NEW YORK CITY – Texas A&M’s first road trip of the indoor track and field season will have the Aggies competing in the Armory Collegiate Invitational this Friday and Saturday among a field of 100 teams, providing A&M national-level competition in a variety of events.
In one of the largest indoor meets held, the scored Armory Collegiate Invitational is in its 12th season. Texas A&M is one of 22 ranked squads (10 men, 12 women) among the current top 25 competing in the meet this weekend. The Aggie men are currently No. 3 while the women are ranked No. 6 in the United States Track and Field Cross Country Coaches (USTFCCCA) national team computer rankings.
The women’s field at the Armory Collegiate Invitational will include the current top seven ranked programs in No. 1 Clemson, No. 2 Kansas, No. 3 Oregon, No. 4 Arkansas, No. 5 LSU, No. 6 Texas A&M and No. 7 Florida. Other ranked schools in the field include No. 10 Iowa State, No. 14 Texas, No. 16 Stanford, No. 21 South Carolina and No. 25 Connecticut.
In the men’s field the top four programs are among the entries with No. 1 Arkansas, No. 2 Florida, No. 3 Texas A&M, and No. 4 Oregon. Others in the field are No. 6 LSU, No. 11 Texas, No. 15 Mississippi State, No. 19 BYU, No. 20 Stanford, and No. 22 Oklahoma.
Friday’s competition begins at 9:30 a.m. for the Aggies in the women’s shot put and will conclude around 8:30 p.m. with the finals of the 60 meters and the women’s college division of the distance medley relay. On Saturday the women’s 5,000 meters starts the day for A&M at 8:30 a.m. while the 4 x 400 relays wrap up the meet around 6 p.m.
Results will be available through armorytrack.com while a web cast of the meet will be available through flotrack.com. Updates on how the Aggies are faring during the meet will be available through twitter with @aggietrk.
During the morning session on Friday, the Aggie shot put crew consists of Jennifer Edwards, Brea Garrett, Shelbi Vaughan and Annie Kunz, who will also long jump, high jump and run the 60 hurdles during the meet. Brittany Wooten will contest the pole vault while A&M’s high jump group consists of Jena Hemann, Sierra Patrick, Devion Harris and Tyler Lee.
On Friday afternoon Cameron Thornton runs the 1,000m while Amanda Jenkins covers the 5,000m distance. Jennifer Madu and LaQue Moen-Davis will both long and triple jump this weekend in the championship division of each event.
Running in the 400 on Friday are Kanika Beckles, Janeil Bellille, Kamaria Brown and Ibukun Mayungbe for the Aggie women while Aldrich Bailey, Jr., Greg Coleman, Deon Lendore and Bralon Taplin compete in the two-lap race for the A&M men. Lendore enters the meet with a world-leading time of 45.91 seconds.
Wayne Davis II is the lone Aggie entry in the men’s 60 hurdles while Jermaine Davis and Prezel Hardy, Jr. sprint in the 60 meters. For the A&M women the sprint crew includes Ashley Collier, Olivia Ekpone, Madu, Ashton Purvis, Chandrell Stephens and LaKeidra Stewart in the 60.
Texas A&M completes the first night of action with a distance medley relay squad of Ashley Chamberlain, Beckles, Aliese Hyde and Sophie Blake. Last week, with the same three middle distance legs, the A&M team ran the second fastest time in Aggie history to win the event at the Texas A&M Mondo Challenge.
