Aggies advance 20 to Eugene during Friday's action at NCAA West Preliminary rounds
May 27, 2016 | Track and Field
LAWRENCE, Kansas – Twenty Texas A&M athletes advanced to Eugene from Friday's action during the NCAA West Preliminary rounds held at Rock Chalk Park.
The Aggie group includes 10 women in five events along with 10 men in six events. In three events – women's javelin, women's 100m and men's pole vault – Texas A&M advanced three individuals to the national championship weekend in Eugene.
With Thursday's action suspended the formula for advancing in track events changed. Now each event was a quarterfinal with the winner plus the next six times advancing to Eugene for the NCAA semifinals in the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800, and hurdles.
The Aggies promptly produced eight heat winners among the efforts of Aaliyah Brown (100m), Briyahna Desrosiers (400m), Fred Kerley (400m), Katie Willard (800m), Donavan Brazier (800m), Hector Hernandez (800m), Shamier Little (400m hurdles), and Robert Grant (400m hurdles). Advancing on time in those events were Brenessa Thompson (100m), Jennifer Madu (100m), and Jazmine Fray (800m).
Texas A&M advanced five javelin throwers to Eugene with a group of three women and two men as they each dealt with delays. The women's javelin resumed after only getting one throw into the third flight on Thursday. On Friday, the men's third flight started with one throw and then endured a four hour lightning delay.
Later on Friday the third flight of the women's discus, which includes two-time NCAA champion Shelbi Vaughan, was delayed until Saturday morning at 9 a.m.
SEC champion Maggie Malone topped the women's field with her only throw of 190-3 (57.99) as she bettered the top throw produced in the seven years of the NCAA West Preliminary rounds, which started in 2010. The previous best was 185-6 (56.56) set in 2015 by Texas Tech's Hannah Carson, who threw 182-9 (55.70) as runner-up to Malone this weekend.
It's the fifth time this season for Malone to surpass 190 feet as she stretches her unbeaten streak this season to six meets.
"That was the plan, I wanted to do one throw," noted Malone. "I was worried about that all week, and then we had weather delays yesterday. Coach Henry tells us it's a mental game at that point. I think we all came out here mentally strong. I was really happy to just get that one throw in and have a sigh of relief."
Audrey Malone, younger sister of Maggie, placed third overall with a toss of 174-9 (53.26). A third Aggie advancing to Eugene by placing 11th with a 162-1 (49.41) from the second flight of throwers was freshman Madalaine Stulce, the niece of Texas A&M's Olympic and NCAA champion Mike Stulce.
"I'm so glad my sister and Maddy advanced with me," said Malone. "Both have worked really hard this season. It is better in numbers, so I'm excited there's three of us going to nationals in Eugene. Hopefully we can all score and get some points for the team. We want to go after the title as a team."
Stulce added: "I was hoping all five of us would make the trip to Eugene. We've worked hard all season long. Coming into today I was hoping the other four would make it, more than me making it. I was really focused on them. It was great to have my opportunity yesterday, but I was focused on watching and cheering them on today and just being their teammate."
Two other Aggies throwing the third flight of the javelin were Kristen Clark (155-1) and Krystyn Bradley (152-2) as they placed 18th and 27th among the field of 48.
Ioannis Kyriazis produced a mark of 248-4 (75.70) on his one attempt, topping the field by 13 feet. Sam Hardin followed in third place with a toss of 234-9 (71.55) from his third throw, which moved him from the 12th position. In second, with a throw of 235-3 (71.70), was Evan Karakolis of Rice.
"It was alright, a good throw and my elbow didn't hurt," said Kyriazis. "Checking the forecast we knew the weather was supposed to get worse later in the evening. So, we didn't expect to have to deal with a delay when we were scheduled to throw."
Hardin added: "It's great feeling to advance, especially since this is my first season where I've been completely healthy. On the last throw I put a little pressure on myself. It was like we had two meets today, going through warm-up then stopping and resting and repeating our warm-up a couple hours later.
"Along with the qualifiers we have in the women's javelin, it's great to have us all together and we can push one another. We motivate and teach them some things and they do the same for us. We help each other as a whole."
With the event moved indoors, Texas A&M advanced three men in the pole vault as Chase Wolfle cleared 17-7 ¾ (5.38) to place sixth overall and lead the trio. Wolfle rebounded from a no height during the SEC Championships.
Carl Johansson and Jacob Wooten both made it over 17-3 ¾ (5.28) and missed at 17-7 ¾. Johansson finished in a three-way tie for ninth while Wooten claimed the final 12th-place position. Audie Wyatt entered the competition at 17-3 ¾ and had three misses. He was one of nine vaulters to no height.
Will Williams advanced in the men's long jump with a leap of 25-1 ¾ (7.66). Jarrion Lawson of Arkansas led the field with a 26-0 (7.92) mark.
The women's 10,000m was originally scheduled for Thursday evening at 9 p.m., but the revamped schedule meant it was contested at 8 a.m. on Friday. Karis Jochen ran 34:53.41 to finish 14th with the top 12 advancing to Eugene. Placing 12th in 34:32.82 was Charlotte Taylor of San Francisco.
In the women's 100m a windy 11.49 (2.6) won a heat for Brown to automatically advance. Thompson clocked 11.39 to place second in another heat with Madu third in the race at 11.42. Diamond Spaulding (11.76) finished fifth in her heat.
Desrosiers ran 52.79, just a tenth off her career best, to win her section of the 400m over USC's Kendall Ellis (52.91), who advanced on time. Texas A&M's Jarra Owens placed eighth in her section with a 56.62.
Kerley, the collegiate leader at 45.10 this season, only needed a 46.44 to claim his heat of the men's 400m as he finished ahead of Baylor's George Caddick, who advanced on time with a 46.63. Deon Hickey (47.15) and Richard Rose (47.18) ran in separate heats, placing fifth in each as they finished 22nd and 23rd overall.
Running in the same heat of the women's 800m, Katie Willard and Jazmine Fray finished first and second with times of 2:06.76 and 2:06.80. Willard earned the auto qualifier to Eugene as Fray advanced on time in the 11th position of 12 advancing.
Brazier led the men's 800m field with a time of 1:46.53 as nobody else ran faster than 1:48. Two time qualifiers advanced out of Brazier's heat in 1:48.61 for Robert Uhr of Texas and 1:48.66 by Utah State's Clay Lambourne.
Hernandez won his heat in 1:48.13, the third best time of the day, as he edged out Wisconsin's Austin Mudd (1:48.17). JaQwae Ellison led the other four Aggies racing in the 800m with a 1:53.08 while Gaines Kinsey ran 1:53.52 and Efrain Hernandez clocked 1:55.76. Daniel Martin did not finish.
Two-time defending NCAA champion Little, who leads the collegiate ranks with a 54.72 this season, topped the women's 400m hurdle field with a time of 56.52. USC had the next best pair of times with Jaide Stepter (56.87) and Amalie Iuel (56.90). Aggie Ebony Crear posted a time of 59.29 to place fourth in her heat and 23rd overall.
Grant's time of 50.78 in the men's 400m hurdles ranked third behind a 50.72 for Nebraska's Sean Pille and 50.77 by CJ Allen of Washington State. Grant controlled his section as the runner-up time was 51.34 by Iowa's Mitch Wolff, who advanced on time.
Aikan Graham ran 52.50 for sixth place in his heat, placing 27th overall. A 52.62 for Jackson Davis, from lane 2, placed fourth in his heat and 29th overall. Kris Brander ran 53.69 while DeWitt Thomas did not finish. Others with a dnf included Jurmarcus Shelvin of UTSA and Kemar Mowatt of Arkansas.
Carissa van Beek produced a career best of 195-2 (59.48), moving her to second on the all-time South African list in the hammer, as she placed 19th. Alison Ondrusek threw 188-4 (57.41) to finish 28th. Sam McSwain cleared 6-9 ½ (2.07) in the high jump that was also moved indoors and placed 29th.
Emily Gunderson and Sara Kathryn Stevens both cleared 13-0 ¼ (3.97) in the women's pole vault. Gunderson was part of a five-way tie for 23rd and Stevens tied for 34th.
Elijah Morrow finished fifth in his section of the 100m with a 10.60 as he placed 36th overall. Elliott Farris placed 15th in his section of the 3,000m steeplechase with a time of 9:26.24 that placed 44th overall.
NCAA Championships – Advancing to Eugene
MEN (10 athletes, 6 events, 10 entries)
400m: Fred Kerley
800m: Donavan Brazier, Hector Hernandez
400m Hurdles: Robert Grant
Pole Vault: Chase Wolfle, Carl Johansson, Jacob Wooten
Long Jump: Will Williams
Javelin: Ioannis Kyriazis, Sam Hardin
WOMEN (10 athletes, 5 events, 10 entries)
100m: Brenessa Thompson, Jennifer Madu, Aaliyah Brown
400m: Briyahna Desrosiers
800m: Katie Willard, Jazmine Fray
400m Hurdles: Shamier Little
Javelin: Maggie Malone, Audrey Malone, Madalaine Stulce
The Aggie group includes 10 women in five events along with 10 men in six events. In three events – women's javelin, women's 100m and men's pole vault – Texas A&M advanced three individuals to the national championship weekend in Eugene.
With Thursday's action suspended the formula for advancing in track events changed. Now each event was a quarterfinal with the winner plus the next six times advancing to Eugene for the NCAA semifinals in the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800, and hurdles.
The Aggies promptly produced eight heat winners among the efforts of Aaliyah Brown (100m), Briyahna Desrosiers (400m), Fred Kerley (400m), Katie Willard (800m), Donavan Brazier (800m), Hector Hernandez (800m), Shamier Little (400m hurdles), and Robert Grant (400m hurdles). Advancing on time in those events were Brenessa Thompson (100m), Jennifer Madu (100m), and Jazmine Fray (800m).
Texas A&M advanced five javelin throwers to Eugene with a group of three women and two men as they each dealt with delays. The women's javelin resumed after only getting one throw into the third flight on Thursday. On Friday, the men's third flight started with one throw and then endured a four hour lightning delay.
Later on Friday the third flight of the women's discus, which includes two-time NCAA champion Shelbi Vaughan, was delayed until Saturday morning at 9 a.m.
SEC champion Maggie Malone topped the women's field with her only throw of 190-3 (57.99) as she bettered the top throw produced in the seven years of the NCAA West Preliminary rounds, which started in 2010. The previous best was 185-6 (56.56) set in 2015 by Texas Tech's Hannah Carson, who threw 182-9 (55.70) as runner-up to Malone this weekend.
It's the fifth time this season for Malone to surpass 190 feet as she stretches her unbeaten streak this season to six meets.
"That was the plan, I wanted to do one throw," noted Malone. "I was worried about that all week, and then we had weather delays yesterday. Coach Henry tells us it's a mental game at that point. I think we all came out here mentally strong. I was really happy to just get that one throw in and have a sigh of relief."
Audrey Malone, younger sister of Maggie, placed third overall with a toss of 174-9 (53.26). A third Aggie advancing to Eugene by placing 11th with a 162-1 (49.41) from the second flight of throwers was freshman Madalaine Stulce, the niece of Texas A&M's Olympic and NCAA champion Mike Stulce.
"I'm so glad my sister and Maddy advanced with me," said Malone. "Both have worked really hard this season. It is better in numbers, so I'm excited there's three of us going to nationals in Eugene. Hopefully we can all score and get some points for the team. We want to go after the title as a team."
Stulce added: "I was hoping all five of us would make the trip to Eugene. We've worked hard all season long. Coming into today I was hoping the other four would make it, more than me making it. I was really focused on them. It was great to have my opportunity yesterday, but I was focused on watching and cheering them on today and just being their teammate."
Two other Aggies throwing the third flight of the javelin were Kristen Clark (155-1) and Krystyn Bradley (152-2) as they placed 18th and 27th among the field of 48.
Ioannis Kyriazis produced a mark of 248-4 (75.70) on his one attempt, topping the field by 13 feet. Sam Hardin followed in third place with a toss of 234-9 (71.55) from his third throw, which moved him from the 12th position. In second, with a throw of 235-3 (71.70), was Evan Karakolis of Rice.
"It was alright, a good throw and my elbow didn't hurt," said Kyriazis. "Checking the forecast we knew the weather was supposed to get worse later in the evening. So, we didn't expect to have to deal with a delay when we were scheduled to throw."
Hardin added: "It's great feeling to advance, especially since this is my first season where I've been completely healthy. On the last throw I put a little pressure on myself. It was like we had two meets today, going through warm-up then stopping and resting and repeating our warm-up a couple hours later.
"Along with the qualifiers we have in the women's javelin, it's great to have us all together and we can push one another. We motivate and teach them some things and they do the same for us. We help each other as a whole."
With the event moved indoors, Texas A&M advanced three men in the pole vault as Chase Wolfle cleared 17-7 ¾ (5.38) to place sixth overall and lead the trio. Wolfle rebounded from a no height during the SEC Championships.
Carl Johansson and Jacob Wooten both made it over 17-3 ¾ (5.28) and missed at 17-7 ¾. Johansson finished in a three-way tie for ninth while Wooten claimed the final 12th-place position. Audie Wyatt entered the competition at 17-3 ¾ and had three misses. He was one of nine vaulters to no height.
Will Williams advanced in the men's long jump with a leap of 25-1 ¾ (7.66). Jarrion Lawson of Arkansas led the field with a 26-0 (7.92) mark.
The women's 10,000m was originally scheduled for Thursday evening at 9 p.m., but the revamped schedule meant it was contested at 8 a.m. on Friday. Karis Jochen ran 34:53.41 to finish 14th with the top 12 advancing to Eugene. Placing 12th in 34:32.82 was Charlotte Taylor of San Francisco.
In the women's 100m a windy 11.49 (2.6) won a heat for Brown to automatically advance. Thompson clocked 11.39 to place second in another heat with Madu third in the race at 11.42. Diamond Spaulding (11.76) finished fifth in her heat.
Desrosiers ran 52.79, just a tenth off her career best, to win her section of the 400m over USC's Kendall Ellis (52.91), who advanced on time. Texas A&M's Jarra Owens placed eighth in her section with a 56.62.
Kerley, the collegiate leader at 45.10 this season, only needed a 46.44 to claim his heat of the men's 400m as he finished ahead of Baylor's George Caddick, who advanced on time with a 46.63. Deon Hickey (47.15) and Richard Rose (47.18) ran in separate heats, placing fifth in each as they finished 22nd and 23rd overall.
Running in the same heat of the women's 800m, Katie Willard and Jazmine Fray finished first and second with times of 2:06.76 and 2:06.80. Willard earned the auto qualifier to Eugene as Fray advanced on time in the 11th position of 12 advancing.
Brazier led the men's 800m field with a time of 1:46.53 as nobody else ran faster than 1:48. Two time qualifiers advanced out of Brazier's heat in 1:48.61 for Robert Uhr of Texas and 1:48.66 by Utah State's Clay Lambourne.
Hernandez won his heat in 1:48.13, the third best time of the day, as he edged out Wisconsin's Austin Mudd (1:48.17). JaQwae Ellison led the other four Aggies racing in the 800m with a 1:53.08 while Gaines Kinsey ran 1:53.52 and Efrain Hernandez clocked 1:55.76. Daniel Martin did not finish.
Two-time defending NCAA champion Little, who leads the collegiate ranks with a 54.72 this season, topped the women's 400m hurdle field with a time of 56.52. USC had the next best pair of times with Jaide Stepter (56.87) and Amalie Iuel (56.90). Aggie Ebony Crear posted a time of 59.29 to place fourth in her heat and 23rd overall.
Grant's time of 50.78 in the men's 400m hurdles ranked third behind a 50.72 for Nebraska's Sean Pille and 50.77 by CJ Allen of Washington State. Grant controlled his section as the runner-up time was 51.34 by Iowa's Mitch Wolff, who advanced on time.
Aikan Graham ran 52.50 for sixth place in his heat, placing 27th overall. A 52.62 for Jackson Davis, from lane 2, placed fourth in his heat and 29th overall. Kris Brander ran 53.69 while DeWitt Thomas did not finish. Others with a dnf included Jurmarcus Shelvin of UTSA and Kemar Mowatt of Arkansas.
Carissa van Beek produced a career best of 195-2 (59.48), moving her to second on the all-time South African list in the hammer, as she placed 19th. Alison Ondrusek threw 188-4 (57.41) to finish 28th. Sam McSwain cleared 6-9 ½ (2.07) in the high jump that was also moved indoors and placed 29th.
Emily Gunderson and Sara Kathryn Stevens both cleared 13-0 ¼ (3.97) in the women's pole vault. Gunderson was part of a five-way tie for 23rd and Stevens tied for 34th.
Elijah Morrow finished fifth in his section of the 100m with a 10.60 as he placed 36th overall. Elliott Farris placed 15th in his section of the 3,000m steeplechase with a time of 9:26.24 that placed 44th overall.
NCAA Championships – Advancing to Eugene
MEN (10 athletes, 6 events, 10 entries)
400m: Fred Kerley
800m: Donavan Brazier, Hector Hernandez
400m Hurdles: Robert Grant
Pole Vault: Chase Wolfle, Carl Johansson, Jacob Wooten
Long Jump: Will Williams
Javelin: Ioannis Kyriazis, Sam Hardin
WOMEN (10 athletes, 5 events, 10 entries)
100m: Brenessa Thompson, Jennifer Madu, Aaliyah Brown
400m: Briyahna Desrosiers
800m: Katie Willard, Jazmine Fray
400m Hurdles: Shamier Little
Javelin: Maggie Malone, Audrey Malone, Madalaine Stulce
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