The Texas A&M Aggies men's and women's track & field teams continued their early-season success as A&M hosted the Charlie Thomas Invitational over the weekend.
A&M football stars Devon Achane and Bryce Foster competed early in the event with Achane making his Aggies track and field debut. He ran the 60-meter for the first time in college, and his mark of 6.71 seconds was good enough not just for third at the meet, but it also ranks No. 11 all-time in A&M history.
Foster, who was ranked as the best high school shot put thrower his senior season at Taylor High School (Katy, Texas), had a top mark of 17.88 to take fourth over the weekend in that event.
Head coach Pat Henry said of the football stars, “To open the season running 6.71, that’s getting after it. Devon [Achane] did ok in the prelims, but he was last out of the blocks in the finals. It’s the same for Bryce [Foster], its rhythm. It takes a little bit of time and it’s repetition before things can really happen.”
After claiming two event titles on Friday, A&M added four more on Saturday, and seven Aggies recorded all-time top 12 marks for the program.
Charokee Young won the women's 400m, Laila Owens took the women's 200m title, while Bara Sajkokova finished first in the women's high jump. The men's team claimed victory in the 4x400m relay while setting the fourth-fastest time in the country at 3:04:84.
Young won the 400m with a time of 52-flat that equaled the best time in the country while Tierra Robinson-Jones took second place with a time of 52.23, equal to the sixth fastest in the NCAA.
Owens won the 200m clocking in at 23.28, while the men's combination of Cevannie Hanson, Emmanuel Bammidele, Omajuwa Etiwe, and Brandon Miller ended the weekend with a meet record time of 3:04:84.
Other A&M top-12 performers were Robinson-Jones in the women's 400m, Annie Fuller in the women's mile, Gemma Goddard in the women's 3000m, Gavin Hoffpauir in the men's mile, Bailey Goggans in the women's 800m, and Achane in the men's 60m.
Henry said of the weekend, “The men and women know that if we put everybody together at the right time on the track that we will run well. They all know we are going to run fast, it’s just a matter of getting the right situation.”
Next up for Aggies track & field is a trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico for the Don Kirby Elite Invitational on Feb. 11-12 while the mid-distance and distance groups head to Nashville, Tennessee to compete ad the Indoor Music City Challenge on the same dates.
Follow Timm Hamm on Twitter @IndyCarTim
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