BIRMINGHAM – A trio of Aggies were named Athletes of the Week by the SEC office. Honors were awarded to Robert Grant as men’s Runner of the Week, Jeff Bartlett as men’s Field Athlete of the Week and Aaliyah Brown as women’s Runner of the Week.
Preseason national team computer rankings for the outdoor season released by USTFCCCA this week have the Texas A&M men ranked No. 4 with the Aggie women at No. 12. Texas A&M will compete within the state of Texas the next two weeks. First they will be in San Antonio this weekend at the UTSA Roadrunners Invitational and the following week they travel to Austin for the Texas Relays.
Brown, a senior from Frankfort, Illinois, broke a 19-year-old meet record in the 100m at the Baldy Castillo Invitational as she posted a time of 11.26 to clip the 11.27 set in 1998 by LSU’s Kwajalein Butler. It’s the fastest time by Brown to open an outdoor campaign and she currently ranks second on the 2017 world list while leading the collegiate ranks.
Grant, a junior from Phoenix, Arizona, raced to a 50.07 victory in the 400m hurdles as he produced his sixth fastest time ever and his best opener to a season. Grant is the current U.S. and collegiate leader and ranks seventh in the world. Grant bettered the field at Arizona State by nearly a full second.
Bartlett, a senior from Dallas, Texas, produced his best opener and the second best discus mark by a collegian in the early stages of the outdoor season with a toss of 186-6 (56.84). The effort placed Bartlett second in the competition behind Iowa’s Reno Tuufuli, who set a collegiate leading mark of 193-8 (59.04). Bartlett’s series included four of his six throws over 180 feet with three attempts better than 185 feet.
