FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Talk about a thrilling finish to an incredible spring for Texas A&M athletics.

The Aggies made track and field history Saturday as Justin Oliver held on for second place as the anchor in the 1,600-meter relay, giving the Aggies the men's team title at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at John McDonnell Field. Texas A&M also won the women's title, becoming the first school since 1990 to win both outdoor championships.

A&M had never won a team track title before this week. Combined with the Aggie men's golf team winning that program's first national championship two weeks ago, A&M and its fans have had quite a ride of late.

"When it got to the 300 mark and I saw I was still second place, I see the finish line, I see the trophy at the finish line waiting on me," Oliver said. "We're the national champions. Texas A&M. No one else. That's all I could say. We did it."

The 1,600 relay -- the last event of this week's meet -- knocked Oregon out of first place. Florida State won in 2 minutes, 59.99 seconds, and A&M's team of Tran Howell, Bryan Miller, Kyle Dykhuizen and Oliver held off Baylor for second in a school-record tying 3:00.91.

The Aggies finished with 48 points, even without a single individual champion the entire week. If A&M had finished one spot lower in the relay, it would have ended up in a four-way tie for the title with Florida, Florida State and Oregon. The Gators, Ducks and Seminoles all finished with 46 points.

A&M is just the second Big 12 school to win a men's track team title and the first since Kansas in 1970.

The women's finish was less tense. A&M ended up with 50 points, seven ahead of Oregon, thanks to a 31-point day Saturday.

A&M coach Pat Henry is in his fifth year in Aggieland after coming over from LSU. He won 27 NCAA team championships while coaching the Tiger men and women, including 15 outdoor titles -- 12 for the women and three for the men.

"This one is something we've been working very hard to do," Henry said. "This one is very, very special to me because it's a new one. It's a new championship."

Henry was the last coach to sweep the men's and women's outdoor titles, doing so at LSU in 1990. Henry and the Tigers also accomplished that feat in 1989, and he had two junior college championship teams at Blinn in 1987.

"This is our first graduating class," Henry added. "We're extremely pleased, my staff worked very hard and this is a very gratifying pair of championships for this team."

Prior to the 1,600 relay, the Aggie men received a big boost in the triple jump. Four A&M jumpers made the final nine -- Julian Reid, Zuheir Sharif, Tyron Stewart and Melvin Echard -- and added 18 points to the team total.

Reid led the Aggies with a wind-aided jump of 56 feet, 1.25 inches. That was good for second behind Oklahoma's Will Claye (56-6.25).

Sharif jumped 55-0 for fourth place, Tyron Stewart (53-4.5) was sixth and Melvin Echard (52-8.75) placed seventh.

"We had our team meeting this morning with Coach Henry and I've never heard such consistency and confidence in his voice when he told us both teams could win," Sharif said. "I think with that it just set the momentum in order for us to know that no matter the circumstances we had to be in that triple jump final.

"When we got into that final, from that point on it was just maintaining and building the momentum we had. But it was nerve-wracking watching the outcome of the 4x400. 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 gave A&M's men a chance heading into the final relay. Gerald Phiri (20.83) and Chris Dykes (21.05) finished fourth and sixth, respectively.

The key women's points came from Aggie senior Yasmine Regis in the triple jump, the final event involving the team Saturday. She finished second.

"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. It started off pretty rocky, but I dug deep and I pulled out what I needed to do.

"We knew coming in today that everyone had to do their best, everyone had to do basically what they were doing. We could come away -- both teams -- with national championships."

A&M's Porscha Lucas won the 200 in 22.81, a day after contributing to a relay win.

"I knew I needed to hold up my end and come out and win this to keep us in the hunt," Lucas said. "I did what I could -- I gave it everything I had."

A&M's Jessica Beard placed second in the 400 with a school-record 50.56, and Gabby Mayo placed fourth in the 100 hurdles in 13.21.

Oregon led both team competitions going into Saturday, and the Ducks earned their last 10 points when Andrew Wheating won the 800. Wheating passed Tevan Everett of Texas inches before the finish to win in 1:46.21. Everett lunged forward across the finish line and fell down on the other side, but to no avail. He finished in 1:46.27.

"I just wanted the 10 points," Wheating said. "I was just hoping my calf wouldn't rip apart."

Oregon was the talk of the meet early on. Galen Rupp was as good as advertised, winning the 5,000 and 10,000, but he didn't run Saturday.

Florida State made a push on the final day with three wins. Charles Clark took the 200 in 20.55, Jonathan Borlee won the 400 in 44.78, and then the Seminoles won the 1,600 relay.

"That's a track and field meet right there!" Florida State coach Bob Braman yelled to nobody in particular, as the Texas A&M celebration began.

Florida State had won the last three men's outdoor titles.

Kimberly Williams of Florida State won the women's triple jump with 47-2 1/4 inches. Williams also won a long jump championship earlier in the week.

Tiffany Ofili of Michigan won the 100 hurdles for the third straight year, finishing in 12.96.

D'Andra Carter of Texas Tech won the women's discus with a throw of 182-6.

Ronnie Ash of Bethune-Cookman took the 110 hurdles in 13.27.

Geena Gall of Michigan won the women's 800 in 2:00.80, and Joanna Atkins of Auburn took the 400 in 50.39.

The men's 1,500 went to German Fernandez of Oklahoma State, in 3:39.00. Susan Kuijken of Florida State won the women's title in 4:13.05.

Texas won the women's 1,600 relay in 3:28.51.

Martin Maric of California won the discus with a toss of 196-3.

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Welcome-home celebration set for Sunday: Aggie fans are invited to attend a welcome home celebration for the Texas A&M track and field teams Sunday.

Coach Pat Henry, members of his staff and the athletes are due to arrive in College Station around 10 p.m.

The bus will unload in the third-base parking lot of Olsen Field, directly across the street from the track and field offices. Fans are encouraged to park in either the first- or third-base parking lots at Olsen Field and gather in the grassy median between the two lots.

Double-duty

Texas A&M's track and field program joined an exclusive club by winning both the men's and women's team outdoor national championships Saturday. It's the first time since 1990 that feat has been accomplished, and just the third time overall. A common thread runs through each double -- Pat Henry.

YearSchoolHead coach

1989Louisiana StatePat Henry

1990Louisiana StatePat Henry

2009Texas A&M Pat Henry

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