Texas A&M sweeps NCAA outdoor track titles

Associated Press

DES MOINES, IOWA

Texas A&M’s dream of becoming the first school with three straight men’s and women’s team titles came down to the final two races of the NCAA championships.

The Aggie men needed to take first in the 1,600-meter relay outright to claim a third straight crown. The women needed to beat Oregon in the 1,600 and finish in the top three to overtake LSU.

Texas A&M won both relays and the national titles in thrilling style Saturday, proving once again that the Aggies are the powerhouse program in outdoor track and field.

“You don’t ever want it to come down to the relay, but it has for us for the last three years,” said Texas A&M coach Pat Henry, who has won 33 national titles dating to his time coaching at LSU. “It’s a great, great feeling, especially when you know you have a pretty good group when fixing the lineup.”

Men’s anchor Tabarie Henry, no relation to the coach, held off LSU’s Riker Hylton in the 1,600 relay to clinch the victory in 3 minutes, 0.62 seconds. Jessica Beard anchored the women’s foursome with a meet-record split of 49:14 seconds that gave the A&M women the win and the team crown over Oregon.

Texas A&M’s men won their third straight title with 55 points, one ahead of Florida State and two ahead of Florida.

The Aggie women claimed their third crown in a row with 49 points. The Ducks missed their first outdoor team title in 26 years, finishing four points behind A&M.

LSU was third in the women’s standings with 43.5 points, as Kimberlyn Duncan won the women’s 200 in a world-leading 22.24 seconds.

Though Florida State’s Maurice Mitchell took the men’s 200 in a wind-aided 19.99, the Seminoles didn’t make the 1,600 relay finals. That came back to haunt them in the end.

Florida’s Christian Taylor won the triple jump with a leap of 58 feet, 4 3/4 inches, which would have shattered the meet record of 57-7 3/4 had it not been wind-aided.