Special to The Eagle
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- The Texas A&M men's 400-meter relay team broke a 20-year-old school record and set the pace in the preliminaries with a leading time of 38.51 seconds Wednesday on Day 1 of the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
Tran Howell, Gerald Phiri, Chris Dykes and Justin Oliver ran the fastest collegiate time of the season and broke A&M's record of 38.53 set in 1989 at the NCAA Championships in Provo, Utah, by Richard Bucknor, Derrick Florence, Andre Cason and Howard Davis.
LSU finished second in A&M's heat at 38.72. Florida, which owned the leading collegiate time entering the Championships, won its heat in 38.57.
"Honestly, the first thing I thought about was winning the heat since LSU was in the same race as us," Oliver said. "We wanted to win it. Then I saw the clock at 38.51. Wow. We're the fastest people ever at A&M. It's a big surprise, a very pleasant surprise.
"Chris was the first one I saw after the race. We both had smiles on our faces from winning the heat over LSU. I told him we broke the school record and he got more excited."
Clemson also won a heat in 39.08, while Mississippi State (38.96), South Carolina (39.17), Kentucky (39.21), Auburn (39.31) and TCU (39.41) advanced to the final.
"Coach [Pat] Henry told us we can run faster, that we have some room left in our exchanges," Oliver said. "It's the best exchanges we've had all year. We sent a message running that time in heat one, and everyone else had to chase our mark. Running from lane eight, it was basically a time trail by ourselves. We can do more in the finals with everyone in same race and with us running from the middle of the track."
A&M's Khrystal Carter, Porscha Lucas, Dominique Duncan and Gabby Mayo advanced in the women's 400 relay.
A&M's Trinity Otto is in second through the first half of the decathlon with 4,138 points. Oregon's Ashton Eaton, the defending NCAA champion, leads at 4,367. Kansas State's Mortiz Cleve is third at 4,131 points followed by Tennessee's Michael Ayers (4,115) and North Carolina's Mateo Sossah (4,115).
In the men's long jump, A&M's Julian Reid leapt 25 feet, 11.5 inches to place third in the prelims and advance, while Tyron Stewart advanced after taking seventh at 25-8.25. Both marks were wind-aided.
A&M's Laura Asimakis advanced to the final of the javelin as the 11th of 12 qualifiers. The Big 12 champion threw her best mark in the rain at 160-6.
The meet was delayed for more than three hours due to rain, lightning and a tornado watch.
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