Track & Field Report: Five Aggies qualify for 2024 Paris Olympics

Texas A&M greats Fred Kerley, Jacob Wooten, Maggie Malone and Brandon Miller qualified for Team USA, while Lamara Distin ensured her spot for Jamaica in the high jump. Pat Henry has coached all five and joined TexAgs Radio with Wendel McRaven to talk about those athletes.

Key notes from Pat Henry interview

• Everything in this world is a nail-biter. That’s the way it is, and that’s why we do what we do. You guys love watching it because that's what it's all about. Throwing the ball in the endzone on the last play of the game that’s what it is all about.
   
• Will Johnson was talking about how the athletic season is over now that baseball is completed, and we got a new coach. The greatest athletic event in the history of the planet is coming at the end of July. The Olympic Games. It involves everybody except football and baseball. We have a lot of Aggies represented.
   
• Everybody is in the business to win the last one. We talk about the difficulty of doing it, but that’s why we do it. This year we had a good team, especially on the men’s side. The ladies got better as a group as the season went along.
   
• We got beat by 10 points in the national championship. If you win one event, that's 10 points. We got disqualified in two events, which was unfortunate for us. One in the first round and then in our quarter mile. They said Auhmad Robinson stepped over the line. I'm still looking for that line. They said he did, so that’s seven points right there.
   
• We were very, very close. We have a great group coming back, and we had some great things happen in the Olympic Trials. I think this was a very positive season.
   
• Wendel McCraven had a very great year with our distance people. I’ll let him say this, but I think our next group that we put out on the course is going to be very good.
   
• This will be the first year that we are selling tickets for the cross-country meets. There's a lot more people at those meets than people realize because its all spread out. I want our athletic base here to know how many people come to cross-country meets. 
   
• It doesn't take many people to help for a cross country meet. Our athletes will help us and work around the cross-country meet to do some busy work. It takes about 20 officials for a cross-country meet.
   
• In our officials association, we have about 130 very active people who help out. A regular track meet takes about 100 people to work. We have a great officials association, and it's probably the best in the country. 
   
• We always need new people. Even if you don’t know an awful lot about track, we have an educated group of 100-plus people who will really help you to learn the sport. Everybody knows about track. It’s a tape measure and a stopwatch.
   
• Fred Kerley ran 9.88 and is third in the United States. Fred has proven himself to be a big-time competitor so I look for him to be very competitive.
   
• Jacob Wooten looks really good right now. He’s a 19-foot, four-inch pole vaulter right now. There's a handful of those guys in the world, so it's going to be competitive for him.
   
• Maggie Malone threw a long way and had a meet record for the U.S. Trials. She just keeps getting better as she's getting older. 
   
• Brandon Miller looked great. He really did. Sam Whitmarsh is a great half-mile guy in our group right now, but he just didn't run a smart race. I was really proud of Brandon.
   
• Bryce Deadmon, too. He was a U.S. champion last year. I don't see how they are going to keep him out of the relay pool because he had the two fastest splits for the U.S. at the last Olympic games
   
• He ran on the mixed relay, and he ran on the 4x400 twice. If I am the U.S. coach, I'd having a hard time leaving Bryce out of there.
   
• Kimar Farquharson has an opportunity. He anchored the Jamaican 4x400. You have to run 2:59:11 to qualify as a team. They ran 2:59:6o and 2:59:80 on separate weekends, so they are out right now.
   
• I wouldn't be surprised if they are one that gets in, so Kimar has a chance of getting in through a 4X400 meter relay.
   
• That goes back to our group. We ran a 2:58:00 this year. I think we have the fastest time in the world right now, still.
   
• I appreciate the track fans out there that have supported us. Next year will be one of our biggest schedules ever, including four major championships here. It'll be a great time for cross country and track and field next year.