COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M hosts the Aggie Twilight on Saturday inside Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium, the final home meet of the indoor season and the last meet prior to the SEC Championships.
Teams competing in the meet include East Texas Baptist, Houston, Houston Baptist, Lamar, LeTourneau, Sam Houston State, Southwestern, Stephen F. Austin, Texas, Texas Lutheran, Trinity, UT RGV, and UT Tyler.
Field events begin at 4:30 p.m. with the men’s high jump and both pole vaults. Running events start at 5 p.m.
For some members of the Aggie squad the Twilight offers a final opportunity to make the conference team while others compete to maintain or improve their form prior to the postseason meet.
“There are still a couple of people we’re trying to see if they are prepared to go to the SEC Championships,” said Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry. “But we pretty much have the group that will travel to the conference meet. The door is still open and we have another competition to evaluate.
“We will rest some people, but we will have some key people competing this weekend because they need to get a little bit more out of themselves. In some events it’s good to compete a week out from the conference meet.”
Jazmine Fray will race at 800m, where she has a season best time of 2:09.13, along with Brittany Parker, Miah Nelson and Nadia Pakes. In the 200m, Danyel White and Amber Ivy race in the same section along with professional sprinter Tynia Gaither.
After going 1-2 in their section of the mile at Clemson, Valarie Bradley and Rachel Bernardo lead a crew of seven Aggies in the mile. Freshmen Julia Black and Abbey Santoro lead a squad of seven A&M runners in the 3,000m.
“The SEC is a tough conference and it will be a tough, tough conference championship,” added Henry. “Everybody that we take to the meet could hit and have their best performance and we may still get beat. I think we have a good opportunity to be successful if we do the things we can do, especially on the men’s side.
“On the ladies side, we’ve got to have some people step up. We have a few who seem to be waiting for someone else to get it done. It’s their opportunity and they need to get it done. So, we will see if we can get a little closer this weekend.”
Aggie alum Bralon Taplin, who equaled the world-leading time for 2019 at 300m in his last Gilliam appearance, will race at 400m this weekend. Taplin is scheduled to race in the same section as current A&M sprinters DeWitt Thomas and Richard Rose.
Following runner-up performances at the mile and 3,000m in Clemson, Jon Bishop races in the mile at the Twilight with four other Aggies in the third of three sections.
In preparation for the SEC heptathlon, Nathan Hite is scheduled to compete in the high jump, pole vault and shot put.
