Equestrian ’17 NCEA National Champions
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Year Awarded: 2017
The No. 5 Texas A&M Equestrian team won the National Collegiate Equestrian Association National Championship Saturday night (April 15), defeating the Georgia Bulldogs, 11-5, at the Extraco Events Center.
The title marks the Aggies' 12th national championship in program history and the first NCEA Championship win since the 2012 season.
The Maroon and White dominated the tournament by outscoring their opponents, 54-8, in four competitions, and became the first team under the current format to win four meets en route to the championship.
"I couldn't be any more proud of this team in the way they rode all four meets and be as consistent as they were," head coach Tana McKay said. "They were on top of their game. That is a coach's dream to have all of their athletes on top of the game all of the time. This team dug deep and that is exactly what they needed to do to win. I am very proud of them."
In Equitation on the Flat, sophomore Rebekah Chenelle '19 opened with a 186-177 victory over Meg O'Mara. Chenelle earned the NCEA Championship's Equitation on the Flat MOP after finishing the event with a 4-0 record. Senior Anna Rea '17 defeated Liza Finsness, 164-144, before junior Alex Desiderio '18 outscored Maddie Newman, 172-142, to give A&M a 3-1 lead.
The Aggies dropped the first point in Horsemanship, but battled back to win the following three to put the Maroon and White ahead, 6-2, heading into the halfway point. Senior Kaci Fisher '17 topped Sammie Johnson 147.5-146.5, prior to sophomore Sarah Orsak '19 narrowly dropping Payton Anderson 152.5-152. Junior Avery Ellis '18 notched another victory by knocking off Graysen Stroud, 155-150.5, and was later named the NCEA Championship's Horsemanship MOP.
In Reining, Texas A&M took the event, 3-1. Senior Sarah McEntire '17, who was named the NCEA Championship's MOP in Reining, had a close 138.5-138 win over Kyndall Harper, before junior Madison Bohman '18 toppled Claudia Spreng, 139.5-138.5. Sophomore Haley Franc '19 beat Graysen Stroud, 137-0, to give the Aggies a 9-3 advantage.
Texas A&M concluded the meet by winning two additional points in Equitation over Fences. Senior Haley Webster '17 defeated Emma Mandarino, 171-167, with junior Rachael Hake '18 downing Sydney Hutchins, 146-131, to close the meet. Hake now holds the record for the most wins in a season in Fences (16) for the first time since Emily Williams in 2010-11 (14).
Men's Indoor Track and Field ’17 NCAA National Champions
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Year Awarded: 2017
Texas A&M's first ever indoor national team title in men's track and field came about in dramatic fashion as Mylik Kerley '19 anchored the Aggies 4x400 relay to a come-from-behind victory in the last event. The 10 points from that race pushed Texas A&M's team total to 46 points, just half a point ahead of Florida, who placed second in the relay. The meet was held at A&M's Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium, making this the first time an Aggie athletic team won a national championship in a competition held in College Station. "This was a fine championship because of the crowd, because of the volume in this building, it was a pretty amazing win," said head coach Pat Henry. "I think we have the best indoor facility in the country. It's great to win this one here. We're going to have a track environment here that is second to none.”
"The crowd was just roaring and I was feeding off their energy. When it came down to my leg, I knew I had to just go win it for the team."
- Mylik Kerley '19
Texas A&M Archery Club Captures 19th Nat'l Championship
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Year Awarded: 2017
Chula Vista, CA
The Texas A&M Archery Club captured its 19th team national championship in program history at the USA Archery Collegiate Nationals in Chula Vista, California.
Women's Outdoor Track & Field ’14 NCAA National Champions
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Year Awarded: 2014
Texas A&M captured its eighth national championship over the past six years when the Aggie women won its fourth NCAA Outdoor track and field team title since 2009 at historic Hayward Field on Saturday.
Two victories, a runner-up effort and third place finish on the final day, in front of a crowd that numbered 11,344, earned A&M 34 points on the day. After winning the 4x100 relay in a collegiate leading 42.80 and producing a 1-3 finish in the 200 meters that was won by Kamaria Brown, the Aggies locked up the championship prior to running the 4x400.
“We did some things all the way through this meet that got us in a position to do what we did today,” noted Texas A&M head coach Pat Henry, who earned his 35th NCAA team championship and eighth with the Aggie program. “Today always looks like you sprint this, or hurdle that, but today was a big cap off day. The ladies did very well in the two relays and 200 meters to win the team title.
“It’s gratifying to win it all before the 4x400 even starts. If it would have come down to the 4x400 we would have been happy for that. It was a great win for our team.”
Texas A&M women totaled 75 points for the team championship with Texas runner-up at 66 points. The rest of the top 10 included Oregon (59), Florida (55), Georgia (35), LSU (34), Kentucky (26), Boise State (23), Arkansas (21.5) and Akron (20).
“I’m so happy we won the sprint relay, broke the school record in the 4x400 and won a national title. It’s great to be an Aggie!”
- Kamaria Brown '15
Men's Outdoor Track and Field ’13 NCAA Champions
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Year Awarded: 2013
Texas A&M won its fourth men’s NCAA Outdoor championship as the Aggies and Florida Gators each scored 53 points to share the 2013 title on a dramatic day in front of 11,482 fans at Hayward Field. The Texas A&M women scored 44 points to finish as the team runner-up behind Kansas.
This marks the seventh national championship won by the Texas A&M track and field program over a five year span and is the 34th NCAA Championship claimed by Aggie head coach Pat Henry. The A&M men and women each won national team titles in 2009, 2010 and 2011, completing an unprecedented feat in the sports history.
Leading the team scoring over Florida 52 to 43 going into the final event, the 4x400 relay, the Aggies put their championship in jeopardy with a dropped baton before the first exchange. Ricky Babineaux retrieved the baton and the next three legs completed the race to earn a very important one point in eighth place as Florida won the race to reach 53 points.
This is the first time the men’s championship has been shared since 1978.
“We’re elated for our team,” said Henry of the championship victory. “We win the javelin, hurdles and 200 today. Our team was on a roll and doing some things really well. It’s just tough that we don’t look the baton in and something happens on the first exchange of the 4x400. That’s the way it is with track and field. You have to everything right and it certainly has to be right when it comes to that relay.
“This is our fourth title in the past five years and we’ve won it by one or two points each time. It always seems to come down the end and you have to be perfect all the way through. We weren’t perfect today, but we had some perfect things happen to get us to here.”
Victories for the Aggies on Saturday included the women’s 4 x 100 relay in 42.88, Wayne Davis II in the 110 hurdles with a wind-aided 13.14, Sam Humphreys in the javelin with a 255-9 (77.95) and Ameer Webb in the 200 with a windy 20.10.
Kamaria Brown ran the third leg of the winning 4x1, finished second in the women’s 200 with a wind-aided 22.21, the fastest ever by an A&M sprinter, and anchored the 4x400 to a runner-up finish in 3:27.59 with the fastest split of the day, 50.27. Donique’ Flemings clocked a career best of 12.85 for third place in the 100 hurdles to move to No. 3 on the Aggie all-time list.
With three events remaining in the men’s team chase – 5,000 meters, triple jump and 4x400 relay – the Aggies led the field with 51 points followed by USC (42), Oregon (38), Arkansas (34.5), and Florida (33).
Omar Craddock won the triple jump to move the Gators into second place with 43 points. Neither A&M nor the Razorbacks scored in the triple jump with Aggie Dave Brown 16th (51-1.5) and Arkansas’ Tarik Batchelor in 17th (51-0.25).
An important point was scored in the men’s 5,000 meters by Henry Lelei when he managed to move from 11th to eighth over the final two laps of the race, running 13:58.55. Arkansas picked up four points from a fifth-place effort by Kemoy Campbell.
With the men’s 4x400 lining up in their blocks, Texas A&M’s lead was 52 to 43 over Florida with USC (42) in third ahead of Arkansas 38.5 and Oregon 38. Only USC didn’t have a relay squad in the race.
As Babineaux neared the completion of his lead-off leg, the baton was dropped on the exchange to Aldrich Bailey, Jr. and fell to the track, rolling from lane four to lane one. Babineaux retrieved the baton and eventually handed it off to Bailey. Carlyle Roudette and Deon Lendore completed the race to finish in 3:07.64.
“I didn’t even think twice about it, I just went over to pick it up so we could still run,” explained Babineaux. “It was nerve-racking and emotionally I still don’t how to feel. Ending in a tie for the championship is a blessing.”
Florida won the race in 3:01.34 to earn 10 points and reach the score of 53 that A&M matched in claiming the vital one point for eighth place. Arkansas finished second in the race with a 3:03.61 with Oregon in third at 3:03.61.
Humphreys established the leading mark on his very first throw of the javelin, 253-7 (77.31). Then he improved in the fourth round to his winning distance of 255-9 (77.95). Humphreys becomes the first Aggie thrower to score four consecutive years in the NCAA Outdoor Championships as he completed a trek that included fifth place as a freshman, third place in his sophomore season and runner-up as a junior.
“This is definitely my number one moment,” stated Humphreys. “I’ve been working for this for four years. It means a lot to be a NCAA Champion.
“You know you need to go out there and focus on what needs to be done to win. I don’t focus on the score or what’s on the board because anything can happen in any race. You just keep your head clear and do what you need to do.”
Two-time defending champion Tim Glover of Illinois State finished second to Humphreys with a best of 247-6 (75.44) while home crowd favorite Sam Crouser of Oregon placed third with a 239-9 (73.07). A&M’s Devin Bogert improved to 226-3 (68.96) on his third throw, moving from 22nd to 12th, matching the finish he had as a freshman last year.
In close race Davis pulled away for the hurdle win in stellar time of 13.14w (3.8 wind) that put him in elite company. Runner-up to Davis was Florida’s Eddie Lovett in 13.32w with Clemson’s Spencer Adams third in 13.34w.
Davis produced the No. 2 time and the No. 4 performance for all-conditions on the collegiate all-time list, trailing the collegiate record of 13.00 set by Renaldo Nehemiah in 1979 as well as a windy 12.91 by Nehemiah. Davis also bettered the Championship meet record of 13.21 set by Aries Merritt in 2006.
Webb doubled up his championships in the 200 this year, adding the NCAA Outdoor crown to go with the NCAA Indoor title he claimed for a second time back in March. It’s the first Aggie title in the national outdoor meet since Floyd Heard produced a pair of titles in 1986 and 1987.
“I’m a two-time indoor and one-time outdoor track champion, so I’m on top of the world, in my own world, right now,” Webb said.
Webb’s 20.10w (2.6) gave him the edge over Olympian Isiah Young of Mississippi, who placed second in 20.17w with USC’s Bryshon Nellum, the NCAA 400 champion, in third with a 20.27w. London Olympic finalist Anaso Jobodwana of Jackson State placed fourth in 20.29w.
“I was a little bit intimidated by some of the other guy’s times today,” noted Webb. “I know the 100 isn’t my strong suit, however, knowing I’m a 200 guy gave me some confidence.”
The Aggie women started their day off with the 4 x 100 relay and produced a victory in 42.88 seconds with the foursome of LaKeidra Stewart, Ashton Purvis, Brown and Ashley Collier. In second place with a time of 43.36 was Central Florida while Clemson placed third in 43.76.
“I knew that everyone was going to run their best today, so winning this race makes me very happy,” said Collier. “We all had to work on each of our legs, and everyone did really well. We’re happy we came out first. I like to hear Kamaria scream after she gives me the baton, it tends to make me run faster.”
Coming into the final with the two fastest times of the season a 42.56 from Texas Relays and a 42.84 during the NCAA semifinal, Texas A&M claimed its fifth national title in the sprint relay since 2007.
Brown challenged two-time defending champion Kimberlyn Duncan of LSU through the curve of the 200 and maintained a lead over the rest of the field when Duncan pulled ahead by a couple of strides on the homestretch.
Duncan won the race in a windy 22.04 (3.5), equal to the collegiate best under all-conditions, with Brown in second at 22.21w while Central Florida’s Aurieyall Scott finished third in 22.48w. A&M’s Olivia Ekpone placed eighth with a 22.96w.
“It’s so amazing to run against Kim, because she is a great athlete,” said Brown. “I just thought about myself in that race. At the end of the day we are both trying to win. To come out here and run 22.21 against her I’m very happy with my time. I’ve been trying for the longest to get under 22.5 and I finally did.”
In the 100 hurdles Brianna Rollins of Clemons broke the collegiate record she set in the semifinal with a winning time of 12.39 (1.7) with Kori Carter of Stanford runner-up in 12.79. Flemings set her own PR with a 12.85 ahead of a pair of 12.88s from Morgan Snow of Texas and Clemson’s Kendra Harrison.
Flemings time the fastest time by an A&M hurdler in a NCAA final, which also places her No. 3 on the Aggie all-time list with the No. 4 performance. It’s the highest finish for A&M in this event since 1997 when Anjanette Kirkland finished as the runner-up.
“I’m excited to get a legal PR,” said Flemings. “I focused on my race and tried to finish as high as I could. Being lane eight against the stands helped me focus a little more on what I needed to do. It made me concentrate on my lane.”
Heading into the women’s 4x400 relay Kansas had already locked up the team title, but second place was up for grabs as LSU and Oregon each had 38 points with the Aggies at 36.
The Aggies ran the second fastest time and third best performance in school history, just behind the 3:26.31 set in 2011, with the foursome of Olivia Ekpone (53.1), Ibukun Mayungbe (51.4), LaKeidra Stewart (52.81) and Brown (50.27).
“I was nervous when I got the baton, because I wanted to do my best for the team,” said Brown. “For me to move us from fourth to second is just amazing. I’m very proud of the effort we had all day to get second place as a team.”
The eight points for the Aggies pushed them to 44 for the runner-up team position while Oregon placed third with 43 points and LSU finished fourth with 40.
“You look at what we did today, across the board with men and women, with the events we won and how competitive we were I can’t be anything but pleased with our team today,” noted Henry.
Equestrian ’12 National Collegiate Overall Championship
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Year Awarded: 2012
Texas A&M clinched the National Collegiate Equestrian Championship on Friday evening with semifinal victories in both the hunter seat and western brackets at the Extraco Events Center.
The Aggies claimed the overall national title-the program's second overall and first since 2002-with a 6-2 win over Georgia in hunter seat and a 4-3 defeat of South Carolina in western. The national title is the 10th overall for A&M, which has also won eight western national championships. In addition, the Aggies became the first program in NCEA history to advance to the finals in both disciplines.
Texas A&M will look to become the first team to ever sweep all three national championships on Saturday afternoon when the Aggies battle Baylor in the hunter seat finals and Oklahoma State in the western finals. A&M's western team is looking for its fourth consecutive national title, while the hunter seat riders are seeking their first. Both match-ups are scheduled to get underway around 1 p.m. (CT).
The story of the weekend for Texas A&M is its seventh-seeded hunter seat squad, which pulled an upset of No. 2-seed South Carolina earlier in the day to reach the semis. This time, it would be third-seeded Georgia who was the victim-as the Aggies took six of eight possible points for the third straight time this weekend en route to their second finals appearance in history.
Senior Maggie Earle continued to be the star of the weekend for A&M, moving to 6-0 at this year's NCEAs with a victory on the flat and another over fences. Haley Buchmiller joined her in the winner's circle on the flat to split that discipline. Soon thereafter, Earle's victory over fences combined with wins by Leah Chenelle, Kori Pickett and Lia Chafee gave the Aggies the first fences sweep of the Bulldogs in school history and put Texas A&M into the hunter seat finals for the first time since 2008.
Simultaneously, the top-seeded western team was battling fifth-seeded South Carolina in an effort to make its fourth consecutive national finals appearance, and the Aggies would gut out a 4-3 victory-its 13th in a row at NCEAs.
A&M opened up a strong lead with an impressive reining performance, as the first three riders-Courtney Dawe, Becca Murray and Abigail Grabein-all picked up victories and staked the Aggies to a 3-0 lead.
A tie score on the final reining ride of the match-up still left the Aggies one win away from a finals berth. As the discipline flipped to horsemanship, the Gamecocks won the first two points to pull within one, but Amanda Brightwell's two-point win over Maggie Fortune was the clinching ride and put A&M into the finals.
Women's Basketball ’11 NCAA
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Year Awarded: 2011
Scoring, rebounding, even making a key steal, Danielle Adams saved her best game for the biggest stage and brought Texas A&M its first national championship.
Adams scored 22 of her 30 points in a dominating second half and answered the Fighting Irish basket for basket Tuesday night to help Texas A&M bring a title to the former all-male military academy with a thrilling 76-70 victory in front of a pro-Notre Dame crowd.
No one was happier than Gary Blair, the outspoken A&M coach who hadn’t been in the Final Four since 1998 when he was with Arkansas. Blair bluntly said it was a good thing that top powers like Connecticut, Tennessee and Stanford weren’t in the title game.
“We don’t give up,” Blair said. “We might not play the prettiest game in the world but it’s good for women’s basketball to see a Texas A&M and a Notre Dame in this game.”
And then his Aggies went out and proved him right.
Tyra White added 18 points for A&M, including a huge 3-pointer as the shot clock buzzer sounded to put A&M up 73-68 with 1:07 left.
The Aggies are a national championship newcomer and bullied their way through the tournament to get to the top. Like Notre Dame, the Aggies vanquished their conference rival on the way, beating Baylor in the Dallas regional final after losing to the Lady Bears three times during the season.
Adams, who had a history of vanishing in big games, did no such thing on Tuesday night, scoring the second most points in history in a championship game (Sheryl Swoopes 47, 1993).
“Glad we came back,” Blair said. “We had a bad 10 minutes in the first half. We found a way to come back, and Danielle got the ball inside.”
Both teams reached the championship game by knocking off two No. 1 seeds. Notre Dame eliminated Tennessee in the regional final, then swept past Connecticut in Sunday night’s national semifinals, the first time one team has taken down those two women’s basketball icons in the same tournament.
A&M also had two impressive wins to get here. After beating Baylor in the regional final, the Aggies edged Stanford on Sunday night.
It was the first title game without a No. 1 seed since 1994 and only the second overall. It also was the first final without either Connecticut or Tennessee since Maryland beat Duke in overtime for the 2006 championship.
And it turned out to be a good one.
After a back-and-forth first half, and with the Aggies trailing 48-43 early in the second half, Adams simply took over.
The 6-foot-1 center scored 10 of the next 13 points for the Aggies to give them a 56-53 lead midway through the second half. Texas A&M then extended the advantage to 64-57 behind the two Sydneys — Carter and Colson.
But Notre Dame wouldn’t give up, battling back behind its sensational sophomore guard Skylar Diggins. The Irish scored nine of the next 11 points to tie the game at 66 on Diggins’ jumper with 3:56 left.
Blair went right to Adams on the next two possessions and she delivered, hitting back-to-back layups. Adams hit nine of her first 10 shots in the second half.
After Devereaux Peters’ putback cut it to 70-68, White hit the huge 3. Diggins had two free throws with 40.7 seconds left, and the Irish had one last chance after a turnover by the Aggies with 29 seconds remaining.
Muffet McGraw called her final timeout, but Diggins turned it over in front of the bench. White hit two free throws to seal the win.
“I knew they couldn’t stop me inside so that’s what I did, I took it inside.”
- Danielle Adams
Men's and Women's Outdoor Track & Field ’09 NCAA
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Year Awarded: 2009
A flurry of determined performances pushed Texas A&M into a pair of national titles at the NCAA Outdoor Championships at John McDonnell Field at the University of Arkansas.
In the men's final race senior Justin Oliver delivered the anchor leg of his career in placing second for eight points that moved A&M into the title position with 48 points over a three-way tie for second at 46 points between Oregon, Florida and Florida State.
"We're the national champions," declared Oliver. "Texas A&M, no one else. That's all I could say when I finished the race. We did it! We did it!"
The key women's points arrived in the triple jump from senior Yasmine Regis, the final event involving the Aggies on the exciting and drama-filled day.
"I knew I was the last event to go on," said Regis, who was in sixth place going into the final three rounds. "I was trying to rack up the most points I could for my teammates. I placed the highest I've ever placed in my senior year. I'm grateful and thankful. Our team won the national championship. It's an amazing feeling."
A flurry of points from Aggie sprinters and jumpers turned the action into Championship Saturday for Texas A&M.
The Aggie women totaled 50 points with Porscha Lucas winning the 200 (22.81) as Jessica Beard placed second in the 400 (school record 50.56) and Regis claimed unexpected points in the triple jump (45-4.25 / 13.82) with a runner-up effort. In addition Gabby Mayo placed fourth in the 100 hurdles (13.21).
With 31 points on the day, the A&M women passed team leader Oregon for the team championship. The Ducks were second with 43 points.
Prior to the heroics in the 4 x 400 relay, the Aggie men received a vital scoring boost from the triple jump. Four A&M jumpers were among the final field of 12 and Julian Reid, Zuheir Sharif, Tyron Stewart and Melvin Echard each advanced to the final three rounds.
"When we got into that final, from that point on it was just maintaining and building the momentum we had. It's all about the endurance," Sharif said. "But it was nerve-wracking watching the outcome of the 4 x 400. I'm at a loss for words, I can't believe what we jumped today, I can't believe we are national champions."
Eight more points from the 200 final and one point in the 400 final gave A&M 40 points heading into the final relay. Gerald Phiri (20.83) and Chris Dykes (21.05) finished fourth and sixth, respectively, in the 200. Bryan Miller (45.91) placed eighth in the 400.
Oregon still led the field with 46 points while Florida was in second place with 41 and Florida State was fourth at 36 with only the 1,600-meter relay remaining.
The Seminoles were expected to win the 4x4 and they did with a 2:59.99 to reach a score of 46.
But Oliver ran a split of 44.20 on the anchor leg as the Aggies placed second ahead of a Baylor squad (3:00.91 to 3:01.12) that had won 42 consecutive finals in this event and the last two national titles.
The eight points for second place moved Texas A&M to a final total of 48. The effort by Oliver and the Aggie 4 x 400 crew prevented a four-way tie for the team title.
"You don't run for third place, you run for the victory," Oliver stated.
"This is a special championship for us. This is our first graduating class. We're extremely pleased, my staff worked very hard and this is a very gratifying pair of championships for this team."
- Pat Henry, Texas A&M Track & Field Head Coach