T&F Report: Henry & Co. host SEC Indoor Championships in Aggieland

For the first time in the R.A. 'Murray' Fasken '38 Indoor Track & Field facility, Texas A&M will host the SEC Indoor Championships. Legendary head coach Pat Henry joined TexAgs Live to preview the meet and where the Aggies could excel this weekend.

Key notes from Pat Henry interview

• Good week. Just preparing. It's about getting ourselves ready to go this weekend. It's the SEC Championship. Everything you've done to this point, you have to be able to call on it and be ready to do it.
   
• This is the first time the SEC Championship will be at the new facility. We host again next year. It's us and Arkansas that have the facilities that are big enough for the fans. A lot of schools have tracks, but they don't have big enough stands to accommodate this type of meet.
   
• At the meet this weekend, there are 16 women's teams, and nine of them are ranked in the top 25. For men, there are 15 teams, and eight are ranked in the top 25. It is the way it is every year. The SEC is pretty dominant when it comes to track and field.
   
• This might be the best track meet in the world. Seriously, we'll have the best performances at this time of year out of anywhere in the world. It's a great track meet and it's exciting to watch. If you come in, you'll be surprised by it.
   
• The team broke nine school records throughout the regular season. Ja'Qualon Scott is tough. He was No. 4 at the US Championships last year, too, besides his collegiate career. He's a great hurdler, but he could get beat this weekend if he's not at the top of his game. There are some great hurdlers. As many records that we set this year that's about half of the events, so it's an extraordinary year for us. We don't normally have that many records in one year. 
   
• For the SEC Championship, you have to do it on this day, no matter what. If you just get a bad start by three one-thousandths of a second over the guy next to you, you're beat. I know people think that's crazy, but that's exactly true.
   
• Jaiya Covington is running really well. She's run eight seconds for us in the 60-meter hurdles, and that's our school record. We've had some fine hurdlers over the years here at Texas A&M. She's young. She's a Texan, and she's doing really well.
   
• Auhmad Robinson and the 300m... He's one of our main guys. If you watch him, he's a little guy, but his heart is as big as he is. He will do some amazing things. He will make up distance if you're behind, and he can extend some distance on the relay. He's one of the best quarter-milers in the country right now, so he'll be fun to watch. 
   
• Kennedy Wade has just gotten better. Whether she can be really successful yet, on a national level is to be seen. She continues to improve, so she has that opportunity.
   
• Luca Santorum is new and ran on that school record DMR the other day and ran the 1200-meter on the front of it. He's good. Once again, he's another guy who is very unassuming, but once you put him on the track, he's big-time.
   
• Cooper Cawthra is a Texas kid. He ran 3:56 on that DMR this last weekend as the anchor. He's run a 3:54 mile. I've never had anybody do that here. People should come watch him because a sub-four-minute mile, people don't realize what that is. Go out and jog 400m and time yourself. See what it takes you to jog around that. One lap. One quarter, and then start multiplying that by four and then you can see what 3:50 is.
   
• Debora Cherono comes up often in the mile as well. She's new, but she continues to improve on the track. Whether she has the gas right now to win this, she's a freshman, so whether she has the speed yet...She has the endurance. She can run long. Running a mile at this level is a little bit different. She'll run a 3K as well, so we'll see.
   
• I believe both teams are positioned well for this weekend. I feel better about our men than I do our women right now. I think our depth is greater on the men's side than it is on the ladies' side. We have some big upfront people. Our triple jumper, Winny Bii, leads the country. On the men's side, we have significantly more guys who are more prepared at this time of the year.
   
• This is indoor season. This meet is about momentum. It's about somebody getting out there and doing really well. Then it kind of waterfalls sometimes. We're still doing it with young minds, and when they start feeling really good about themselves, they can get the best out of themselves. Sometimes, it can go the other way, too. You have to have good momentum. Those first few performances pretty much dictate some things.
   
• This is the first time we've had indoors that have 16 teams in the SEC. Oklahoma and Texas are new to the field, and Texas has always had a good program. Oklahoma has done a lot better. So, both of those teams add great depth to the SEC. At this kind of meet, when you're running 16 teams, it's a tough field.
   
• If you want to watch the best of the best, come out this weekend. If you've never experienced it, I'm telling you, if you will take a chance, go over there and come in the door. You will see some things you just didn't know anything about, and you'll really enjoy it. You can look up the time schedule. It will start then, and it will finish when it says it's going to finish.