Aggies split in dual with LSU

Aggies split in dual with LSU
In a dual meet between national powrs Texas A&M men defeated LSU, 88-68, while the Aggie women fell to LSU, 82.5 to 76.5, on Saturday in front of 1,408 fans at Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium.

Courtesy: Texas A&M Athletics
Courtesy: Texas A&M Athletics

Release: 01/21/2012




RESULTS - (with series)
RESULTS - Condensed 2 column COLLEGE STATION - Texas A&M and LSU each claimed a team victory in front of 1,408 fans at Gilliam Indoor Stadium on Saturday afternoon as the Aggie men won its dual meet 88-68 while the LSU women finished ahead of A&M 82.5 to 76.5.
The Aggie men recorded its fourth consecutive dual meet victory since hosting these meets at home starting in 2009 while the A&M women are now 2-2. Scoring was based on a 5-3-2-1 with only two individuals from each team scoring. Relays were scored 5-3 with one relay from each team scoring.

While the Aggie men came within four points of its best output (92) over the past four seasons, the A&M women produced its lowest output by two points.

"It was a great competition," noted Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. "LSU has a fine team and so it's fun to run against people that are really good. Today we got beat on the ladies side, but we won on the men's side. That was a really good win for us."

Texas A&M totaled 13 victories on the day, with eight supplied by the men and five turned in by the women.

Ameer Webb supplied the Aggies with a pair of victories in the 60 (6.66 seconds) and the 200 meters (20.94) while Laura Asimakis and Natosha Rogers improved upon school records in the pole vault and mile for the second consecutive week.

"Ameer has a lot of talent and today was his first meet for us," said Henry. "We think he is going to be a guy that will have an effect on the team right now. Running in his first meet, especially in lane 4 of the 200, is an awfully good run. Plus getting a 6.66 in the 60 is fast."

In his Aggie debut, Webb led a 1-2-3 sweep of both the 60 and 200 with teammates Prezel Hardy (6.76, 21.48) and Michael Bryan (6.77, 21.30) in tow. Webb's 20.94 is the current collegiate leader this indoor season.

"It was exciting to run on the Division I level after coming here from junior college," stated Webb. "In the 60 I've been working on my start all week. That's what I was mainly focusing on. Once I had that it was all over.

"In the 200 I like to see everybody and know where they are. Being behind them, but knowing where they are, I'm able to pass them at the end of the race. Once I won the 60, I felt like I could do the same in the 200. I prefer the longer races."

Asimakis scaled 13 feet, 10 inches (4.22) to win the vault and better the record of 13-8.5 she established last week. Three attempts at clearing 14-0 each resulted in a miss, but that barrier may fall soon for a determined Asimakis.

Aly Daily cleared 13-0.75 (3.98) finished second in the pole vault to give the Aggies a 1-2 finish and an 8-3 edge in the event.

"I still need to work on a few things at 14-0," explained Asimakis. "Eventually it will come to me and I'll get it. Getting over 13-10 was awesome, I felt great doing that. It was another PR and school record.

"I need to work on a bigger plant and get my feet down towards the box when I attempt 14 feet. I need to let the pole do more of the work for me to shoot me over that height. It's still kind of new to me."

Rogers finished second in the mile, but took nearly five seconds off her record with a 4:45.85 clocking. She led from the start of the race, repeating her strategy from a week ago, but was caught in the final lap by LSU's Charlene Lipsey (4:45.04).

The Tigers also snared third with Laura Carleton (4:58.36) finishing in front of A&M's Sophie Blake (4:58.36) and Itzel Cetina (5:03.03).

"I definitely expected myself to go faster today," noted Rogers, who will move up to the 3,000 and 5,000 meters in the next couple of meets. "I know I have more in me, but I need to get more speed work on my legs.

"I'm going to move up all the way to 5,000 this indoor season and hope that the speed translates over to the longer distance. I might do the 3,000 next week or run a leg on the distance medley relay."

An impressive win for Henry Lelei had him just missing the school record in the men's mile as his 4:04.66 established a meet record and missed the A&M record of 4:04.16 set in 2000 by Mike Hummel.

Texas A&M went 1-7 in the mile with C.J. Brown (4:06.75) and MacLean O'Donnell (4:07.13) joining Lelei in bettering the previous meet record of 4:08.83 set in 2009 by Jake Morse of Texas and establishing marks on the Aggie all-time top 10 list.

Ashley Collier turned some heads with a 7.39 career best in the 60 meters to defeat teammate Dominique Duncan (7.43) and LSU's Kimberlyn Duncan (7.48).

In the 200, LSU's Duncan just managed to hold off the charge by A&M's Duncan for a collegiate leading 23.29 win. A&M's Duncan recorded a 23.56 in second, third fastest this season, with Collier taking third in 24.06.

Other winning efforts for the Aggie men included Michael Preble in the 800 (1:49.51), Kevin Burnett in the 5,000 (14:25.21), Cameron Alexander in the high jump (6-9.75) and both the distance medley relay (10:15.43) and the 4 x 400 (3:07.52).

Additional victories for the A&M women were Jena Hemann in the high jump (5-9.25), Aliese Hyde in the 800 (2:10.02) and Amanda Jenkins in the 5,000 meters (17:29.02).

Preble recorded the fastest collegiate time this indoor season, not run at altitude, in controlling the race after a first lap lead by teammate Nick Rollo. A&M's Oscar Ramirez ran 1:50.64 as the runner-up.

The women's 800 had Hyde chasing down LSU's Samantha Levin for a narrow victory, 2:10.02 to 2:10.11, while Hillary Hagan finished third in 2:12.43.

Running on the Aggie 4 x 400 were Ricky Babineaux (47.53), Preble (46.10), Deon Lendore (46.66) and Joey Roberts (47.24). LSU did not complete the first exchange of the baton.

Earlier in the meet Roberts matched his personal best in the 400 with a 47.19 (No. 10 A&M) for second to a collegiate-leading 46.60 by LSU's Caleb Williams. Babineaux's debut in the 400 for A&M produced a 47.30 (No. 11 A&M) for third place.

In the women's 400 another Aggie frosh, Kamaria Brown, earned second-place points with a 53.77 (No. 5 A&M) that placed her third behind a collegiate-leader of 53.13 by Cassandra Tate of LSU with Tiger teammate Rebecca Alexander second in 53.63.

Competing on the winning distance medley relay for the Aggies were James Bonn (3:02.10), Ashton Young (3:50.90), Josh Hernandez (1:57.79) and Stephen Curry (4:26.75).

Burnett and Alexander each led a 1-2-3 A&M finish in their respective events. Following Burnett in the 5,000 were James Hodges (14:34.69) and Will Barry (14:48.33). Dylan Richards (6-8.25) and Tyler Lee (6-6.75) were second and third in the high jump.

In addition to claiming the high jump, with teammate Chelsea Utley (5-7.75) in second, Hemann also placed second in the long jump with a mark of 19-0.50, just a quarter of inch behind LSU's Brittany Porter.

Jenkins led a 1-5 finish for A&M in the women's 5,000 as she was followed by Tara Upshaw (17:29.34), Grace Fletcher (17:33.12), Shawn Daglish (17:35.99) and Gabby Salazar (17:58.02).

The hurdle races provided a pair of enticing encounters. LSU's Jasmin Stowers posted a winning time of 8.35 with A&M's Donique' Flemings challenging at 8.41. In the men's 60 hurdles, Barrett Nugent of LSU clocked 7.82 with Aggie Wayne Davis II taking second in 7.93.

A runner-up performance of 60-6.5 (18.45, No. 6 performance) in the weight throw enabled Casey Strong to improve upon his No. 3 rank on the Aggie all-time list. Stong also placed second in the shot put (49-3, 15.01).

In the shot put A&M frosh Brea Garrett produced a career best of 50-10.75 (15.51) to finish second, just three-quarters of inch behind fellow freshman, Tori Bliss of LSU. Garrett improved upon her No. 2 status on the Aggie all-time list while Jennifer Edwards moved up to No. 5 with a third-place put of 48-10 (14.88).

The women's weight had Edwards equaling her career best of 58-6 (17.83, No. 5 A&M), which placed fourth, while Garrett set a best of 54-1 (16.48, No. 9 A&M).