Meet Preview
General Preview
It's national championship time. Where you hold your breath every race, where the best in nation convene on a 200 meter oval, where every thousandths of a second matters, where every point can be the difference between heart break or you standing under some confetti. March 13th and 14th, our men's and women's track teams will compete in the Tyson Chicken Nugget Center at the University of Arkansas for a chance at glory and to add an 11th and 12th National Title to our trophy case.
How Does The Qualification Work?
March 1st was the last day performances can be achieved for athletes to qualify a season's best mark. Every athlete is ranked on their best in a respected event. Coaches then submit athletes in events they wish to have them compete in. The 16 athletes entered to compete in every event will be selected. It's not always the exact top 16 will compete. Someone with a top 16 mark may have an injury, may have a mark in multiple events and only want to race one. You often see distance runners focus on one race even after qualifying for two, or sprinters choosing one over the other, especially when relays come into the fold. Speaking of, for relays the top 12 schools will compete.
How Does The Scoring Work?
Just like in the conference meet, the meet is scores based on places 1-8. 1st is rewarded with 10, 2nd with 8, 3rd with 6, 4th with 5, 5th with 4, 6th with 3, 7th with 2, and 8th with 1. Every point will matter. The big discrepancy between a first and the rest of the field is huge, but sometimes it's the small points earned that can make the difference. So every point matters. Indoors, more than out, the point difference is always so small. With hundreds of schools, 17 events, and only 16 athletes in each event, the margin for error is airtight and every heat, every event is of heightened significance.
What Is The Structure?
This is a two day meet, unlike the 3 day meet we just had in conference. In the past there would be two windows per day. The women would run all their events first, then a break, then the men would run. This year they are running together. There are two running finals on Day 1, the 5000 and the Distance Medley Relay (no Aggies in either). On Day 1, every other race is a prelim (or semifinal). The 60, 200, 400, 800, 1600, and 60 hurdles will all have the 16 athletes racing, with 8 making the final in all except for the 1600 where 10 make it. The sprints in the midfield (60 and 60 hurdles) and the 800/mile will be two 8 lane heats, while the 200 and 400 will be 4 four athlete heats. The 60/60 hurdles will be the top 2 times in each heat, plus the next 4 fastest times. The 200 and 400 will be the fastest 8 times. The 800 will be the top 3 times in each heat, plus the next two fastest times. For the mile top 4 in each heat then the next two fastest times. So day 1 is prelims day, but for the Aggies we'll have our two multi athletes get started Blake Harrison his first 4 events of the Heptathlon and Sofia Yakushina in the pentathlon. Field events are prelims and a final to follow directly after which includes 9 athletes. We will also have the men's weight throw, men's pole vault, and both genders in the long jump so a huge field day for the Aggies. Day 1 can determine so much. Saturday will be all finals, more field events, and the finish of the heptathlon.
Which Aggies Will Qualify
As it stands at the date of this posting the Aggies have 11 entries in qualifying position on the men's side and 6 on the women's side. If healthy all the women will enter and compete at nationals. Camryn Dickson in the 200, Jaiya Covington in the 60 Hurdles, Lily Carlson in the pole vault, Morgan Davis and Machaeda Linton in the long jump, and Sofia Yakushina in the pentathlon. On the men's side there are two big questions. The first one is whether Auhmad Robinson will contest the 200/400 double? Unfortunately, Robinson will only be contesting the 200. He has a top 16 mark in both but like we've debated, would it have been possible to do both, would doing so have hurt one of the other or both, or will it hurt us attempting to get 10 points in a relay because he does the 4x400 as well. There is a huge time break between the 200 and 400 on Day 1 (the prelim day), an hour and 50 minute difference. However, on the finals day there is only a 40 minute break between the 400 and 200, and then 75 minutes until the 4x400. This is probably why Robinson is instead focusing on the 200. Let's hope it pays off. The second question is how healthy is Micah Larry. He's ranked 15th in the long jump, but he is entered to compete, although he hasn't competed in over 3 weeks. The other men qualified are Lawson Jacobs in the 400, Peter Narumbe in the 800, Ja'Qualon Scott in the 60 Hurdles, Aleksandr Solovev in the pole vault, Henry Zimmerman in the weight throw, Blake Harris in the heptathlon, and our 4x400 team of Jacobs, Eric Hemphill, Kimar Farquharson, and Robinson.
How Do We Stack Up Against The Competition?
Depth versus star power, quantity versus quality. There are so many distinct ways to win this meet. Some years it takes less than 40, other years it takes more than 50. I think this meet will come to 5 teams: us, Arkansas, Oregon, Texas Tech, and Tennessee. Arkansas leads the way top 16 marks, Oregon is right behind them, as is Tennessee, Penn State, then us. Oregon however has most of these top 16 marks in the distance events. They have 9 in the 800-3000 as well as the DMR. Other dark horse schools could be Penn State who has a strong sprinter and a great mid distance group and Kansas State who has 9 field event entires woah!
Tennessee has 5 in the pole vault and Oregon has 5 in the 3000. Arkansas has depth, 2 each in the 60, 200, 400, 800, 3 in the 60 hurdles, 1 in the 3000, a couple field eventers, and both relays. There's also a chance they can land another in the 3000 and another in the 200 depending on scratches. Texas Tech has little depth, but somehow firepower led by Malachi Snow who's ranked 2nd in the 60 and the 60 hurdles, and a triple jumper Jonathon Seremes ranked 1st in the triple jump. They have about 3 other entires but very little room for error. Oregon will rely heavily on the distance events as they have no one in any race under 800 meters. Distance races don't necessarily reflect rankings so we'll see how they fare. However they have an automatic 10 in Peyton Bair in the heptathlon and some solid throwers. Tennessee has many entries, but aside from the vaulters, their sportiness didn't look sharp at conference despite their high rankings. They'll have 5 vaulters but only two with a real chance of scoring. However, you'd rather have more opportunities to score than not. Arkansas just has so many options, however aside from Jelani Watkins, I don't see them picking up many medals. So they will have to rely on grabbing points throughout with their depth. Prelims day will be huge for them to see how many make the finals. Only 8 make the finals, so if they advance past Friday, then they are guaranteed points.
The Aggies…
You just read about the competition. Now let me tell you about our fightin' Texas Aggies, your reigning outdoor national champions. We may not have the depth of others, but boy do we got some talent. Without having much depth, it comes down to all or most or guys performing their absolute best and maximizing their potential to score big. Going in we have a few guys ranked out of the top 8 like Lawson Jacobs in the 400 or Micah Larry in the long jump, but can they deliver a huge performance to give us points. Can our big dogs like Robinson, Scott, and Solovev come through. Can guys like Zimmerman or Harris guarantee us points, even if it's just 1, 2 or 3.
Solovev is coming in ranked 5th but we know what he's capable of, he won outdoors last season. He took a gamble and it cost him at conference, but hopefully he's ready for 19 feet in Fayetteville. Ja'Qualon Scott is no stranger to this meet. Scott has scored 6 times for us at a national meet. Even as the 60 hurdles is the strongest it's ever been historically, you can always count on Scott to deliver based on his experience and reliability. He is ranked tied for 3rd, but has the opportunity to win it all or medal. 6 or more points would be enormous. Auhmad Robinson too is ranked 5th in the 200 and with little attempts at the event you'd hope the best from him is yet to come. First seems out of reach as Garret Kaalund of USC seems to be in a realm of his own. Robinson has potential to get on the podium and we'll need it.
We have two other guys coming ranked in the top 8. Blake Harris is ranked 7th in the men's heptathlon. Harris had 3 PB's in the heptathlon and an all time best overall score. He comfortably won the SEC even as he skipped a height in the pole vault just to go for a big score, stopped after 6'6 in the high jump and didn't attempt another height, and ran all alone in the 1000 knowing he already secured the 10 points. Last year he placed 11th at this meet. Many heptathletes struggled at this meet scoring well below their bests. We'll see how that plays on this year. Would love to Harris to collect some PB's again in 2 weeks so I hope he gets the proper recovery. Another field event we hope to see some points in is the weight throw. Yes, the Aggies will go to a championship meet in the weight throw. Never thought I'd see the day lol. Aggie legendary coach and Olympian Juan De La Garza retired and the Aggies brought in a new throws coach in Amin Nikfar, an Olympian himself and successful throws coach. The Aggies signed Henry Zimmerman who had scored in the weight throw last year in 8th place for Nebraska and 7th the year before. His all time best would rank 6th in this meet. However, in the throws, there's bound to be chaos. Whether it's a favorite struggling or someone else fouling out. Chaos can happen. We're gonna need Zimmerman to get out to a strong start make that final and cause another personal best, hopefully over 76 feet! Points will be important, let's see how many he can get. I can see him placing 5th on a good day. The men's weight throw will be the first event scored so getting on the board early will help huge for us!
A wild card for is the young freshman from Kenya, Peter Narumbe. Donovan Brazier, Jazmine Fray, Sammy Watson, Devin Dixon, Athing Mu, Brandon Miller, Sam Whitmarsh, so many legends to represent 800 Meter U. Peter Narumbe will be on this Mt Rushmore. Just a freshman Narumbe has gone 1:46.1 and has an SEC title to his name. In the early season we saw him run fast all alone. In the prelim he went ahead on its own. In the sec final, we saw him start off slow almost towards the back of the field. Two Arkansas guys led the way till Narumbe decided the fun was over. We've seen the young man win two different ways. Those two Arkansas guy are ranked ahead of him nationally, he played with them like a dog plays with its food. Now we'll see him in an even more elite field. One of those guys Rivaldo Marshall of Arkansas won this meet 2 years ago. There heavy favorite in Colin Sahlman of NAU, however he won't be competing opening up the field. Penn State has a strong duo and Georgetown's Matsatsa is dangerous. Narumbe isn't projected to score but I bet he will. It may be hard to get on the podium against some experienced savvy runners but after conference I have some faith in Narumbe. I think he can be a huge wildcard in our team chances. He's young and this could be a learning experience, but I can also see a run where Narumbe scores for us. This will be an important, yet fun race.
Another potential wildcard could be Lawson Jacobs in the 400. He struggled in the open 400 at conference. He lost the pole position and tried hard to get the lead right back and after struggling to get it he seemed to shut down and lost energy and or focus. Probably wasn't use to that or didn't game plan well enough for that. He showcased his 200 speed this season, and we've seen him run some fast 400's. .18 seconds separate 4th to 14th where Jacobs ranks. So a personal best could see him make the final and that would be enormous for us Aggies. There are two Razorbacks in this 400 race so we need to prevent them from making the final and best them in the prelims. Without Auhmad in this race, we'll absolutely need Jacobs to run the best race of his life and step up.
Micah Larry when healthy is capable of scoring points in the long jump. Even in a stacked field. He was 4th at this meet last year for the University of Georgia. Going in ranked 15th and uncertain about his health, it will be hard to project points here. However, earning some would be astronomical and really give us a great opportunity to win this whole thing. Long jump is a strange event where one foul can throw you off or you get a huge jump once when everything clicks but it's hard to replicate that jump. a consistent jumper can find success. Last year a lot of people underperformed here. Let's hope Larry is healthy enough to compete and can make some magic happen.
The race everyone stays seated for, the grande finale, the 4x400. In a championship meet a 4x400 can have the fans cheering the roof off, jumping up and down on the bleachers, it's always emotional and oftentimes dramatic. The national champion may come down to this race. 12 teams qualify and the Aggies come in with the 5th fastest time. It would have been ranked second if they weren't DQ'd in the conference meet. So 3 heats of 12, the Aggies will be in the second heat with USC, LSU, and Georgia. 3 teams we should destroy, however Georgia should push us early and USC has some talent as well. Arkansas will be in the first and slowest heat thankfully. We're gonna need to run the heck out of this race and post a time that the last heat can't touch. We'll have two of the 4 guys Kimar Farquharson and Eric Hemphill only running those 400 meters all weekend. Not qualifying in individual events, they'll be rested and hopefully ready to go under 45 seconds. Both have been on national championship relays for Texas A&M. Auhmad will only have the 200 to run and Lawson Jacobs the 400. LSU will have no one running prior to the 4x400, USC will have their 200 guy running and Georgia only one 400 guy. Georgia even pulled one of their guys in the top 16 in the 400 (albeit #16) to only run the 4x400. This is our race, 10 points should be the goal. Let's not get DQ'd, get out fast and win it here and hopefully these 10 points can lead to something more!
Women
On the women's side, a national championship may be really difficult to obtain. We have one of our biggest scorers Winny Bii who hasn't competed all season and a couple athletes who only have outdoor eligibility. We only qualified 2 runners, 2 long jumpers, 1 pole vaulter, and 1 pentathlete, no relays. The scoring opportunities are limited, but we can still stack up some points.
On the track we only have Camryn Dickson in the 200 and Jaiya Covington in the 60 hurdles. Dickson comes in ranked 5th, however last year she made this meet in the 200 and missed the final by literally .01 seconds. This year she is running a lot faster and is expected to make the final. Georgia phenom and Olympian Adaejah Hodge is the clear favorite, however behind her the next 15 runners are only separated by .37 seconds. So the prelim will be tight, but I think Dickson can get through and potentially run a race to put her on the podium if she runs her best. Jaiya Covington is the reigning national champion in the 60 hurdles. She hasn't ran that time this year while others have dropped their times. She goes in ranked 6th in an absolutely tough race. 8 girls have gone under 8 seconds and two under 7.90. Her best this season is 7.94. She will need to PR to defend her title, just getting into that final will be crazy. Hurdle races always seem to bring chaos so anything can happen. We'll need both girls to make the final and score here.
We have 3 field eventers with long jumpers Morgan Davis and Machaeda Linton along with pole vaulter Lily Carlson. It took the week before conference to get into the top 16, but both long jumpers are jumping better than ever. The duo is ranked 6th and 10th and even went 1-2 in the SEC meet. There is a huge favorite in Sophia Beckmon of Illinois and an always consistent Alyssa Jones of Stanford. Our girls are jumping well and I believe both can make the final and score big, maybe even one can make the podium. In the women's pole vault Lily Carlson squeaked in at 14'8. Again another event that is skyrocketing in talent and results. However Carlson has been in a slump, unable to clear 13'5 at conference and hasn't gone over 14 feet in over a month. Hopefully she regain her confidence and soar high once again. The opening height may be 13'11 or even 14 plus. Another female athlete to also qualify is Sofia Yakushina. The Russian phenom took the ncaa by storm last season. She was second last season at this meet and 3rd outdoors in the heptathlon. Unfortunately she did not compete at conference so hopefully she will be at full strength. She only did one heptathlon this year on February 6th and didn't look herself there and had no personal bests in the 5 events, however her score of 4336 was enough to qualify ranked 8th. At her best she can be in contention to not only podium but win. Her best of 4555 is a 100 points more than the highest ranking this season. We'll know right away in the first two events if she's healthy.
We all felt the joy of winning a national championship last year. We felt it in 2017, and consistently in our run from 2009-2014. It's a feeling that is impossible to replicate. All of our paths to Texas A&M are unique. Some were born into it and some were stumbled into on happenstance. Either way once you're in, you're in forever. We all love this school and if you're reading this you love it even more. Track is a niche sport, it's growing yearly, but it's still its own community. For most it's watched every 4 years at the Olympics. College track is a unique community because it's combines love for a university with a love of the sport, however you don't need to have encyclopedic knowledge of track to watch collegiate track and field, you can just be an alum or a fan of a school!
Next weekend our Aggies have a chance to win it all and once again etch their names into immortality. The standard of Texas A&M Track and Field is always championship or bust. When the Aggies hired Pat Henry the standard was elevated and success has followed. Year after year he has constructed teams capable of winning it all. It can't always go your way, but you can't ever count out the Aggies. This year there's a chance, but it will be a battle as it always is. Championships never come easy. Every tenth of a second, every quarter inch, every point is meaningful.
This year's men's squad is certainly capable. After we celebrated a national championship last season we knew we'd lose some talent and a lot of Aggie greats. We were fortunate to have someone guys come back. For some it's their last meet in an Aggie uniform, not as an Aggie because once you become an Aggie, you're an Aggie for life. Coach Henry went and got some help to give these seniors, we went all in for this championship. It's going to be tough, but I believe. Let's go BTHO everyone and win our 11th fightin' Texas A&M Aggie Track and Field National Championship.
