FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Texas A&M men’s and women’s track & field teams travel to Fayetteville, Arkansas to kick off of the 2021 Championships season with the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships beginning Thursday, Feb. 25-27 at the Randal Tyson Track Center.
Meet Schedule
The three-day meet begins Thursday with the multi-events at 10:15 a.m., men's weight at 1:45 p.m., followed by the distance medley relay at 2:15 p.m. Field events kick off things for day two beginning with the men's high jump at noon, followed by running events at 2 p.m. Championship Saturday starts at 12:30 p.m. with the men's pole vault, followed by the finals of the track events at 2 p.m.. Field events begin at 4:30 p.m.
How to Keep Up
The Randal Tyson Track Center will not allow fans into its home meets during the 2021 season. Fans can follow @aggietfxc on twitter for live updates as well as follow live results provided by Flash Results. Live coverage of the SEC Indoor Track and Field Championships will air on SECN+ at 10 a.m. CT on Thursday, 11:55 a.m. on Friday and 12:25 p.m. on Saturday. The broadcast talent includes Dwight Stones, Dan O’Brien and John Anderson. A tape-delayed broadcast of the Championship will air on the SEC Network Sunday at 7 p.m. CT.
Aggies Preview
The No. 2 women’s team enters the meet with 15 marks ranked in the top eight in the SEC. Tyra Gittens returns to defend her pentathlon title, she currently leads the nation in the event with a season best performance of 4,612 points. Gittens claimed the Cliff Harper Award, the highest point scorer, at last season’s championships and is entered in the pentathlon, high jump and long jump this weekend. Athing Mu is entered in the 800m, her first time to run at that distance since the season opener on Jan. 16. She leads the NCAA with a season best time of 2:01.07. The Aggie 4x400m enters the meet with the nation’s top ranked time of 3:26.27. The quartet of Jania Martin, Syaira Richardson, Charokee Young and Mu clocked a collegiate record two weeks ago on the same track they’ll be running on Saturday night. Young is the favorite in the 400m, she enters the competition with the fastest time of 51.93.
On the men’s side, Bryce Deadmon leads the way as the conference leader in the 400m. The defending champion in the event enters with a season best time of 45.22, which also ranks No. 2 in the NCAA. Deadmon would become the first SEC athlete to repeat in the men’s indoor 400m since Aggie and Bowerman winner Deon Lendore claimed the titles in 2013 and 2014. The Missouri City, Texas, native, is set to anchor the men’s 4x400m that has clocked a season best time of 3:06.28. Freshman 800m duo of Allon Clay and Brandon Miller enter the event with two of the top five fastest times this season. Clay has clocked the second fastest time in the SEC this season at 1:48.45, while Miller recorded an altitude adjusted time of 1:48.63. Carter Bajoit (high jump), Sean Clarke (pole vault), Connor Schulman (60m hurdles), Jon Bishop (mile) and Darius Clark (long jump) each are ranked in the top eight of the conference as they enter the meet, while Josh Brown has continued to improve in the weight throw each week.
The Competition
A total of 18 Southeastern Conference men’s and women’s track and field programs are included in the top-25 of the latest NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field National Rating Index released Monday.
A nation-leading nine SEC men’s programs are ranked in the top-25, including five in the top-10. LSU is ranked No. 2, followed by Arkansas at No. 3, Florida at No. 8, Georgia at No. 9 and Ole Miss at No. 10. Tennessee is ranked 12th, Alabama is 15th, Texas A&M is 16th and Kentucky is 17th. No other conference has more than six teams in the men’s top-25.
A nation-leading nine SEC programs are ranked in the women’s top-25, led by No. 1 Arkansas and No. 2 Texas A&M. Georgia is No. 4, LSU is No. 6, Florida is No. 7, Kentucky is No. 12, Alabama is No. 13, Tennessee is No. 17 and Ole Miss is No. 21. No other conference has more than five teams in the men’s top-25.
SEC men’s and women’s track and field athletes lead the nation in 13 individual events entering this weekend’s SEC Indoor Championships.
Coaches Box
Head Coach Pat Henry
on the SEC Championships:
"The Southeastern Conference Championships is the best meet in the country, it's not even close and it's the best meet of the year. Every one of these schools in the SEC wants to be successful, just like every other sport. There's a lot of pride in this conference and everyone wants to be good. What wins meets like this are the third, fourth, fifth and sixth places, that's what wins it. It's depth that wins this kind of track meet, the one National Championships doesn't take the same kind of depth to win. It takes elites to win the National meet. For this one you gotta have great ones but you also need to have depth."
on the depth of the women's team:
"Besides Athing Mu, Charokee Young has the fastest 400m time in country. She needs to have a big meet for us and I think she is capable of running faster than what she has already run. Same thing with Syaira Richardson, she is a great contributor to our program and she needs to have a good meet. We're just getting back Laila Owens, a freshman, I think she has the ability to be near the top.”
Senior Bryce Deadmon
on heading into the SEC Championships:
"Honestly, I feel good and I'm really excited for the competition. There are four to five of top 400m runners in the nation that are in the SEC. I'm excited to go into this race and see what is going to happen, you're definitely going to see some fast times."
on what drives him:
"I'm always in competition with myself and I'm always trying to get the best out of myself whether that be in track or any other area in my life. I hate having the feeling that I'm leaving something out there when I know I can get more out of myself, so that is definitely makes me go."
