Texas A&M
Reveille Invitational
Reveille Invitational opens indoor campaign for Aggies on Saturday
Dec 08, 2016 | Track and Field
COLLEGE STATION – Saturday's Reveille Invitational hosted by the Aggies track and field team will start the 2016-17 indoor campaign for Texas A&M. This indoor season culminates with the Gilliam Indoor Stadium serving as host of the NCAA Indoor Championships in March.
Nearing the end of fall training, the Aggies challenge Houston and TCU in the Reveille Invitational, which starts at 3 p.m. on Saturday and concludes by 5:20 p.m. The meet will include 12 events each for men and women with seven running events and five field events.
"It's a lot like academics," noted Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. "You go to class all semester, then during the final exam period you figure out what you know. It's the same with athletics. We train all semester and now we have a test of our self, a personal test, to see what your strengths and what your weaknesses are at this point of the year.
"From an athletic standpoint this is a great contest for us, because it's an individual competition to figure out who you are, what you know and how you are applying change to a competitive situation."
Jazmine Fray, who holds the outdoor 800m school record, nearly clipped the Texas A&M record in the 1,000-meters last season with her Reveille meet record effort of 2:50.39. Once again she will challenge the school record of 2:49.01 set in 2003 by Angeles Pantoja. Indoor 800m school record holder, Katie Willard, will headline the mile field.
Fred Kerley opens his campaign in the 200m with Elijah Morrow competing in the 60 and 200m. In the women sprints, Aaliyah Brown and Brenessa Thompson race in the 60m while Diamond Spaulding will contest the 200m.
Audie Wyatt established a meet record in the pole vault last December and then went on to break the Texas A&M indoor record with a clearance of 18-1 in winning the SEC title. Austin Cook, who set the weight throw school record in 2015, is back in an Aggie uniform following a red-shirt season.
In the men's 5,000m Alex Riba and Jon Bishop team up to lead the Aggie crew. Earlier this fall Bishop earned All-Freshman honors during the SEC cross country meet.
Multiple Aggie relay teams will race in the 4x400 with the sprinters evenly dispersed among the squads. A post collegiate group in the men's 4x400 includes Olympic 400m finalist Bralon Taplin, Bowerman finalist Donavan Brazier and Carlyle Roudette.
"We will not run an A, B and C group this weekend," said Henry. "They may be listed that way, but our top four sprinters, men and women, will be spread out in two of those relays. We're trying to make a competitive situation. We have a pro group running that's going to be really fast while TCU and Houston have always run very well."
Some of the newcomers expected to make their Texas A&M debut include My'lik Kerley (relay), Jaevin Reed (relay), Devin Dixon (1,000m), Serena Brown (shot put), Augusta Thomason (pole vault), Jordan Johnson (men's long jump), hurdlers Tyler Guillory and Infinite Tucker, LaJarvia Brown (hurdles, long jump), Amber Ivy (60m) and Ciynamon Stevenson (long jump).
"We'll put some new people with our freshmen in some events so they know this is NCAA track and field," stated Henry. "It will open some eyes among our young people this weekend."
Players Mentioned
