Highlights, results: A&M's Athing Mu lights up SEC Outdoor Championships

Texas A&M closed out the last day of the 2021 SEC Outdoor Championships at E.B Cushing Stadium on Saturday, which featured a slew of Aggies in the final rounds. A&M finished fourth overall in women's and seventh overall in men's.  

Video courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics.

Here’s the official release from Texas A&M (with some TexAgs live coverage tweets added).

Texas A&M’s Athing Mu brought a near-capacity crowd to its feet while winning the Southeastern Conference 400m title with an American U-20 record time of 49.84, Saturday night at E.B. Cushing Stadium. 

After claiming two titles on Friday, Texas A&M won five events on the final day of the SEC Outdoor Championships. Deborah Acquah (long jump), Tyra Gittens (heptathlon), Moitalel Mpoke (400m Hurdles), Brandon Miller (800m), Athing Mu (400m, 4x400m), Tierra Robinson-Jones (4x400m), Charokee Young (4x400m) and Jaevin Reed (4x400m) each ended the weekend with an SEC event title. 

Mu torched the 400m field of runners with a time of 49.84, 1.07 seconds faster than the second place finisher. While breaking the American U-20 record, she also set an SEC meet record, facility record and Texas A&M school record. Her time made her the third fastest collegian all-time and ranks fifth on the all-time world U-20 list.

It is her second American U-20 record set this outdoor season after breaking the 800m (1:57.73) in April at the Michael Johnson Invitational. 

Fellow freshman, Brandon Miller won the men’s 800m title with a personal best and time of 1:45.95. Miller became the fourth fastest American on the U-20 all-time list. He completed the 2021 SEC 800m title sweep after claiming the indoor championship back in February.

The track continued to stay hot for the Maroon & White as Mpoke won the 400m hurdles with a collegiate-leading time of 48.89. Mpoke became the first Aggie in history to run a sub-49 in the 400m hurdles breaking a 34 year old school record of 49.05, which was previously held by Craig Calk. 

Mpoke met the Olympic qualifying standard by .01 seconds.

The women’s 4x400m of Robinson-Jones, Young, Reed and Mu capped the night with a collegiate-leading time of 3:26.17. The quartet currently owns the fastest time in the world and became the third fastest relay in Aggie history.

Bryce Deadmon (400m, 4x400m), Acquah (triple jump), Gittens (high jump), Lamara Distin (high jump), Emmanuel Yeboah (4x100m), Devon Achane (4x100m), Lance Broome (4x100m), Ryan Martin (4x100m), Mpoke (4x400m), Dixon (4x400m) and Omajuwa Etiwe each finished in the top three to earn All-SEC honors in their respective events.

Deadmon clocked a personal best time of 44.50, which ranks him as the third best performer in school history and the ninth best performance.

He also ran a 43.82 anchor split to give the Aggies a photo line finish chance as the quartet of Deadmon, Dixon, Mpoke and Etiwe finished second at 3:01.73. Their time ranks No. 5 in the NCAA this season.

Twenty-four hours after claiming SEC titles, Acquah and Gittens were back at it scoring more points for the Aggies. Acquah placed second triple jump at 46-4.25 (14.13m), while Gittens placed second in the high jump at 6-2.25 (1.93m). Distin finished third in the high jump with a 6-2.25 (1.93m) clearance, but due to failed first two attempts at the height dropped her to third overall earning her first career top three finish in an SEC competition.

Yeboah, Achane, Broome and Martin each earned their first career All-SEC honor finishing third overall in the 4x100m with a time of 39.08.

Next Up

Texas A&M takes a week off from competition in preparation to hosting the NCAA West Regional on May 26-29. 

Texas A&M Quotes

Head Coach Pat Henry
On the outcome of the meet:
“I told the team, I’m pleased with this weekend. We have great upfront points, but we do not have the depth right now for what it takes to win a track meet like that. It’s obvious if you watch that track meet out there. It’s just a sea of red [Arkansas] people. They just keep coming at you. From top to bottom, I don’t think there was a poor event in the whole championships and this meet will probably stick out as one of the best meets in the country this year.”

On the crowd:
“The crowd contributed to this meet. The 12th Man sitting in those stands matched the great indoor meets we’ve been able to have for many years here. We’ve never been able to have an outdoor meet here like this. I was so pleased to see the stadium full. There’s nobody in the country that’s going to have a crowd like that today. We’re fortunate and I think people came because they know they’re going to be able to watch some great athletes.”

Freshman Athing Mu
On running the 400m instead of the 800m:
"I have already ran a fast 800m time and we know what the goal is, it's Olympic Trials. There is no reason to over run the 800m when I've already ran a fast time. I came in this weekend with the plan to run a secondary event and help continue to keep my legs moving without doing the 800m."

On the crowd:
"When I was cheering on the men's 800m, I thought 'Wow, it's actually feeling like track & field again'. This is the first time we've had a really big crowd out here and it gradually got bigger each day. It was really exciting because it was the first time to get to hear the crowd cheer and hype up the meet."