Thank you for the kind words, I'm hoping this week is big for us Aggies following along and that we get to witness something really special (aka a national championship)

I love how they're getting to Eugene very early, gives them a chance to adjust to the weird Oregon climate and "pollen" as Dixon said lol! The last phase of the mission begins

Men's Javelin Preview

It will be difficult to expect points, but we do have an excellent freshman in Sam Hankins competing in this event. With a season ending injury to Nick Mirabelli and lingering injuries to William Petersson, Hankins was asked to step up and he has delivered! After a weak year in the javelin after we've been dominate on both sides, Hankins has been are reliable thrower! Hopefully Hankins can come out here and PR and get the jav around 230 and give himself a chance to qualify for finals! But this will be the Miss State show like always as they will most likely sweep the podium unless Arthur Petersson of UTA has anything to say! Next season we should have two national contenders in Hankins and Mirabelli, and the girls side we will have Katelyn Fairchild fighting to score for us!

Our Aggies have arrived in Eugene

100 Hurdles Preview

We will have two Aggies competing in this event on the women's side. Kaylah Robinson and Summer Thorpe; both transfers from Oregon and Notre Dame respectively. They qualified in 18th and 22nd respectively although the entire west region had slow times compared to the east. They will both be in the same heat, but in their heat will be Grace Stark of Florida who has a wind legal best of 12.77, Yoevinny Mata (12.95), Paula Salmon (12.89). So our girls will have to run their best race to advance to the finals. It's not expected they do, but if one were to advance those would be much needed additional scoring points. Sadly the winner should ultimately be Tonea Marshall as she comfortably leads the NCAA, giving her competition would have been Chanel Brissett of Texas had she not false started at regionals. USC will have Anna Cockrell in the mix. I have her projected 3rd but she's going in with the 5th best qualifying time. So hopefully she can do worse than projected! USC's Jasmine Jones and LSU's Ali Armstrong qualified in the middle of the pack but on great runs both have a chance to score small points, which in this meet is not great for us. Cockrell is in a rough heat with 3 faster qualifying girls so hopefully she can fall behind! Her not advancing would be huge for us! I'm projecting the medal stand to be Marshall, Nugent, Cockrell. So basically we need to boo USC and LSU...

No Aggies on the men's side and basically all my emotional energy for the hurdles went into the girls previews lol. The guys race will be led by Robert Dunning of Alabama. The LSU duo of Damion Thomas and Eric Edwards Jr will contest Dunning as will Iowa's Jaylan McConico and Miss State freshman Jesse Henderson. I'm predicting a Dunning, Thomas, Edwards finish (SEC SEC SEC I whisper sadly)

400 Hurdles Preview

Sane as above, so basically we need to boo USC and LSU... No Aggies for the ladies in this event but LSU and USC will have 3 and 2 girls respectively. The events leader should and will be Anna Cockrell of USC. SADLY the second fastest girl in the event collegiately from UCLA fell down the homestretch at regionals so that only means more points for LSU they have 3 girls who could and more than likely will advance to the finals (YUP EVERY LSU STUDENT IN EVERY MAJOR SEEMS TO KNOW HOW TO HURDLE LOL). They are
Brittley Humphrey, Milan Young, and Jurnee Woodward, WHICH COINCIDENTALLY ALL GOT PLACED IN DIFFERENT HEATS!! Woodward got placed in a tough heat so there's a chance she misses out on finals. And if anyone of the three Tigers miss out on the finals, I'll be playing the trumpet and throwing confetti down Texas Avenue! So let's pray they either put their shoes on the wrong feet or miss their team bus to the stadium

Don't worry Ags we'd eventually have a hurdler in contention and his name MOITALEL "KING MO" MPOKE!!!!! The Kenyan runna with a kick like no otha!! Mpoke has been a reliable and amazing runner for the maroon and white. His 400 hurdle times have been dropping every single race, even at regionals where he waited like 5 seconds to come off the blocks and still won his heat. And the hilarious NCAA put 3 of the top 4 qualifiers in one heat hahaha. So Ledgister the TAMU Corpus runner will be in lane 5, Mpoke in 6, and Sean "The Squirrel" Burrel in 7! So all 3 should advance if anyone of them pushes the pace... and you won't see Mpoke doing that cause he likes to chill all race than go full throttle past hurdle 8! Mpoke has the heart of a champion and always runs to win and I expect him to do so. I expect Isaiah Levingston of OU to follow them the Squirrel of LSU!

4x100 Preview

This will be a huge race for our men's team and a very competitive one at that. Our men's team consists of Emmanuel Yeboah leading off, Devon Achane as the 2nd leg, Lance Broome as the 3rd, and an either or between Lance Broome and Jace Comick at the anchor. We've ran faster with Comick but Martin is the faster 10" runner ironically, but wasn't able to compete at regionals so I assume Comick will anchor. North Carolina A&T, Houston, LSU, and Georgia will be dangerous as well. We are in the same heat with NCA&T who will be on our outside in lane 7, so we should have a great team to race with to give us a fast time and a nice lane for the finals if we finish 2nd in our prelim heat! With clean hand offs I think we have the potential to step on the podium here. Yeboah and Comick will have only this race to focus on and should be fresh and Achane and Broome are deadly on the 2nd and 3rd legs. Overall I say LSU wins, with NCA&T 2nd, followed by the Aggies.

On the girls side we sneaked in after a horrible horrible race at regionals. The handoffs looked like a jv team but thankfully our girls ran fast. Our regional lineup consisted of Zhane Smith 1st leg, Kaylah Robinson 2nd leg, Rachel Hall 3rd leg, and Laila Owens anchor. I'm hoping Aliu is back after missing regionals, but I'm doubtful. Everyone but Kaylah has no individual event so they should all be fresh to go! We are in a LOADED heat with LSU and USC ironically, along with Texas and Clemson. The goal is primarily to be top 3 right behind LSU and USC because that can guarantee a finals spot most likely, although Texas will be tough to beat. We're going to need to run the best race our lives here. We aren't projected to score here, so if we were to advance to finals it would be HUGE! LSU and USC are projected 1 and 2 here and it can go either way. LSU has the faster time but I think USC can beat them, it would be beautiful for Oregon, Houston, Texas, or Bama to beat them.

4x400 Preview

This is our race period. This is an event the Aggies have owned for many years. Whether is was Jessica Beard splitting a 49 to win, or Fred Kerley extending the lead like nobody's business or even Jazmine Fray passing girls for the lead or Dixon holding off the masses in 2019. This race is personal to Pat Henry and nobody loves it more than he does. We have some squads coming to Eugene and no more important that our women. The championship YES THE NCAA TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIP may come down to this single race! After losing two of our relay members form indoors in Syaira Richardson and Jania Martin we could have been freaking out, but we just reloaded. Our lineup consists of Tierra Robinson-Jones who will be competing in the open 400 as well, Charokee Young who will also be competing in the open 400, Jaevin Reed a senior who has just been improving each week, and last but not least the world phenom Athing Mu anchoring. It's hard to imagine us ever losing with Mu at the anchor, but it still important first legs run the race of their lives. USC was less than half a second behind us in qualifying times without running Cockrell although she's only ran this race once all year. Mu did not need to run fast in qualifying so with a championship on the line we may see a 49.0 split possibly faster! USC will be in a battle for 2nd and LSU figures to be in the scoring mix as well though all their relay runs in sprints as well. I love our girls chances here and I will never bet against a team with Mu closing, we just need to hope USC and LSU don't run well.

The men's side may not have the national championship motivation in this race but it can still determine standing and I'm pretty sure Devin Dixon and Bryce Deadmon will want their last race as an Aggie to be a memorable one. Devin Dixon isn't the 43/low 44 closer he used to be... but I got a feeling we see a different Devin Dixon in Eugene. He boldly proclaimed to the media that A&M will win this race and that they will get 43 splits from him and Deadmon. Maybe Bryce has been conserving his legs this season for this meet... could be me hopefully wishing for it but I want to speak it into existence. North Carolina A&T has already gone sub 3 and LSU should do so as well, so we will need those 43 splits in order to win! Let's see what our Ags can do!

Pole Vault Preview

No Aggies will be vaulting sadly but it will still a great meet to follow. Mainly we need to follow the women's favorite Lisa Gunnarsson of LSU. With the NCAA leader Natassja Campbell failing to advance, that may have opened the door for Gunnarsson to easily get 10 points. So we need Lauren Martinez of Arkansas or Rachel Baxter of Virginia Tech to upset her! I'm predicting, Gunnarsson, Martinez, Smith!

On the men's side it'll be a great competition, even with KC Lightfoot going pro. 6 other athletes have gone over 18'6 led by Zach Bradford of Kansas with a 19'0.75, Ellis Branson of Stephen F Austin going 18'9.25, and Zach McWhorter (BYU), Al Hizam Hussain (Kansas), and Daniel Keaton (Kentucky) all going 18'8.25. It's going to be crazy conception to follow in between the men's prelims on Wednesday! I have the completion going Bradford, Brandon, McWhorter!

Triple Jump Preview

We are going to need a great performance from Deborah Acquah in this event. She currently ranked 4th in the NCAA with a 46'4.25, although she did go 46'10 indoors. This has been one of if not the best years for triple jump in the NCAA, Ruth Usoro (Texas Tech) is the collegiate leader at 47'7, Jasmine Moore (Georgia) 47'2.5, and Ruta Lasmane (Florida State) 46'7.25 will all provide completion for Deborah! She has always performed well in championship meets, and with her team counting on her I expect no less. We really need a top 4 performance here and I think we will get it. I think she has 47 jump potential and that should easily easily get her top 3 maybe even top 2! A second place finish like she did indoors would be huge for us and add 3 points more than we were projected to begin with. This event will be Saturday and towards the end of the meet so hopefully Acquah will come through big for us!!

On the men's side it will be a fun completion as well, but no Aggies will be competing and all our eyes will be on the men's finals races. 5 different athletes have gone over 55, O'Brian Wasome (Texas), Chengetayi Mapaya (TCU), Emmanuel Ihemeje (Oregon), Jordan Scott (USC), Jah-Nhai Perincheif (Tennesse). It's going to be a fun competition but I have Ihemeje, Mapaya, and Scott on the podium!

What was the track meet at Nashville i watched on TV? Pros? Some of the times were good. 18'8 PV. 3.38 1500.

Not many spectators.

That was the Music City Track Carnival which is part of a series of meet called the American Track League... they're trying to grow the sport in the States! Aggies Jessica Beard won the 400, and Sammy Watson ran as well!

Thanks, Taylor! Missed Jessica Beard's race. She was one of my favorites at A&M. How does she

rank internationally ?

She's currently ranked 6th in the United States and 11th in the world! But the two fastest times in the US are Athing Mu and Shamier Little both Aggies and both will most likely not run the 400 at trials, so Beard has a great shot at the Olympics if she runs well!

Several Aggies pose at the new Hayward Field!

High Jump Preview

Another extremely important event for our ladies. We have two Aggies competing in this event with school record holder Tyra Gittens who's cleared 6'4.75 and Lamara Distin who's cleared 6'2.25. An astonishing 14 girls have cleared 6'0 or over so it will be a great competition! The bad news is Tyra will be competing in the open high jump IN BETWEEN the heptathlon javelin and the last event of the Heptathlon the 800! Thankfully opening heights are always high and get higher fast so the high jump should hopefully end fast! The heptathlon javelin should end around 12:45-1:00 and then open high jump would start at 2:30 and then the heptathlon 800 would start at 4:43! Hopefully Tyra has her legs good to go because she will be pushed by Rachel Glenn (South Carolina) in the high jump who has gone 6'3.25. Glenn took down Gittens and Distin at conference based on misses as all cleared 6'2.25, but Gittens had ran an 800 right before competing finishing a heptathlon, and done the open long jump as well! So hopefully Tyra is good to go on Saturday cause she may have to clear 6'3 to win the meet! Distin outdoors has been clean with misses and in meets like this she's going to need to be! LSU will have Abigail O'Donaghue competing who has cleared 6'2.25 as well, but only 6'0 at conference. I think Tyra pulls it off get the 10 points, then gets 10 more 30-60 minutes later in the heptathlon! Glenn should come in second and Distin 3rd... that would be 16 points for the Aggies to start the last day of the competition!

On the men's side it will be the JuVaughn Harrison (LSU) and Darryl Sullivan (Tennessee) as they both went 7'8 and 7'7 in conference, Harrison with no misses! This will be after the long jump so maybe Harrison will decide to go higher or likely preserve his legs for the Trials. I'm predicting Harrison, Sullivan, then Tejaswin Shankar of Kansas State!

Thanks, again!

Long Jump Preview

Oddly I'm ending the previews with the first event our girls will be scoring in; the women's long jump! We will have Tyra Gittens who has jumped 22'10 and Deborah Acquah who has jumped 22'4.25. Sadly the collegiate record holder is also competing in Tara Davis who has jumped 23'5.25. It will be tough to catch her, but if Tyra can get a high 22, low 23 on fresh legs it can be possible! Tyra said she wasn't happy with her 22'10 jump and that she could have gone further! Acquah is ranked 4th behind Jasmine Moore who's jumped 22'5 at a home meet and has not jumped over 21'9 since. Many track websites are not giving Acquah credit here as they have her getting 6th or 7th, but I believe she can easily be top 4, possibly even surpassing Moore like she did easily in conference. If the Aggies were to go 2-3 here and pick up 14 points on the first day, then we are sitting in a perfect spot after day one! I think if we can get over 11/12 combined, we are in good spot, but the more the merrier. LSU will have a good jumper competing in Aaliyah Whisby who can score as well, I have her getting 7th but hopefully she doesn't score at all!

The men's side will be the JuVaughn Harrison show once again... he has a chance of clearing a high 27 possibly even 28 on fresh legs so that will be a sight to watch. Tennessee's Cary McLeod, Oklahoma's Rayvon Allen, Florida State's Isaac Grimes, and Texas' Steffin McCarter should all contend for the podium and be over 27 feet!

If the women take care of their business the title is theirs. Gittens could well score 30 points particularly as Tara
Davis is less than 100%. Mu and the Relay are a lock. Acquah and Distin should be worth at least 18-22 points and that may well be low.

Someone work on the form chart for Wednesday.

FIELD EVENTS WILL BE STREAMED ON ESPN3

She has run 200m several times in high school. Her PB is 23.63 which is a pretty good time for a mid-distance runner.

This is Mu winning an indoor 200m back in 2019 in a time of 24.11 seconds



Running a 23.84 for 200m outdoors

triniaggie said:

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She has run 200m several times in high school. Her PB is 23.63 which is a pretty good time for a mid-distance runner.

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Thanks for the info. So her PB was 2 years ago when she was only 16 or 17? Just based on physical maturity alone, It would not surprise me if she could now run in the neighborhood of 21.5 , particularly with some specialized training in the 200. If so, that might be fast enough to medal and definitely score points.

It sucks the trials are so soon, I've always wondered what she runs if this wasn't an Olympic year?!?! Hopefully her doing the 400 is enough?

Aggies taking in the waves

Livin’ it up 🌊 pic.twitter.com/5PxjNuIZUx

— Texas A&M Track & Field/Cross Country (@aggietfxc) June 8, 2021

box65 said:

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triniaggie said:

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She has run 200m several times in high school. Her PB is 23.63 which is a pretty good time for a mid-distance runner.

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Thanks for the info. So her PB was 2 years ago when she was only 16 or 17? Just based on physical maturity alone, It would not surprise me if she could now run in the neighborhood of 21.5 , particularly with some specialized training in the 200. If so, that might be fast enough to medal and definitely score points.

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meant to say 22.5