it to! It'll be a fun race and if Bama wants a shot at placing high they need the 10 points.

5,000 Preview

Again it's the Kiptoo show... but is it! He may get out to a huge lead as he does all the time, but there will be some DOGS chasing him. Cooper Teare and Cole Hocker of Oregon will be fighting to win so I don't expect them to run so relaxed by letting Kiptoo run so far out ahead. Casey Clinger of BYU and Luis Grijhalva of NAU will contend for a medal as well. Alex Masai might be able to stay up there if the 10k doesn't take to much out of him. Cole Hocker will be running the 1500 as well, so there is always the possibility of a scratch from him if Oregon is out of it. Teare, Clinger, and Grihalva will be fresh so I expect them to push the pace behind Kiptoo and not let him breathe so easily. My prediction is Cole Hocker, Cooper Teare, Wesley Kiptoo

It'll be even more of a competitive race on the women's side as well. Mercy Chelengat, Whitnni Orton of BYU, and Auburn's Joyce Kimeli will go wire to wire! Those 3 are going to hard to beat, but the Stanford duo of Ella Donaghu and Julia Heymach along with Katie Wasserman of Notre Dame and Haley Herberg of Washington won't go away without putting up a fight! I expect all these girls to run a tactical race with the first 3 mentioned breaking away! It's going to be such an amazing race in my opinion! I'm going with Whittni Orton, Mercy Chelengat, and Katie Wasseman!

3000 Steeplechase Preview

Z3phyr the best Aggie steepler for the past few years probably has better insight for this race, but it's one I'm excited for, well on the girls side! The women's field is as deep as it's been in a long while! The field is led by BYU's Courtney Wayment! She has a best time of 9:31 and she made that time look so effortlessly. Although she went out slow at prelims, her technique over the barriers was way improved! I expect her to breakaway from the field fairly easily! Staying up with her will be a host of other runners; including Gabrielle Jennings of Furman, Joyce Kimeli of Auburn, Hannah Steelman of NC State, Katie Rainsberger of Washington, Charolette Prouse of New Mexico, and Aneta Konieczek of Oregon! Like I said a stacked field but these girls should form a tight pack before Wayment breaks it apart and opens up the race! I'm predicting the top 3 to be Wayment, Jennings, and Kimeli!

On the men's side the steeple is a bit more wide open. It would have been awesome to see Wesley Kiptoo in this race, but the field will be led by collegiate leader Fitsum Seyoum of Virginia Tech along with: Ryan Smeeton of Oklahoma State, Garret Marsing of BYU, Ahmed Jaziri of Eastern Kentucky, and Bennet Pascoe of Arkansas State. Seyoum will take the race out fast as he did in Conference and if he does so he should win but if it's a slow pace, the door will be open for a host of men to end near the top, going to be an interesting race. I expect it to be Seyoum, Jaziri, and Marsing of BYU on the medal stand although I may be very wrong.

1500 Preview

This is one of my favorite races! And it won't disappoint in Oregon! Both sides will be crazy stacked as it has been a deep field through the year! On the girls side you can predict any 3 females of the 24 to fight for a medal! On the women's side I have no clue who to predict to medal but my money will be on Sage Hurta of Colorado! She has 2 flat 800 speed and I believe that speed will come through down the stretch! Whittni Orton who I think will win the 5k will run an excellent race and have a strong finish like she did in cross country. Krissy Gear, and the Stanford duo of Julia Heymach and Ella Donaghu will contend for a medal. Alabama's Amaris Tyynisma has posted a 4:09 time but she struggles running in competitive races. My top 3 prediction would be Sage Hurta, Whittni Orton, and Julia Heymach!

The men's side is slated to be just as competitive at the top, with the collegiate record holder Yared Nuguse of Notre Dame, Oregon's Cole Hocker, Alabama's Eliud Kipsang, and Ole Miss' Waleed Sulliman. The BYU duo of Talem Franco and Lucas Bons, and Furman's Ryan Adams. Nuguse has run a 3:34.68 in a prelim all alone, so I expect him to be the favorite. Kipsang likes to push the pace as well so I expect this to be a fast race. Cole Hocker has a kick line no other so if he's in the thick of it, Hocker will come out on top. I project it to be Hocker, Nuguse, Kipsang!

Unfinished business in Eugene 🤫 pic.twitter.com/frT7Qf8ihe

— Texas A&M Track & Field/Cross Country (@aggietfxc) June 4, 2021

800 Preview

Is Devin Dixon back? Can Brandon Miller continue his 4 meet 800 winning streak? Can both make the finals? This is an interesting event for the Aggies, and a metaphorical torch has been passed this season from 800 King Devin Dixon to Phenomenal Freshman Brandon Miller. But we saw Devin Dixon come through when his season was on the line. Could that have been the spark Dixon needed, I want to think so! Miller had the fastest qualifying time taking down the collegiate leader Isaiah Jewett in their prelims race and Dixon had the 6th fastest in the nation. All 3 will be in the same heat along with Festus Lagat of Iowa State. Only 2 from each of the 3 heats will advance so hopefully Miller and Jewett can pick up the pace and Dixon can advance right behind them in 3rd season! I expect Charlie Hunter of Oregon to fight with Miller and Jewett for the top spot as he as an excellent kick, along with Finley McLear of Miami Ohio, and Kameron Jones of Clemson! I'm hoping Dixon can make the finals and go out on a good race, but I believe the top 3 will be Hunter, Miller, Jewett!

On the women's side, there won't be an Athing Mu to be 100 meters ahead of everyone, but the collegiate depth is a great as ever! Indoor champ Aaliyah Miller of Baylor will push out the pace fast! Laurie Barton of Clemson, Michaela Meyer of Virgina, and Amber Tanner of Georgia should fight for contention! Thankfully LSU's runner got thrown in a fast heat so it'll be hard for her to qualify and we need to hope she doesn't! Miller will take the race out fast and I feel like no one will catch her. Barton and Meyer should come in at 2 and 3!

I was upset with Mpoke and Deadmon's lane draw but was hoping they both can advance easily!

Also Devin Dixon said they will win the 4x400 relay and that a 43 split will come from him and Deadmon!!! HAS HE BEEN HIDING SOMETHING ALL YEAR

taylorswift13 said:

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3000 Steeplechase Preview

Z3phyr the best Aggie steepler for the past few years probably has better insight for this race, but it's one I'm excited for, well on the girls side! The women's field is as deep as it's been in a long while! The field is led by BYU's Courtney Wayment! She has a best time of 9:31 and she made that time look so effortlessly. Although she went out slow at prelims, her technique over the barriers was way improved! I expect her to breakaway from the field fairly easily! Staying up with her will be a host of other runners; including Gabrielle Jennings of Furman, Joyce Kimeli of Auburn, Hannah Steelman of NC State, Katie Rainsberger of Washington, Charolette Prouse of New Mexico, and Aneta Konieczek of Oregon! Like I said a stacked field but these girls should form a tight pack before Wayment breaks it apart and opens up the race! I'm predicting the top 3 to be Wayment, Jennings, and Kimeli!

On the men's side the steeple is a bit more wide open. It would have been awesome to see Wesley Kiptoo in this race, but the field will be led by collegiate leader Fitsum Seyoum of Virginia Tech along with: Ryan Smeeton of Oklahoma State, Garret Marsing of BYU, Ahmed Jaziri of Eastern Kentucky, and Bennet Pascoe of Arkansas State. Seyoum will take the race out fast as he did in Conference and if he does so he should win but if it's a slow pace, the door will be open for a host of men to end near the top, going to be an interesting race. I expect it to be Seyoum, Jaziri, and Marsing of BYU on the medal stand although I may be very wrong.

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Would love to see Kiptoo go after it as I always respect an aggressive racer but I got to say my favorites (outside of the collegiate leader) are Ahmed Jaziri (beat a stacked field in KC early May) and Alec Basten (winner of Big 10 Championship) because NCAAs are about racing and not running.

Nice input, the championship races are always strategic and I feel Jaziri will have the better kick! Although it's going to be a wide open field behind them, Kiptoo would've screwed up the game plan for everyone, so sad we get to miss out on it lol! The women's race is going to be crazy I think! That lead group will breakaway with under 2 laps to go and it'll be an all out free for all behind Wayment!

200 Preview

The big storyline here is will Devon Achane be strong enough to run his best race of the year and can Lance Broome keep dropping his times. Both Aggies are Houston products so us getting both to nationals looks extremely great on the recruiting front as H-town will always produce top talent! This may be the fastest 200 group the NCAA has ever seen with 6 guys under a 20.1 and 18 under a 20.4! Leading the NCAA is LSU's Terrance Laird with a blazing time of 19.81! This will be Terrance's race to lose. Also running well has been Shawn Maswanganyi of Houston, Joseph Fahnbulleh of Florida, Matthew Boling of Georgia, and Lance Lang of Kentucky. Achane is in a tough heat with Fahnbulleh, Lang, and Davonte Burnett of USC. He got a nice draw in lane 6 and will have Lang and Fahnbulleh on his outside, so if Achane pushes it and runs his best race he could easily get in on time. He will need to be around 20.2-20.25 to qualify and I think he is fast enough to do so! Broome got lane 2 and will be in a tough heat. My medal prediction is Laird, Maswanganyi, and Fahnbulleh.

No Aggie girls will compete on the women's men's side as Jania Martin did not run outdoors and Laila Owens just missed out on qualifying. Both qualified to nationals indoors in the 200. This race will be HUGE when it comes to national standings as LSU and USC each have 3 girls running. Leading the women of Troy will be Tee Tee Terry and we need to hope she does not win. We need Alabama's Tamara Clark, NCA&T's Cambrea Sturgis, Ohio State's Anavia Battle, Texas' Kynnedy Flannel to take down Terry and LSU's Flavour Ofili and Symone Mason. Sadly Ofili and Mason got good heat and lane draws, as well as Terry, so we need to hope they struggle in prelims and don't advance. Basically let's hope LSU and USC struggles in every race lol. I predict the medal stand to be Tamara Clark, Cambrea Sturgis, and Anavia Battle. (Hopefully lol).

100 Preview

Same as the 200! USC and LSU will each have a contender in that race in Tee Tee Terry and Symone Mason. We need help from the other girls above to take away points from USC and LSU. Everyone has Terry projected to win, but she can easily come in 2nd or 3rd which will help us tremendously! Mason should be in the finals and place around top 4-6. The good thing is that Symone Mason is in the same heat with Tamara Clark of Bama and Terry. So there's a chance she loses out of the finals although that may be a slim one. We could also benefit from Kemba Nelson the 60 meter indoor championship.

On the men's side the same 200 guys will be racing for the 100 podium along with Jovaughn Martin of FSU, Micah Williams of Oregon, and Joseph Amoah of Coppin State. This still is Laird's race to lose as no one has the top end speed he does! Achane will have a much tougher time making the finals in this race, but there's always a chance. He has struggled coming out of the blocks since he had been dealing with hamstring issues but since that was over a month ago maybe he can get out better now! I think the top 3 will be Laird, Martin, Maswanganyi.

I didn't wanna make you all read too much about the throws since they probably won't even be streamed but in case you want to follow, here's a short preview. The men's side it's the Turner Washington show. He has the indoor NCAA record and with Piperi coming off ankle surgery, Washington will blow the field away. Jorinde Van Klinken should break the NCAA discus record. The men's and women's hammer will be a two person battle between Dudarev and Mardal and Rogers and Wilson respectively. The women's shot out could have multiple women over 60, it'll be a great meet. Maggie Malone should keep her collegiate record! I'll preview Sam Hankins and the men's javelin later

Throws
Men Shot Put
1. Turner Washington - Arizona State
2. Adrian Piperi - Texas
3. Matthew Katnik - USC
Women's Shot Put
1. Adelaide Aquilla - Oh. State
2. Samantha Noennig - Arizona
3. Latavia Maines - Tennessee
Men's Discus
1. Turner Washington - Arizona State
2. Francois Prinsloo - South Alabama
3. Claudio Romero - Virgina
Women's Discus
1. Jorinde Van Klinken - Arizona State
2. Laulauga Tausaga - Iowa
3. Shanice Love - Florida State
Men's Hammer
1. Thomas Mardal - Florida
2. Glen Dudarev - Kansas
3. Israel Oloyede - Arizona
Women's Hammer
1. Camyrn Rogers - California
2. Alyssa Wilson - UCLA
3. Sade Olatoye - Ohio State
Women's Javelin
1. Marie-Therese Obst - Georgia
2. Kylee Carter - Auburn
3. Skylar Ciccolini - Mizzou

Meet is 3 days away, so I'll preview the hurdles today, relays on Monday, and jumps last on Tuesday since those will be huge events for our ladies!