Aggie Track & Field posts solid finish at SEC Indoor Championships
The second and final day of the Indoor SEC Track & Field Championships wrapped up with the Aggie men’s team placing in fourth, while the Aggie women’s team finished in fifth.
Alabama took the SEC title on the men’s side, while Arkansas' women's team placed first.
“Well I think we did some things to put ourselves in position to run well,” head coach Pat Henry said of the meet.
“I’m happy with where we are. I’m pleased about where we are on the men’s side. I think we got knocked out on the mile relay on the ladies’ side just now; Tennessee knocked us out of the national meet. But besides that, we had a good meet.”
A&M turned in its best performances in the 800m dash.
Devin Dixon (1:49.32) earned first place in the men’s 800m, and his female counterparts, Sammy Watson, (2:04.25) and Jazmine Fray (2:05.42), finished first and second, respectively.
In the men’s 400m finals, Robert Grant (46.14) just missed the podium in fourth place, while his teammate Mylik Kerley (46.38) finished in seventh place.
Nathan Hite (5,592) performed well in the heptathlon, finishing in third place and landing on the podium for the Aggies. Hite’s finish in the 1000m dash gave him the points to finish in third place. Hite said despite not putting up his best effort in the hurdles and pole-vaulting, he was able to regroup in the final leg of the heptathlon.
“It came down to the thousand and I knew the training and the fitness was there, but I just needed to gut it out and be willing to take the pain,” Hite said. “And that’s what I ended up doing.”
When it came to long distance running, the men grabbed 13th and 14th place in the men’s 5000m run with finishes from Brandt Preston (14:40.59) and Jacob Perry (14:42.54). Another one of the best finishes for the Aggies came in the men’s one-mile race from Alex Riba. He took second place with a time of 4:12.53, and his teammate Taylor Clayton took eighth place with a time of 4:07.18.
On the women’s side, Diamond Spaulding finished in sixth place overall, and her teammate Brenessa Thompson finished in eighth in the women’s 200m dash.
In the field events, Alison Ondrusek earned second place in the women’s weight throw and landed on the podium with a throw of 21.25m (69-8 3/4). Jacob Wooten and Audie Wyatt grabbed the top two spots in men’s pole vaulting with the marks of 5.28m (17-3¾ ). Wooten credited the time he spent training with Wyatt as a factor in their strong performance.
“It’s great — there’s no other environment quite like it,” Wooten said. “Audie and I just push each other in practice like it’s competition, a lot of back and forth.”
In the distance medleys, the men finished in last place (10:16.55), while the women took fourth (11:21.86).
The final event of the day saw the men’s team of Ilolo Izu, Robert Grant, Dixon and Kerley take first place in the 4x400m relay in a time of 3:02.35, breaking the previous SEC and Gilliam Indoor Stadium record of 3:02.52 set last season. The women’s team of Glorilisha Carter, Jarra Owens, Jazmine Fray and Julia Madubuike finished in fourth place in the 4x400m relay with a time of 3:32.30.
The Aggies will return to action March 9-10 at the NCAA Championships at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium. The meet will be televised on the SEC Network.