Aggies claim five wins at New Balance Collegiate Invitational

Aggies claim five wins at New Balance Collegiate Invitational
Natasha Ruddock sets meet record in winning 60 hurdles

Feb. 5, 2010


NEW YORK CITY - An action-packed Friday in the Armory featured solid performances by the Aggies at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational. Among five wins and six runner-up efforts on the day, four of the victories were attained by Texas A&M in the evening sprint and hurdle finals.

The evening wins included Natasha Ruddock setting a meet record in the 60 hurdles (8.06), Sandy Wooten in the 500 meters (1:12.82), Michael Preble in the 500 meters (1:02.27), and Jeneba Tarmoh (San Jose, CA/Mt. Pleasant HS/Tennessee)
in the 60 meters (7.29). Earlier in the day Daphne Fitzpatrick won the college division high jump.

Two of those Aggie wins featured a 1-2 finish. Gabby Mayo was runner-up to Ruddock in a career best 8.08 while Joey Roberts challenged Preble for the 500 win with a 1:02.36.

Qualifying races for Saturday finals had Demetrius Pinder leading the 400-meter field with a 46.69 clocking. Bryan Miller (47.55) also contested the quarter and reached the finals.

In the women's 400, Jessica Beard posted a 52.81 to record the best time in qualifying. It's the 12th fastest performance on the A&M all-time list, of which Beard has 10 of those marks.

A 1-2 sweep in the 60 hurdles earned the Aggies 18 points towards the team score in this meet. After both runners recorded an 8.22 in the prelims, Ruddock won the final in a meet record of 8.06 seconds, lowering her Texas A&M school record in the process from 8.15. The meet record of 8.09 was set last year by Houston's Seun Adigun.

"Running here in the past I know this track," an emotional Ruddock said. "This is my home track. Two years ago I was second and last year I was third. So, now I'm happy to have a win with Texas A&M. I was so shocked with the time. I didn't realize it until Gabby showed me on the scoreboard. I'm so excited."

"My mom, brother and sisters were here tonight. I'm so happy I won for them."

Ruddock, who competed at Essex Junior College in New Jersey the past two seasons, set her previous best of 8.13 on this same track back in 2008 during the New Balance Collegiate Invitational. She was runner-up in that race and set a Jamaica national junior record. Mayo's previous best in the event was 8.17, which she has run twice.

"It's always good to have Gabby for a teammate," Ruddock added. "She's very understanding and we both can work together. We know most races are going to go down to the wire between us. We train hard, so I knew it was going to be close."

Mayo occupied lane one in the 60 final while Tarmoh was stationed in lane eight. In a close finish Tarmoh had the victory with a 7.29 clocking, fourth best at Texas A&M, while Mayo placed fifth in 7.33.

Tarmoh bettered defending NCAA champion LaKya Brookins of South Carolina, who recorded the same time of 7.29.

"I'm very happy with my time," Tarmoh said. "I was so happy for Natasha and it motivated me some more. I wanted to run really well, since I thought if they could do it then I definitely can do it.

"My focus was on myself and how I ran my race. At the finish I had no peripheral vision. I had no idea what was going on. I was just trying to get my feet down and run hard."

The men's 500 meters featured another 18-point performance from the Aggies as Preble closed on Roberts, who led for a majority of the race, in the final 15 meters for a 1:02.27 to 1:02.36 difference at the finish line. Finishing third was Arkansas' Chris Bilbrew in 1:02.73.

Wooten, the Big 12 champion over 600 yards, cruised to a 1:12.82 win in the 500 meters. Temple's Victoria Gocht was runner-up in 1:13.34.

Another winner on day one included Fitzpatrick as she cleared 5-8.5 (1.74) to claim the college high jump, which sported a field of 19, with a personal best. Her mark places her 11th on the A&M all-time list.

Gerald Phiri nearly had a win for the Aggies in the men's 60 final. However, a 6.62 season best by Phiri was edged out by a 6.61 from Teddy Mitchell of UT-San Antonio.

The men's long jump produced a runner-up effort from Tyron Stewart as he hit a mark of 25-8.25 to finish behind current collegiate leader Zedric Thomas of LSU (26-3). Melvin Echard (24-2.25) finished eighth.

As the early leader in the women's Championship 5,000 meters, Christina Munoz led the pack through the first two laps. Then she settled into third as the leaders went through 1,000 meters and ran 5:21 for the first mile.

As Shippensburg's Neely Spence pulled away from the field on the way to a 16:13.01 win, Munoz secured second and finished with a strong kick to maintain that position. She finished in a personal best of 16:37.37 to earn a NCAA provisional mark, bettering her previous indoor best of 16:46.37.

Katherine Devlin, in ninth place through the first dozen laps, improved to sixth place in the latter half of the race and clocked 16:53.74. On the A&M all-time list Munoz is now the second fastest performer with the ninth fastest performance while Devlin becomes the fifth best performer.

Sasha-Kay Matthias placed second in the long jump, reaching a distance of 20-6.25 (6.25) as she finished behind Brigham Young's Mindy Neeley McClurkin (Santa Barbara, Calif./Dos Pueblos HS)(21-1.5) and ahead of Big 12 champion Ti'Anca Mock of Oklahoma (20-3).

In consolation finals De'Lon Isom finished fourth in the 60 hurdles (8.01) while Porscha Lucas placed fifth in the 60 (7.45).

In the college 60 meters Chandrell Stephens matched her season best of 7.75 to win her section and place eighth overall.

Courtesy Texas A&M