The Texas A&M track and field programs will begin another step toward the postseason, which will start with the Southeastern Conference Championships on May 9-11 in Gainesville, Fla.
The journey to winning a SEC Championship and getting into the national championship conversation will begin at the Aggies’ last home meet of the season, the Alumni Muster, on Saturday.
“You can’t afford to be down right now,” A&M coach Pat Henry said. “There’s some things you have to get done within the next month and without it, you can’t be successful in June.”
The A&M men are ranked first in the country and the A&M women are second, trailing only LSU.
“This is the time of the year where you’re really trying to see what’s in the tank, how good you can be,” Henry said. “But in the end, it’s who you beat.”
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The meet will start at 10 a.m. with the 5,000 meters and hammer throw. Field events will be throughout the day. Running finals will start at 2:15 p.m. The meet should end around 4:35 p.m. and General admission is free.
This is A&M’s fourth outdoor meet of the year at E.B. Cushing Stadium after none last year, while the Fasken Indoor Track & Field Facility was being built.
The meet comes between a pair of marquee events for the Aggies. There were eight Southeastern Conference teams at last week’s Tom Jones Memorial at the University of Florida and the prestigious Penn Relays are next weekend.
“We’re going to do some different things at this meet this weekend,” Henry said. “The level of competition is going to be something that we’re going to deal with and see if we can get something done, even though it might not be the greatest group of teams coming in here that we’ve had.”
Some events will be more competitive than others, Henry said.
A&M will be competing against Angelo State, Sam Houston, Texas State, Texas-San Antonio and Texas-Tyler.
It’ll be Senior Day with 25 student-athletes being recognized.
“Running at home is very important,” Henry said. “Having your parents here is very important to our athletes.”
A&M leads the conference in eight events, which includes seniors Carter Bajoit, Timara Chapman and Lamara Distin. Bajoit’s best in the high jump is 7 feet, 4.5 inches. Chapman in the heptathlon has scored 6,219 points. Distin in the high jump has cleared 6-5.
Other Aggies leading the conference are junior Ja’Qualon Scott in the 110 hurdles (13.32 seconds), junior Sam Whitmarsh in the 800 (1:40.46), Victor Kibiego in the 3,000 steeplechase (8:25.48), junior Heather Abadie in the pole vault (14-3.5) and junior Lianna Davidson in the javelin (187-11).
The A&M women were fifth at the NCAA meet last year and the men tied for 22nd. A&M’s last outdoor title for the women was 2014 and the men last hoisted the crown in ’13.
“Running fast, jumping high, throwing far is real important, you’re trying to get that out of yourself, but when it really starts counting down to the end, when the team is trying to win a championship, it is about who you beat,” Henry said.
Seniors who will be honored include javelin thrower Victoria De La Garza and distance runner Siddharth Jayaraman, who are both from College Station. Other seniors who will be honored include sprinter Jermaisha Arnold, horizontal jumper John Baker, distance runner Madison Brown, distance runner Katelyn Buckley, distance runner Eric Casarez, hurdler Kirk Collins, Jr., distance runner Jonathan Chung, pole vaulter Connor Gregston, pole vaulter Sevanna Hanson, thrower Maci Irons, sprinter/high jumper Nissi Kabongo, sprinter Semira Killebrew, javelin thrower Joshua Mather, sprinter Devante Mount, middle distance runner Caden Norris, sprinter Jevon O’Bryant, high jumper Ushan Perera, hurdler Connor Schulman, javelin thrower Julian Stoicoviciu and multis Joniar Thomas.
Notes The Florida men are ranked second in the country, followed by Alabama, LSU, Texas Tech, South Florida, Southern California, Mississippi State, Georgia and Virginia Tech. Oklahoma State is 11th followed by Kentucky, Auburn, Texas, California, Arizona State, BYU, New Mexico, South Carolina and Baylor. Rounding out the top 25 are Montana State, North Carolina, Iowa State, Arkansas and Arizona. The Arkansas women are third followed by Illinois, Oregon, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Texas Tech and Tennessee. Ole Miss is 11th followed by Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma State, TCU, Florida State, Clemson, BYU, Washington and Houston. Rounding out the top 25 are Michigan, UTEP, Southern California, Alabama and Baylor.