No. 1 Texas A&M claims both team titles in New York City Zuheir Sharif breaks school record in triple jump

No. 1 Texas A&M claims both team titles in New York City
Zuheir Sharif breaks school record in triple jump, men's 4 x 800 shatters 20-year-old A&M record

Feb. 6, 2010


NEW YORK CITY - Five more victories and a pair of school records were attained by Texas A&M on the second day of the New Balance Collegiate Invitational held at the Armory on Saturday.

Combined with its five victories on day one meant the No. 1 Aggies captured both team titles on the weekend.

The A&M women needed its third-place finish in the final event, the 4 x 400 relay, to overtake BYU, 107-105, and defend the team championship they won a year ago. The Aggie women have won the New Balance Collegiate Invitational three times in the past four years.

"We're coming to this meet to compete and not necessarily worry about the team score," Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry said. "We're trying to do the best we can do in this environment. The team score is second to that at this time of year.

"But it's also important, you just can't put more emphasis on the team score because we would enter people differently if we did."

BYU held a 105-101 lead going into the relay, but their 4x4 squad placed 12th and didn't score any additional points. Texas A&M ran with a foursome of Sandy Wooten, Andrea Sutherland, Donique' Flemings and Jessica Beard to record a time of 3:36.38 for six points and the team title.

On the men's side of the ledger the A&M men wrapped up the team title with a win in the 4 x 400 relay, which won in 3:07.92 over Oklahoma's 3:09.04. Running on the Aggie relay were Demetrius Pinder, Bryan Miller, Kyle Dykhuizen and Tabarie Henry.

The Aggies totaled 99 points to claim its first team title at this meet over LSU (77) and Oklahoma (68).

"This is a very special group of athletes," Henry noted. "When they come to the track they come to compete. There are no slackers in this group. This group is very competitive and it's fun to be around them."

Zuheir Sharif defended his triple jump title at this meet with a school record 54-3.75 (16.55), reclaiming A&M's best mark from teammate Julian Reid who set a distance of 53-11.75 last week. Sharif also claims the collegiate lead for the 2010 season from Reid.

In winning this event last season Sharif established A&M's school record with a 53-11 effort. Sharif becomes the first to win consecutive triple jump titles at the Invitational since the meet started in 1999.

"I love coming to New York," exclaimed Sharif. "As a senior I felt it was very important to lead off with a bang. This is one of the most popular cities in the world, so I kind of took that to heart and did the best I could.

"As for the school record, records are meant to be broken. So if you have a good competition and create a record that is good news."

Challenging Sharif was teammate Tyron Stewart, who set his own personal best as runner-up in 53-10.25 (16.41), and earned Texas A&M's third NCAA automatic qualifier for the NCAA Indoor Championships. Melvin Echard placed eighth in the event with a 50-8.75 (15.46) effort.

Another school record to fall came in the men's 4 x 800 as the Aggies led at each exchange of the baton and placed second in 7:29.57 to crush the previous A&M standard of 8:00.42 set in 1990.

Running for the Aggies were Sam Mutschler, Joey Roberts, Eric Gosset and Oscar Ramirez. Duke won the race in 7:26.94 as they passed A&M on the final lap.

Texas A&M swept the 200 and 400 meter titles. Jeneba Tarmoh lead an Aggie 1-2 in the women's race while Curtis Mitchell claimed the men's crown. Then in the 400 Jessica Beard charged to the finish for the women's victory and Demetrius Pinder withstood a late challenge for the men's title.

Tarmoh, who won the 60 on Friday night, edged teammate Porscha Lucas in the final of the 200 with a 23.44 to 23.51 margin. Finishing third from another section was Mindy McClurkin of BYU (23.80).

"It was actually a very good weekend," said Tarmoh, who is now No. 6 on the A&M all-time list. "I didn't come in thinking I was going to win. I just hoped I would run fast times. I'm very excited about the times I ran and that I did them at this time of the season.

"This atmosphere here was a wake-up call to what is going to happen later in the season. Primarily because I haven't had a meet where I've run trials and finals in two events on the same weekend. I think I'm more prepared now because of this meet."

Tarmoh becomes the first female to claim a 60-200 double at this meet since Muna Lee achieved three consecutive doubles from 2002-2004.

Gabby Mayo, who was third fastest in qualifying earlier today with a 23.83 behind Tarmoh (23.50) and Lucas (23.56), lost her balance coming off the last curve and ended up 11th overall.

Mitchell maintained his edge on the field as he came off the final curve and completed a 20.99 victory. It was the second time this season for Mitchell to clock 20.99 and he posted a world-leading 20.69 last weekend. Tran Howell ran 21.44 to place seventh overall.

"That's the strongest part of my game, is my finish," noted Mitchell. "I'm 6-4 so once I get going I feel like I can beat anybody. That's the strength God gave me, so I just try to stay focused. Being able to catch other runners lets me know that if I get out with them I can do something real special."

Finishing behind Mitchell in the third section of the 200 were Tennessee's Evander Wells (21.15) and Oklahoma's Rakieem Salaam (21.23).

"I was a bit tired going into this final," said Mitchell, who now has three consecutive wins on the season. "I wasn't really feeling like myself. It's a bit of a drain running three weeks straight. But I knew I had to run, because if I ran too relaxed I would get upset. I just gave it all I had and I'm glad I came out with a win."

Beard posted a 52.60 win over defending NCAA Indoor champion Francena McCorory (52.83) and South Carolina's combo of Brandi Cross (53.78) and Nadonnia Rodrigues (53.79).

At the end of the first lap Beard was positioned in third, but she charged down the backstretch and took over the lead going into the final curve. Heading to the finish Beard had company when McCorory came from the back of the pack. Beard completed victory with a drive to the finish for her second win this season.

In the men's 400 Pinder raced to the lead upon the completion of the first lap and maintained his edge throughout. North Carolina's Clayton Parros pushed Pinder to the finish and placed second in 46.36. Bryan Miller won another section of the 400 in 47.12 and placed fourth overall.

Sasha-Kay Matthias placed third in the triple jump with a mark of 42-3.5 (12.89) to move to No. 6 on the A&M all-time list. Tiffany Peters finished fifth with 40-8.75 effort.

Brett Bennett secured a runner-up finish in the college pole vault, clearing 16-2.75. Bennett had the same height clearance as the winner, but finished second based on misses.

Joe Snelick placed second in his section and sixth overall with a 1:53.82. Snelick was second as the field went through 400m in 55.5. Then Snelick took over the lead on the final lap moving in front on the backstretch with 120m remaining. Holding an edge until the final 20m of the race, Snelick was passed near the finish.

Deidre Tarver finished seventh in the weight throw with a toss of 58-0.5. Racing in the 3,000 Championship Joe Sauvageau placed eighth in 8:16.06.

In the mile the Aggies placed seventh and 10th with the combo of C.J. Brown (4:11.10) and Kevin Burnett (4:13.16). Both went into the lead from the start of their races in separate sections. Burnett, who set the school record in the 3,000 last weekend, led the field by a sizeable margin as he went through 800m in 2:02.9 and 1,200m in 3:07.1. Brown led the halfway point at 2:02.6, then he was in fourth as they reached 1,200 in 3:06.5.

Tara Upshaw had the first race of the morning for Texas A&M, placing ninth in the 3,000 with a clocking of 10:03.14.

Courtesy Texas A&M