Pat Henry Interview Previewing Texas A&M Invitational On Saturday

Texas A&M Invitational features nine teams in final meet prior to Big 12

COLLEGE STATION – Hosting the Texas A&M Invitational with eight visiting teams will serve as the last meet of the indoor season prior to conference and national championship meet. Finals begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium with competition from Alabama, Baylor, Houston, Missouri, Rice, TCU, USC and UTEP.

The Aggie men enter the meet ranked No. 8 in the nation while the A&M women are No. 9. Baylor is the other squad ranked among the 30 in the national computer rankings with its women at No. 15 and the men at No. 28.

The Aggies are coming off a very successful outing in New York City at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational where the A&M men claimed the team title by 10 points over LSU while the Aggie women placed fourth, just half a point behind third place.

Another five school records were set by Texas A&M while in New York, increasing the Aggies total for the season to 17 school records in 12 events, spread evenly among six men’s and six women’s categories.

A&M’s relays are still in search of automatic qualifying times for the 4 x 400 relays, where 3:06.50 (men) and 3:34.00 (women) are needed to earn automatic entry in the NCAA Indoor Championships. The Aggie men have a season best of 3:07.43 while the women have clocked 3:35.95.

After seeing his school record in the 800 meters broken in the last home meet, Michael Preble is eager to see if he can reclaim it from Joey Roberts. Preble ran 1:47.27 last season and Roberts recently lowered the school record to 1:47.14, which is still a world-leader this season on 200-meter tracks.

The holder of the school record indoors and outdoors in the pole vault, Aggie Laura Asimakis headlines the women’s field as she seeks another shot at clearing 14-0 on her home track after setting the undercover school record at 13-11.

The men’s 400 will offer a stellar field and the first section includes a pair of athletes in their initial season with A&M, Ricky Babineaux and Deon Lendore, facing Errol Nolan of Houston and Baylor’s Zwede Hewitt.

Likewise, the short sprints feature a talented gathering with the Aggie trio of Ameer Webb, Prezel Hardy, Jr. and Michael Bryan competing in the 60 and 200. In the 60 their foes will include Charles Silmon of TCU, Baylor’s Everett Walker and Woodrow Wilson, Houston’s Isaiah Sweeney and Kenneth Chambers of Missouri.

In the women’s sprints there will be a crew of A&M sprinters competing in the 60 and 200 led by Dominique Duncan, Ashley Collier, Kamaria Brown and Olivia Ekpone. They will face off against Jessica Davis and Aareon Payne of USC, Tiffani McReynolds of Baylor and Houston’s Kiersten Brewer.

Another event where a pair of Aggies each recently held the school record is in the weight throw. Casey Strong claimed the record at the last A&M home meet with a Big 12 leading toss of 61-1.5 to better the standard of 61-0 Cole Knuth set a year ago. They both face a challenge from TCU’s Sean Tabor as well as a crew of throwers from Missouri.

Cameron Alexander became one of only five Aggies to clear 7-0 in the high jump last weekend and he will headline the event this weekend in a field of 15 jumpers.

The Aggie women throwers – Brea Garrett, Jennifer Edwards and Taylor Rosser – contend with Baylor’s Erin Atkinson (weight) and Skylar White (shot put), who each are second on the Big 12 list in their respective events.

Currently this season Texas A&M leads the Big 12 in 13 events. Following is a list of those events and athletes.

Big 12 Leaders

Men
60: Ameer Webb, 6.66
200: Ameer Webb, 20.94
400: Ricky Babineaux, 46.87
600y: Michael Preble, 1:08.56
800: Joey Roberts, 1:47.13
5000: Kevin Burnett, 14:04.27
Distance Medley: Texas A&M, 7:29.71
TJ: Babatunde Amosu, 51-7
Wt: Casey Strong, 61-1.5

Women
60: Ashley Collier, 7.25
200: Dominique Duncan, 23.54
5000: Natosha Rogers, 15:58.40
PV: Laura Asimakis, 13-11