A&M's Beard wins 400 title

  • Posted: Saturday, June 11, 2011 7:00 a.m.
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Staff and wire report


DES MOINES, Iowa -- Jessica Beard helped keep the Texas A&M women's track and field team in contention for a third straight national title, winning the 400 meters on Friday evening in 51.10 seconds on a wet track in front of 7,423 at Drake Stadium.


Also for the women, Daphne Fitzpatrick placed fourth for five points in the heptathlon while Andrea Sutherland scored five points in the 400 hurdles with a fifth-place finish.


That helped the Aggie women move into fourth place with 23 points through 14 finals at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Oregon is in the lead with 33 points followed by Oklahoma (29) and Stanford (25).


On the men's side, Florida State's Ngonidzashe Makusha broke the national collegiate record in the 100, winning in 9.89 seconds. Makusha broke the mark of 9.90 set by Ato Boldon of UCLA in 1996. Teammate Maurice Mitchell was third as the Seminoles picked up 16 quick points for the team title chase.


It was the second dominant performance of the meet for Makusha, who won the long jump in 27 feet, 6 3/4 inches -- the best mark at the NCAA meet in 18 years.


Makusha joined Michigan's DeHart Hubbard (1925), Ohio State's Jesse Owens (1935-36) and Houston's Carl Lewis (1981) as the only athletes to sweep the 100 and long jump at an NCAA meet.


For the Aggie men, Gerald Phiri placed fourth in the 100 and Prezel Hardy finished eighth for six combined points, while Demetrius Pinder placed fifth and Bryan Miller eighth in the 400 for a combined five points.


A&M's men have 22 points for seventh place through 14 of 21 finals. Florida State leads with 29 points over Virginia Tech and Florida, tied for second place with 28 points.


Both Aggie 1,600 relay teams advanced to the finals during Friday mornings semifinals which were postponed Thursday night because of rain and lightning.


A&M's Andrea Sutherland (52.5), Ibukun Mayungbe (52.9), Ashley Collier (52.89) and Beard (50.95) won their women's heat in 3:29.34, the fastest qualifying team.


On the men's side, A&M's Joey Roberts (46.9), Tran Howell (45.4), Michael Preble (45.62) and Tabarie Henry (45.60) won the second heat in 3:03.48 for the second-fastest time. Mississippi State had the fastest qualifying time at 3:03.39.

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