COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The Aggies produced 18 victories as they displayed their talents in front of 2,664 fans during the Texas A&M Alumni Muster. With nearly 200 alumni members in attendance and 32 seniors being recognized, it was a special day at E.B. Cushing Stadium.
“We had a good meet and it was really fun to see a lot of our older people back here this weekend,” said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. “Our team today, for the level of competition, we got a lot out of this meet.”
Aggie senior Ilolo Izu posted a collegiate-leading 400m hurdle time of 49.68, second best in the U.S. for 2019, as he moved to equal No. 7 on the Texas A&M all-time list. Runner-up to Izu was teammate Infinite Tucker in 50.00. Robert Grant was pulling even with both Izu and Tucker on the final hurdle, but a tumble at the last barrier knocked him out of contention.
In the women’s 400m hurdles Gabrielle McDonald set another season best in winning with a 58.93 to dominate the field. Runner-up was Erin Derrow of Houston in 1:01.31 while A&M’s Riley Schneider set a career best of 1:02.14 in third place.
Syaira Richardson answered a challenge in the 400m as she passed former Longhorn Courtney Okolo in the homestretch for a victory over the collegiate record holder. Richardson clocked 52.08 in windy conditions as Okolo ran 52.70 as runner-up. Aggie Jarra Owens produced a career best of 53.59 in fourth place.
A career best followed in the men’s 400m for Kyree Johnson as his 45.92 finished second to a 45.61 by Jamal Walton, a redshirt freshman with the Aggies. Bryce Deadmon placed fourth with a 46.33.
Texas A&M won three of the four relay races on the day. The women went 1-2 in the 4x100 with times of 44.31 and 44.45. The Aggie men were second in the 4x100 with a season best of 39.80 to a crew of post-collegians which included A&M alums Michael Bryan and Aldrich Bailey, Jr., who swept the 100m (10.20w) and 200m (20.34w).
In sweeping the 4x400 relays, the women clocked 3:32.40 with a foursome of Owens (53.9), Richardson (53.4), Tierra Robinson-Jones (52.65) and Jazmine Fray (52.46). The men’s squad won in 3:03.34 with a crew of Grant (45.9), Izu (46.3), Johnson (46.32) and Devin Dixon (44.82). A second A&M crew ran 3:09.78 to place fifth.
Windy sprints had Brenessa Thompson posting an 11.22w (2.9 wind) behind an 11.11w for Michelle lee Ahye of Trinidad while Amber Ivy won another section in 11.31w (3.3 wind) to place fourth overall. At 200m, Danyel White cruised to a 22.77w (3.4) victory with Ivy runner-up in 23.04w (3.7) from another section. Diamond Spaulding completed the 1-2-3 sweep with a 23.25w. Jace Comick finished second in the men’s 200 with a 20.69w (2.1 wind).
In the 100m hurdles, Kennedy Smith led a 1-2-3-4 Aggie effort with a wind-aided 13.22 (4.8 wind). She was followed by Taryn Milton (13.36w), Chinyere Njoku (13.43w) and Tyra Gittens (13.68w).
Wins at 800m had Jean Jenkins running 2:09.32 in the women’s race while Carlton Orange won the men’s race in 1:49.48. An Aggie sweep of the 1,500m saw Hannah Campbell post a 4:30.55 while Taylor Clayton ran 3:54.65.
A set of career best times in the 3,000m steeplechase were turned in by Julia Black (11:10.83) and Amelia McElhinney (11:34.50) as they finished second and third behind the winning time of 11:04.56 by Teresha Jacobs of Wayland Baptist. Zephyr Seagraves claimed the 3,000m steeplechase in 9:17.03. Jacob Perry won the 5,000m with a 15:18.67.
Sam Hardin claimed his third javelin title in home meets at E.B. Cushing Stadium. His throw of 233-7 (71.21) from the first round captured the win over a 221-1 (67.40) by teammate William Petersson.
Ari Ince produced a U.S. leading throw of 195-3 (59.52) to win the women’s javelin and bettered the old Anderson facility record of 180-11 set by Valerie Tulloch of Rice in 1992. Texas A&M’s Maddy Stulce finished third with a toss of 152-11 (46.61) while Celine Markert placed fourth with a mark of 152-3 (46.41). A throw of 158-10 (48.42) placed Markert second in the discus.
Gabe Oladipo threw 185-11 (56.67) for the discus victory. C.J. Stevenson bounded out to 50-10 ¼w (15.50) for a triple jump win and Jacob Wooten had a solid attempt at 19-0 ¾ (5.61) after winning the pole vault competition at 18-1 (5.51).
Aggie alum Will Williams produced a wind-aided leap of 25-3 ½w (7.71) to win the long jump. Taryn Milton and Ciynamon Stevenson were the top two collegiate finishers in the women’s long jump behind a windy 20-9 ¼ (6.33) by Natasha Dicks. Milton hit a wind-aided distance of 20-1 (6.12) while Stevenson followed with a windy 20-0 ½ (6.11).
