Aggies sweep Texas Relays javelin titles, A&M men win sprint and distance medley relays

Ioannis Kyriazis - Texas Relays - javelin

Photo by: Errol Anderson

Apr 01, 2016 | Track and Field

AUSTIN – Friday's action during the 89^th Texas Relays included four victories for Texas A&M as the Aggies swept the men's and women's javelin titles while the men's team claimed victories in the sprint medley and distance medley relays at Myers Stadium.

An opening round throw of 268 feet, 7 inches (81.87) in the javelin by Texas A&M sophomore Ioannis Kyriazis captured the win and moved the Greek native to No. 8 on the all-time collegiate list. Amid adverse conditions earlier in the day Texas A&M senior Maggie Malone claimed the women's javelin title with one throw, becoming just the third Aggie female to win the top division of the event at Myers Stadium.

In relay action the Aggie men won the sprint medley in 3:17.62 over Texas Tech's 3:17.86. Baylor finished third in 3:19.26 as Arkansas (3:19.71) and Clemson (3:20.40) rounded out the top five schools. The A&M crew included Elijah Morrow (200m), Devin Jenkins (200m), Deon Hickey (400m) and Hector Hernandez (800m) as they produced the No. 7 time on the Aggie all-time list.

The distance medley featured an A&M line-up of Ryan Teel, Robert Grant, Gaines Kinsey and Alex Riba as they defended their 2015 title with a winning time of 9:51.79 over Connecticut (9:53.22), North Texas (9:53.60), Texas Tech (9:54.09) and Sam Houston (9:55.64). It's the third Texas Relays title in the event for the Aggies, who also won in 2012 and 2015.

The career best throw for Kyriazis came from a shorter approach as he bettered the field by 33 feet. It moves him to No. 4 all-time among Greek throwers, and No. 2 on the A&M all-time list with the No. 3 performance. In taking over the collegiate lead for the 2016 season, Kyriazis is also currently fourth on the world list.

"That's my PR so I'm pretty excited," said Kryiazis, who only had a pair of throws in the competition. "I felt like my throw could have been better. I was just focusing on what I could do today. I have a shorter approach right now, but I knew I could throw better than the opening throw of 255-7 I had two weeks ago. My approach today was a little bit longer than what I had in Arizona a couple of weeks ago."

The two marks better than him at Texas A&M are the school record of 272-9 (83.14) set by Sam Humphreys during the 2013 USATF Championships and a 268-8 (81.90) that Humphreys threw in Austin during a NCAA West preliminary round in 2013.

Kyriazis produced the farthest throw by an Aggie winner of the Texas Relays, surpassing the 257-9 Humphreys had when he won a third Relays title in 2013, and Kyriazis became A&M's seventh winner of a Texas Relays javelin title. After placing fourth in this meet last season as a freshman, Kyriazis went on to win the SEC title with a then career best of 257-3 (78.41) and finished fifth in the NCAA Championships.

"I'm pretty excited and satisfied that my throw today," noted Kyriazis. "I've been working hard with my coaches and the athletic trainers for the whole year."

Runner-up to Kyriazis was Oklahoma's Tyler Renton with a 235-5, followed by Cody Parker of Alaska Anchorage (234-7) and Liberty's Steve Feister (231-4). A&M's Sam Hardin threw 218-3 (66.53) for eighth place.

Malone's first and only throw of the competition measured 173-10 (52.99). Only a couple of throws into the second round another rain delay halted action. The four Aggie throwers in the event opted not to continue when action resumed an hour and a half later.

"I was pretty surprised my only throw held up for the win today," said Malone, the current collegiate leader with a 198-0 (60.36) from two weeks ago. "It was nice to get one in since I tweaked my groin before that throw. So I was hoping I could get at least one throw in and move on from there.

"I kind of treated my opening throw as my last throw, so let's make it count was my mindset. It was definitely nice to get one throw in and have it stand up for the victory. I was very surprised when I saw lightning, I thought that I was going to be able to get my second throw in. Then when we had the weather delay then I wasn't able to take my second throw."

Attempting to surpass Malone's mark was Oklahoma's Avione Allgood, who opened with a 164-5 (50.11) and reached 171-11 (52.40) in the sixth round to claim the runner-up position over LSU's Rebekah Wales (170-6) with Hannah Carson of Texas Tech (168-1) in fourth place.

The field that Malone bettered included the top three collegiate throwers so far this season in Malone (198-0), Allgood (182-8) and Carson (179-8) as well as six of the top 10 with Elizabeth Herrs of Oklahoma (174-0), Wales (172-4), and A&M's Audrey Malone (171-7).

Malone's effort was the second best winning distance for A&M in the meet, only trailing a 174-8 by Esther Eisenlauer in 1998. Malone is the sixth Aggie winner of the women's javelin at the Texas Relays, with three of those titles coming in the B division.

A&M volunteer assistant coach Arianna Ince placed fifth in the javelin with a 166-10 (50.86) on her one attempt. Aggies finishers also included Audrey Malone (146-8), Kristen Clark (139-8) and Krystyn Bradley (137-1) placing 10^th, 12^th and 13^th. OU's Herrs placed 14^th (132-3) with only one throw as well.

This was the fourth Texas Relays title for the Aggies in the men's sprint medley and the first since 2011. Facing cooler temperatures in the evening, the A&M men moved into the lead of the sprint medley with the second leg carry by Jenkins. Hickey maintained that edge over the 400m leg when he handed off the baton to Hernandez.

Texas Tech's C.J. Jones challenged on the anchor leg, but Hernandez kept a couple strides advantage through the remainder of the race until the final few meters.

Following an opening leg of 3:00.2 for Teel on the 1,200m leg, Grant split 46.1 on his one lap to move the Aggies into the lead of the distance medley relay. Kinsey followed with a 1:51.7 800m carry, handing the lead over to Riba.

A steady anchor leg over the 1,600m of the race enabled Riba to lead the pack. A kick over the final 110m had Riba pulling away from the field as he split 4:13.8 to give A&M a comfortable margin of victory over Connecticut.

In the women's sprint medley relay the Aggies held the lead until the final 80 meters of the race. The combination of Diamond Spaulding, Krystal Sparling, Briyahna Desrosiers and Jazmine Fray built a lead over Arkansas and the rest of the field.

The Razorback anchor leg, Taylor Ellis-Watson, moved into the lead on the homestretch of the final lap to give Arkansas the victory in 3:52.40 as the Aggies ran 3:53.59. Rounding out the top five teams were Clemson (3:55.30), Kansas (3:55.98), and Northern Illinois (3:58.17).

Texas A&M women also finished second in the distance medley, posting a time of 11:45.37 with the quartet of Katie Willard (3:33.6), Jarra Owens (54.7), Fray (2:15.0) and Katie Watson (5:02.1). Clemson won the race in 11:28.23 as Kansas finished (11:45.64) third with Abilene Christian (11:48.10) fourth.

Qualifying in the 4x100 relay earlier in the morning had the A&M women posting the second fastest time of 44.37 with a foursome of Jennifer Madu, Sparling, Brenessa Thompson and Aaliyah Brown. The Aggie men had the seventh best time of 40.56 in the 4x100 prelims with the crew of Will Williams, Fred Kerley, Morrow and Jenkins.

Aikan Graham ran in the Invitational section of the 400m hurdles after he was interfered with in the prelims on Thursday. Running in lane one, Graham placed fourth with a time of 52.17.

Latario Collie led a trio of Aggies in the triple jump with a fourth-place effort. He produced a windy mark of 53-8 ½ (16.37) with a 2.2 wind. Jeffrey Prothro improved in the final round as his 51-3 ¾w (15.64) moved him ahead of teammate Lathone Collie, who ended up ninth with a 51-2 ¼w (15.60).

A clearance of 6-9 (2.06) for Sam McSwain earned him sixth place in the B division of the high jump. Garrett Cragin tied for 13^th in clearing 6-7 (2.01).

Jeff Bartlett placed sixth in the B division of the shot put with a mark of 53-0 ¾ (16.17) and finished ninth in the top division of the discus, which included four post-collegians ahead of him, with a throw of 177-8 (54.17). A clearance of 13-3 ¾ (4.06) for Sara Kathryn Stevens had her finishing eighth in the B division of the pole vault.