Aggies win both dual meets in Gilliam Indoor debut - TEXAS A&M OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE

Aggies win both dual meets in Gilliam Indoor debut

No. 1 A&M women defeat No. 4 Tennessee while No. 6 Aggie men better No. 7 Texas

	Zuheir Sharif equaled the A&M school record in the triple jump with a winning mark of 53-3.

Jan. 24, 2009

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College Station - A pair of dual meet victories christened the Gilliam Indoor Track and Field Stadium on Saturday before a raucous crowd of 3,016 fans in the first indoor meet held on the Texas A&M campus. The No. 6 Aggie men defeated No. 7 Texas 81-77 while the No. 1 ranked A&M women bettered No. 4 Tennessee 83-69.

From the beginning of the meet, when Frosty Gilliam and Texas A&M President Dr. Murano fired the starter's pistol for the men's and women's mile, to the concluding 4 x 400 men's relay started by Artie McFerrin, a lot of action was packed into the three-hour time schedule.

"This meet is about what the team does," Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry said. "We tried to emphasize that even though it is early in the indoor season. We wanted to place some worth on what the team does at this time of the year rather than just an individual performance.

"The dual meet throws in a different element, because when it gets to the end of the meet it's all about what the team was able to do and how we performed as a group."

Each event used a 5-3-2-1 scoring system with only two scorers from each team while relays were scored 5-3 with one team per school scoring. With 159 points available to be scored, the team to reach 80 points claimed the win.

Highlighting the afternoon festivities was a school record equaling performance in the triple jump by Zuheir Sharif, who used the support of the crowd to match the mark of 53-3 (16.23) on his sixth and final jump of the competition. It equaled the A&M school record set by Bashir Ramzy in the 2001 Big 12 meet.

"The atmosphere was phenomenal on many levels, primarily in motivating three of my teammates to set PRs themselves," said Sharif of the home crowd, which included 927 fellow students in attendance.

Sharif led a 1-2-3-4 sweep of the event by the Aggies, with all four jumpers establishing career best indoor marks. Julian Reid followed with a 52-7 ½ (16.04), while Tyron Stewart produced a 51-10 (15.80) and Melvin Echard added a 51-1 ½ (15.58). A&M's Keenan Hall added a men's long jump title with a leap of 24-2 ¼ (7.37).

In the women's 60 hurdles Gabby Mayo blistered an 8.27-second winning time to become the No. 3 Texas A&M performer in the event with the No. 5 performance all-time. The men's race had a pair of Aggies both producing times of 8.12 seconds with De'Lon Isom and Melvin Echard placing second and third behind an 8.01 winning mark by Elliot O'Hare of Texas.

The Aggie sprint corp put on a display as they swept titles in the 60, 200 and 400 on both the men's and women's side.

Porscha Lucas captured the 60 and 200 meters with times of 7.30 and 23.39 seconds while Jessica Beard rolled to a victory in the 400 with a 52.86 clocking. Texas A&M sported a 1-3-4-5-6-7 finish in the 60, a 1-2-3-4-6 effort in the 200 and a 1-2-3 sweep of the 400.

"I'm really excited and happy I was able to post good times considering this is just our second meet," Lucas said. "I'm glad we had a home meet so everybody here could see what we are doing. It pumped me up while I was competing."

Lucas and Beard were also on the winning 4 x 400 squad as they sealed the dual meet win with a six-second advantage over Tennessee (3:42.49 to 3:48.49). They were joined by Sandy Wooten and Brittany Machacek.

The men's sprint titles were claimed by three different Aggies as Gerald Phiri controlled the 60 in 6.65, Chris Dykes won the 200 in 21.17 and Justin Oliver handled the 400 in 47.15.

"This is my first home meet since I've been running track, 10 years now," Oliver noted. "To see the size of the crowd and hear that the majority of the crowd is behind you was a great feeling. Especially being a senior, having that kind of support means a lot.

"I know the crowd, as much as they want us to win, they want Texas to lose. It was a great atmosphere in here to know so much emotion and history was involved with a meet like this. Plenty of people in here have been following this rivalry for decades."

Texas A&M finished 1-2 in each of those three men's sprint events to claim the maximum eight points while also nabbing third in the 200 and fourth in the 400. Dykes (6.87) finished second to Phiri in the 60 while Phiri (21.41) was runner-up to Dykes in the 200. Bryan Miller posted a 47.87 to place second to Oliver in the 400.

"When I stepped out on the track I didn't expect to see that many people in our first meet," said Phiri, who just missed equaling his school record of 6.64. "I'm ecstatic with my performance. My first race last year was 6.75 with a 6.71 in the final. Hopefully I follow the trend I had last year and I'll be good enough to win nationals."

Ashika Charan and Yasmine Regis each led a 1-2-3 sweep for A&M in the long and triple jump. Charan reached a distance of 20-3 (6.17) to claim the long jump ahead of Regis and Tiffany Peters. Regis hit a mark of 42-9 ¾ (13.05) to win the triple jump over Angela Thomas and Peters.

Competing in the weight throw for the first time, A&M's Nick Cook won the event to kick start the scoring for the Aggie men. His performance of 51-2 ¼ (15.60) bettered Texas' Brandon Drenon by less than two inches and Cook became the No. 7 performer on the Aggie all-time list.

Cook and Drenon traded places in the shot put with the Longhorn winning with a 55-0 ¼ (16.77) mark with Cook reaching 52-10 (16.10) for second place. A&M's Eric Motter finished third with a toss of 51-8 ¼ (15.75).

Shadrack Songok paced a 1-2-3 effort by the Aggies in the 5,000 meters as his 14:32.92 led Mitch Bible (14:37.77) and Joe Sauvageau (14:39.91). That countered Longhorns wins by Jacob Hernandez (1:48.72) in the 800 and Jake Morse (4:08.83) in the mile as Texas claimed eight points in both events.

Tennessee women were expected to dominate the middle distance events and they did so, sweeping first through fourth in the 800 and first through fifth in the mile. Sarah Bowman clocked 4:35.35 for an NCAA automatic qualifier in the mile while Phoebe Wright won the 800 in 2:05.71 for the Lady Vols.

In the 5,000 meters, though, the Aggie tandem of Christina Munoz and Elizabeth Slaughter were able to combine for five points to Tennessee's six with a second and third place finish behind winner Katie Van Horn (17:12.17). Munoz posted a 17:16.63 for second while Slaughter finished third in 17:34.90.

Runner-up points were attained in the women's throwing events by Deidre Tarver in the weight throw with a career best 54-5 ½ (16.60) and Anteneshia Lindsey in the shot put with a toss of 46-11 (14.30).

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