T&F Report: Henry highlights standout performances at Tiger Paw Invitational

It was another eventful weekend for Texas A&M track & field, capturing a pair of nation-leading marks at the Tiger Paw Invitational. Legendary Pat Henry discussed his SEC Field Athlete of the Week, Winny Bii, along with a handful of other successful performances from his athletes.

Key notes from Pat Henry interview

• It's really cold out there today. That's why it's good we have an indoor track.
   
• Ja'Qualon Scott broke his own school record. He's a great competitor. When there's someone in the field that can run, he's after them. He won this meet. Ja'Qualon is not just a good athlete. He's a great competitor. He's going to continue to get better. He's a leader by actions. He'll talk a little bit, but he's more by actions. He was No. 4 at the U.S. Championships Outdoors last year in the short hurdles. We've only had one or two collegiates run that fast.
   
• Winny Bii is the SEC Women's Field Athlete of the Week. She jumped to 45-foot-11 and 3-quarters inches. She jumped over 14 meters. When you're a 14-meter jumper, you're starting to get into being world-class. With the speed she has, she may be one that can run on our 4x100 outdoors. She is going to continue to improve on this.
   
• The men's 4x400 relay team improved 3:02.21. I ran a little bit of a different group, so that's really the second group that's run 3:02. I substituted one man in there this week, and he ran very well and helped us. Cutler Zamzow, along with the other four guys, there's five guys that are capable of running on that relay and Cutler, I put the pressure on him and put him in there on the anchor leg, and he ran 45 seconds. He's really coming around, and he did the same last year, but he hadn't run really well yet until this weekend.
   
• When I change the group, it comes down to a great competitor. When you get to the SEC Championships or the NCAA Championships, I'm glad we're running fast, and I think we're going to run faster than 3:02, but it doesn't make any difference what the time is. It's about winning. It's about beating people. I try to put forth the best competitors. I'm fortunate right now to have five guys, maybe six, coming on. It's good to have that depth. On the ladies' side, I don't have that depth at all. If I have one sick, we're in trouble, and I had one sick this weekend. We just weren't able to run. We don't have the depth. I need to have everyone well next week.
   
• Gilbert Rono had a 4:02 in the mile and is now No. 7 all-time in the A&M list. We had three men come in right at 4:02. To have three milers running that fast is really good. We have some good depth there, too, so I'm pleased with that.
   
• Megan Roberts in the women's 3000m, with a 9:19.87, also in the top 10 at No. 2 all-time for A&M. The deal about her run this weekend, I think her PR in the mile was 4:52 or 4:53. Inside of this 3K, she ran a faster first mile than she's ever run an open mile. That just doesn't happen. It takes a lot of guts to take yourself to that point where you've never gone before. She's never run that fast. She ended up running the best she's ever run, No. 2 all-time.
   
• Aleksandr Solovev with a 5.65m/18-6.5 on the pole vault. The funny thing about him, down at Clemson, their runway is elevated. You have a little bit of bounce to the runway, but their runway wasn't long enough for him. He's down at the very end of the runway, and he needs more runway. He's the only guy in the competition that needs that kind of runway. We really kind of stopped him at 18-6.
   
• I think we have a great group that we're sending to South Bend that can qualify in the distance medley relay. Cooper Cawthra has run a mile at 3:54. We've never had anybody run that fast. Ever. You have to have that kind of anchor on a distance medley because you run 1200m, you run 400m, you run 800m, and then you anchor with a miler. You're first three runners have to put you in a great position, but you have to have a great miler at the end of it. I think we do, but I think we have a couple of guys up front that will help us at 1200m and 800m. We know we have a good quarter-miler. I think we can run very fast. 
   
• People will go to Notre Dame to run this week. It's a week before conference, and a lot of times, you don't run the week before the conference. We're going to run this relay because I think if we can get it in the national meet, we can score.
   
• The SEC Championships will be on the March 1 weekend. If you want to see some athletes, you should come to the track and watch this SEC Meet. It's the best meet in the world. The SEC track meet is just a tremendous group of athletes from all over. Lots of Olympians from every school. It's a fun meet. It's a very competitive meet, and it will be hard to tell what will happen because we've added Texas and Oklahoma in there this year. We have 16 of the best teams in the country.
   
• I have to organize over 110 officials to work the meet. We have a lot of work. It can be hard to get that many officials. We have a dedicated group of people. You have to know what's going on in your event area. We have a crew that only does long jump and triple jump. We have a group that only does the shot put and the weight throw. The timing system is all electronic, and you don't really see any of that.
   
• It's just a tremendous group of pure athletic performances, and if you really want to see some people do some things, you're up close. When you're up close to somebody, and you watch them jump 27 feet in the long jump, you're going to realize how long that is. It's an amazing performance, and if you like athletics, you'll love to watch them. I hope people come because we'll fill the building up. We won the national meet there in 2017, and you couldn't hear yourself talk. It was so loud. It's getting people there who are backers of our program, and I hope people will come.