Texas A&M Track & Field sends 30 athletes to National Championships

A total of 30 athletes from the Texas A&M Track and Field teams have earned spots in the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships by way of the NCAA West Preliminaries in Austin. Leading the way this past weekend was Fred Kerley, who set a new collegiate record of 43.70 seconds in the men's 400 M en route to qualifying for the Championships. Kerley also advanced with the men’s 4x100 and 4x400 teams. On the women’s side, Aaliyah Brown and Jaevin Reed both qualified in three events.

The Aggie men, winners of the Indoor National Championship earlier in the year, will send 18 athletes with 18 entries in 14 events. The field events will feature Ioannis Kyriazis and Sam Hardin in the javelin, Will Williams in the long jump, Audie Wyatt, Carl Johanssen and Jacob Wooten in the pole vault, Jeffrey Protho in the triple jump, Garrett Cragin in the high jump and Austin Cook in the hammer throw. Cook set a new school record in qualifying with a throw of 214 feet, 8 inches. Lindon Victor had previously qualified in the men's decathlon but did not participate this weekend.

Joining Kerley on the track will be his brother Mylik – both as an individual in the 400 M and on the 4x400 team. Other qualifiers were Devin Dixon in the 800 M, Alex Riba in the 1500 M, Jace Comick in the 4x100, Richard Rose in the 4x400, Elijah Morrow in the 200 M and 4x100 and Robert Grant in the 400 M hurdles, 4x100 and 4x400.

The Aggie women advance 12 athletes with 14 entries in 9 events. The women’s field participants will be Allison Ondrusek in the hammer throw, Madalaine Stulce and Audrey Malone in the javelin and Serena Brown in the discus.

Brown and Reed will be joined in the 4x100 by Brenessa Thompson and Diamond Spaulding. All four 4x100 participants qualified in multiple events: Brown in the 100 M and 200 M, Reed in the 400 M and 4x400, Thompson in the 100 M and Spaulding in the 200 M. Briyahna Desrosiers will run the 400 M and 4x400, while Kadecia Baird and Glorilisha Carter will join her in the 4x400. 

The National Championships will be held at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon from June 7-10. Both the men’s and women’s teams will each be seeking their fifth outdoor title, the women’s last coming in 2014 and the men’s in 2013. A win in either would be the tenth of Pat Henry’s tenure at Texas A&M.