COLLEGE STATION – A collegiate record in the women’s pole vault as well as world and U.S. leading times in the 200 meters highlighted the Texas A&M Team Invitational in front of 1,958 fans inside Gilliam Indoor on Saturday as the Aggie men won and the A&M women finished second in team scoring.
With 163 points the Aggie men rolled to a team victory with Texas State (92) in second place while Stephen F. Austin finished third with 89 points. The rest of the men’s field included Texas-Arlington (76), UTSA (66), Baylor (58), TCU (25), Abilene Christian (24) and Louisiana Tech (20).
Baylor tallied 118.5 points to edge the A&M women, who scored 102 points as runner-up, with Texas State (96) in third place. The women’s field also included Stephen F. Austin (81), Texas-Arlington (53), Louisiana Tech (48), TCU (46), UTSA (34.5) and Abilene Christian (21).
“I’m real pleased with our effort this weekend,” said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. “It’s a competitive meet, but it’s still the first step to each of the following competitions that I hope gets a little more intense each time.
“We didn’t run some people today and we didn’t double up a lot of people. We’re doing that for a reason to figure some things out.”
A day after the women’s collegiate record was broken in Fayetteville by Arkansas’ Sandi Morris (15-1.5 | 4.61), Demi Payne of SFA cleared 15-2.25 (4.63) on her first attempt to make the record hers for now. She also moves to No. 8 on the U.S. indoor all-time list.
“The environment was good here today,” noted Henry. “To have a collegiate record in the first meet of the year is pretty amazing. That young woman is jumping really well right now. Jumping that high this early is big time.”
Payne, the daughter of Baylor vaulter Billy Payne, entered the competition at 14-1.25 (4.30) when all but one in the field of 15 vaulters was finished. She had first attempt clearances at 14-1.25, 14-7.25 (4.45) and 15-2.25. Then she moved the bar to 15-3 (4.65) and had three misses.
Austin Cook continues to improve in the weight throw as he bettered a meet record of 64-11.5 (19.80) held by current school record holder Casey Strong. Cook’s winning toss of 66-1 (20.14) moves him to No. 2 on the A&M all-time list with the No. 4 performance.
“That’s a really good weight throw for this time of the season,” stated Henry.
Texas State’s duo of Darian Brown (64-11.5) and Jordan Huckaby (64-7.75) were second and third while Aggie Ben Skrla placed fourth with a 60-3.25 effort.
Aggie senior Shavez Hart produced a 20.76 second victory in the 200 meters to withstand the challenge from Baylor’s Trayvon Bromell (20.80), who won the 60m in 6.61 after a 6.58 prelim. The effort from Hart is currently the top time in the world for the 2015 season.
Fellow A&M senior Bralon Taplin clocked 20.80, which is equal No. 10 on the Aggie all-time list, to win the second section. Taplin claimed second place overall with a slight edge of 20.799 to Bromell’s 20.800.
A&M frosh Briyahna Desrosiers won the women’s 200 in 23.83 seconds to lead an Aggie 1-2-3 finish. The mark is the early season leader on both the U.S. and collegiate lists for 2015 as Desrosiers bettered the time of 23.84 set by Kendall Baisden of Texas during the previous night in Arkansas.
Olivia Ekpone won the first section of the 200 in 24.00 and placed second overall while Jennifer Madu posted a 24.25 in the same section with Desrosiers and finished third overall.
The women’s 60m had a personal best of 7.35 seconds from Kamaria Brown as she claimed the victory over teammate Aaliyah Brown’s 7.42. Kamaria’s mark is No. 10 on the Aggie all-time list.
Devin Jenkins posted a 6.68 in the men’s 60 to place third behind Bromell and TCU’s Ronnie Baker (6.65). Jenkins moved to No. 6 on the A&M all-time list.
Hart and Desrosiers returned to produced solid legs on winning efforts by the Aggie 4×400 relays. The women clocked 3:39.40 over Baylor’s 3:42.44. Running for A&M were Desrosiers (54.7), Shamier Little (53.8), Ebony Crear (56.7) and K. Brown (54.2).
In the men’s race Greg Coleman (47.6), Hart (46.8), Deon Hickey (47.5) and Taplin (46.1) teamed up for a 3:07.98 victory against TCU (3:08.26), SFA (3:10.53) and Baylor (3:10.71).
Sara Kathryn Stevens placed fifth in the women’s pole vault as her clearance of 12-5.5 (3.80) moves her to No. 5 on the Aggie all-time list.
Moving to No. 9 on the all-time list in the women’s weight throw was Carissa van Beek as she finished third with a toss of 56-11.25 while teammate Alison Ondrusek (56-10) placed fourth. Shelbi Vaughan’s first venture with the weight throw resulted in three fouls.
Brea Garrett, the school record holder in the weight throw, contested the shot put and placed second with a mark of 49-6.5.
After sweeping the top three places in the distance medley relay on Friday, the Aggie distance crew returned on Saturday to sweep the top four places in the men’s mile. Alex Riba led the charge with a 4:14.65 ahead of teammates Aaron Murray (4:16.01), Colin Stoeber (4:16.68) and Ryan Teel (4:17.61).
Cameron Villarreal, who anchored the winning distance medley relay, won the 800 in 1:52.74 with teammate Efrain Hernandez posting a 1:52.82 as runner-up. Decathlete Daniel Martin won another section of the 800 in 1:53.13 to place fourth overall. In the 3,000 meters Austin Wells placed second with a 8:26.52 clocking.
The women’s 800 had Karina Buerk winning her section in 2:14.73 as she placed second overall to a 2:14.55 from Baylor’s Maggie Montoya from the first section.
Jeffrey Prothro won the triple jump (48-11.75). Kara Erickson cleared 5-7.25 for runner-up in the women’s high jump after a jumpoff with Texas State’s Chelsie Decoud . Third place efforts were turned in by Sam McSwain in the high jump (6-8) and Olabanji Asekun in the long jump (24-1).
A clearance of 16-10.75 placed Carl Johansson fourth in the pole vault with teammates Chase Wolfle (16-10.75) and Audie Wyatt (16-4.75) finishing fifth and sixth.
